I just bought Synergistic Research's new Tesla Accelerator speaker cables and Tesla Vortec interconnects from The Cable Company. I have tried many demo cables from The Cable Company over the past year. These were the first to give me that WOW factor I been looking for so long.
Does anyone have these cables and can you please post your impressions and comments? Thanks.
When I purchased the cables from The Cable Company all fees other then shipping were applied towards my purchase. When you purchase your cables that $80.00 will be applied as well. The Cable Company is great to work with, there's no pressure at all... Those guys are first class.
Rydenfan, upon my return from dinner with the family I will answer your question.
"Because the answer affects how the opinion is weighed by the readers. A user's opinion is viewed differently from a rep's, because the agendas are different."
Thank you Grant for being our advocate... God bless you!
In many cases the T2 has been the cord of choice for preamps, both ss and tube. To preserve dynamics and openess for a preamp (with typically lower current demand than an amplifier) a quicker to saturate T2 vs. a T3 will often fill the bill AND will save you approx. 30% msrp.
Ozzy- I also found that the T-2 works well on my preamp.(I listed my other cord choices 11 days ago on this thread). So far, everything sounds great. Will be replacing VD speaker wires with SR Apex this weekend. Hoping for yet another change for the better....
From my understanding with The Cable Company, the fees you pay can be applied to any purchase. If you decide to purchase any other cables and/or products your demo fee will be applied. If you are truly in the market to purchase cables it's a no brainer. Where else can you demo tens of thousands of dollars of cables for little to nothing?
I didn't have any hassles with The Cable Co. they had all the cables I asked to demo. Maybe the moon and the stars were in perfect alignment. :O)
As far as price it all comes down to your negotiating skills whomever you plan on purchasing from. I was very please with the price point I paid.
When I placed my order with The Cable Co, the cables were drop shipped directly to my home from Synergistic Research... Hassle free. You know what else was so cool with The Cable Co. they let me continue to use the cables until my new SR cables arrived. Again hassle free and great service.
I'm using a T1 in my Pioneer Plasma Elite, T2 preamp & phono stage, T3 Power Screen... I'll be using a Hologram A with my amp & Hologram D with my DAC.
I need all of you to do me a favor don't tell my wife. :O)
Thanks guys for the comments on suggestions on a Preamp cord. It seems most are recommending to use the T2 on the Preamp. Is the Hologram A overkill ?
I'll call the Cable Company just for chance. Last time however, they said it would be 1-2 months before they have the T2, T3 and Hologram A in to Audition.
Well, I called the Cable Company, the lady who screens the calls said they were too busy and too busy to call me back. I was told to try to call them back Monday.
I swear I have never had good luck with them. How come you guys rave about the customer service so much?
Ozzy, with the Cable Company it's going to be hit or miss. I had a couple good experiences with them when auditioning interconnects and purchasing small items. Had a different rep at the time. It seems different reps handle their business in different ways. I also purchased tubes from them with the balance on my account. But the fellow I worked with the last time offered little off retail price for the cord I wanted to audition (T3). The dealer I worked with came up with a nice discount right away, no haggling and was straightforward about it.
I've pretty much run out of patience with the Cable Company, after buying cables from them for years. I would rather do business with a dealer that has the time to answer my questions the first time I call, instead of having to call back repeatedly and then feel rushed when I finally get through. I have a good guy at Cable Company who has been helpful, however not so much over the past several months. I guess their business model has changed. I have recently discovered I can get considerably better pricing, demo ability, no brain damage and much better service with a good dealer. That is the route I have chosen for the foreseeable future.
You are not going to believe this I had my response already to go and then I had a quick power outage. So here we go again with less info. In my opinion the bass on the Accelerator was tighter and quicker then the Acoustic Research the midrange on the AR was warmer. The sound staging on both cables were great. I close my eyes and there are no speakers in the room. Don't get me wrong I like the AR that's why I have decided to give the Apex IC's a go.
... not to throw a wrench into the works, but Ted of Synergistic Research uses the T2 on the pre-amp in the main system at the factory. I would suggest ordering a T2 first, get familiar with it, and in the meantime try to demo a Hologram A.
And remember, you could start with the Hologram A and always wonder if the T2 (for considerably less money) would have been better.
Ted stresses this fact often... you don't always have to buy the most expensive cable to get the best out of a given component.
I have also heard that Ted made the T-2 SPECIFICALLY for pre-amps with the Hologram A SPECIFICALLY for amps, even in SOTA systems - you can read about the T-2 on the SR site. I decided to listen to the guy who built the cords and am happy I did - its not about the money, its about the "system match", a refreshing concept in this big-bucks hobby....
Wow, I had nothing but good experience with The Cable Co. they had every Synergistic Research cable I wanted to demo. I use the same guy all of the time I never felt as if he was rushing me off the phone and/or didn't have time to talk to me. At times when I was unable to reach him via phone he always calls back. When I call my local dealer I'm unable to reach my guy I deal with at times. We need to understand they do get busy and we aren't their only customer.
As far as screening calls from my understanding some of their sales team/reps live in different parts of the country and the calls are routed to them. I know my guy isn't in New Hope, PA.
Regarding customer service when I received the demo cables there was an error made by TCC I made 1 phone call and the problem was resolved on the spot that day, 2 days I received the correct cables and they paid for the shipping.
My local dealer sells Audio Quest cables for the most parts that's it. Actually I save 8% sales tax dealing with The Cable Co. and I received a very nice discount on my purchase and the shipping was free. For the record my local dealer would not have given me the same type of discount on anything, actually it's like pulling teeth trying to get any type of discount from them.
The other local dealer I wouldn't give those clowns the time of day they are nothing but a bunch of snobs. When you walk into a store with no customers and it takes more then 15 minutes for someone to greet you that speaks volumes. Enough said...
Upon finding out the products I wanted and what type of system I have they then wanted to kiss my hand as if I were Michael Corleone.
If you guys know of another audio company where you can demo scores of different cables and/or products please let me know.
I consistently recommend The Cable Company for the same reasons as Jmo. I never had a problem and always received top notch service. I know they have been very busy with lots of request lately. (Mainly due to the Synergistics new line, I assume) Seems like since they do such a great job, their client based increased so much that they can not offer immediate service and some wait time may occur. That alone speaks volumnes about how much their service is in demand by audiophiles that want to try many cables before they buy.
I here you Jmo, Joeyboynj, The Cable Company offers that unique service that can be frusterating when you cant get thru or they cany even call you back. If I finally contact them and they tell me it will be 1-2 months again to demo the cables, that is it! No more for Cable Company for me.
But, this thread is about the Synergistic Tesla Cables. Actual Audiogonners experience and recommendations is far superior in help than any company trying to sell me something.
I also wish to put in a good word for the Cable Company. I've never had anything less than the most courteous service from them. Aside from being very helpful and friendly, they have allowed me, on several occasions, to extend my time period for further listening. I consider the opportunity they provide for sampling before buying to be invaluable, and as usual I continue to look forward to dealing with them when I need to.
OK, enough about The Cable Company - everyone has an opinion. As far as SR is concerned, I put the Apex Tesla bi-wire speaker cables into my system yesterday afternoon, replacing VD Revelation that was shotgun bi-wired. There are various threads about what is the best way to bi-wire and since I was changing both cables and methods, I held my breath. Turned out to be totally unnecessary - the new cables are working synergistically (couldn't resist) with the other Tesla cables in my system and the sound is more detailed, more organic, more transparent and the layering front to back is better - it is much easier to pick out exactly where the instruments and singers are in relation to each other. One of my concerns was that I would lose some of the great bass and speed I had - so far, that has not been the case and the cables barely have 10 hours on them. The sound seems to be a bit more real and details are not lost when the volume is turned down, a problem I was having before. Another concern I have is that the presentation will become fatiguing, but so far that has not been the case at all. Bottom line - I'm happy and have no present desire to do anything more other than to ENJOY THE MUSIC!!
Anybody know if the IFT dongles (Tesla Accelerator speaker cable biwire) are somehow specific to the HF and LF labels on their speaker ends? I have demo'd the great Accelerator speaker cables (and used separate jumpers at the time), but when demoing I went to the low frequency side and jumped over to HF. The IFT setup is labeled and has you going to HF and using the "wings" to go to the LF side.....I assume they are just labels and that one could do a listening test with either setup?
Thx Ted P.S. Called SR but Ryan did not know and Elliott is on vacation. He recommended I call Ted tmrw (which I will) so thought I'd ask you experienced folks here in the meantime. Thanks
I could swear Elliott told me they are designed to attach first to the HF, but I forgot the explanation, if he gave one. Of course you can obviously do a test and see what you like better, but before I did anything I'd probably talk to Ted. Please post your findings, since I was thinking the same thing as I'm not quite getting as much bass at louder levels as I was with my previous cables,
I found that with almost any of the Tesla cables I've put into my system, and most noticeably the speaker cables (biwire Precision Ref.), that the bass, especially extension-wise, took the longest to come around. Probably around the 300 hr. mark. This was combined with some speaker repositioning as well... I was getting a little too much mid-bass thumpiness and towing out a couple of degrees solved it. The bass goes "through the floor" now.
My second set are Reality cables. The Tesla's replace them for my mains. I'll use Gregg's for my surrounds though; very very nice value cables. I wrote a fairly extensive review/comparo on Audio Circle, and Gregg approved/previewed it. But I ended up getting the Tesla's for such a good $$ that I had to go for it.
The approximately 300 hrs. of break-in I mentioned in my last post re. Tesla cables breaks down into the following routine... QuantumTunneling breaks the ice, then it's 6 days (2 in Voltage Mode and 4 in Current Mode) on the Hagerman FryKleaner and finaly 1 week on a receiver hooked up to a pair of bookshelf speakers in my garage. For power cords it's 10-14 days on the fridge... the same for outlets.
I have generally found that predominantly silver cables take twice as long on the FryKleaner, hence the 6 days vs. 3 for copper (suggested by Hagerman).
Well, these Accelerators, fresh out of the box, sound great already, so I'm less concerned about having to "live through" 300 hours. It will be fun.
BTW, a number of folks have ping'd me about my "great $" comments. I am not authorized to name dealers, etc but I was very impressed with my dealer's customer service, he allowed me to demo some stuff in-the-home and he did not charge me for shipping. Along with a 10% discount, this was a great deal in my books, being out in the boonies away from brick-n-mortar. Thx
I agree with Rhirsch, the Synergistic cables need about 300 hours to break in when installed. The Quantum Tunneling only conditions the cables and Elliott is better to explain this than I am. The actual use in your system breaks them in. They sound great when first installed for about 50 hours and then the bass drops out and treble cuts a bit and then one day...BLAMO... it all returns with greater resolution and impact and gets even better after 500 hours. These are my findings in my system. Dont move them too much once installed or it's break in time again, but to a little lesser degree.
Well, I know understand tha too much of a good thing is just that. I am currently demoing Accelerator inteconnects from pre-amp to amp, as well as Accelerator and Acoustic Reference from Source to Pre. It should be noted that I already run Accelerator Speaker Cable. With all Accelerator in my system things sound just a little to fast for me. To the point it was a tad harsh, but that may have dissapeared with a little more break-in time? While I had excellent detail and imaging, I just lost a little connection with the music. I then replaced the Accelerator IC from source to pre with the Acoustic Reference, and it was pure magic! I did not lose any of the detail but I seemed to gain a little depth to the music. Everything became a little more robust and full sounding again. I now fully understand the synergy among these cables, and it is fantastic!
Rydenfan, my experience is that you have to give a Tesla cable a long time to sit untouched and settle into your system before you make final judgements. Like some others, I would say around 250-300 hours.
Foster, thanks for the suggestion. However, my reasoning for switching between the Accelerator and Acoustic Reference interconnect comes straight from Ted D himself. With all other Tesla cables in place you can do a quick A/B from source to pre to see what works best. After that is established, then you should let all the cables settle in to optimize the sound.
From the time I received my SR cables I've kept my system playing basically for 24 hours per day for my break-in period. These cables continue to get better and better each day. I've been totally amazed by these SR Tesla cables.
Thanks guys for the break-in info re: bass response. 2-300 hours is relatively easy compared to the 800+ hours my VD speaker cables took....
I think part of my problem may also be that my VR-7s bass drivers are probably not as broken in yet as they need to be. The speakers are only a few months old. Does anyone have a CD recommendation that will emphasize the bass drivers for break-in? (I'll probably also ask Albert VS)
Cable burn-in and Quantum Tunneling are two different things much like letting a bottle of wine breath and aging wine are two different things. Recently a long time SR user returned his X Series and X2 cables to the factory for Quantum Tunneling for a fee. These cables had been used in his system for years and had several thousand hours on them; in other words, they were well broken-in. We Quantum Tunneled his cables and shipped them back to him on the same day they arrived. The very next day he called me and was speechless, actually he could not stop talking. Needless to say he was very happy and surprised at the difference Quantum Tunneling had made to his older cables.
Quantum Tunneling significantly increases the resolution and sound staging potential of cables while at the same time smoothing out the high frequencies compared to the same cable not treated. That said, the increase in resolution also makes you more aware of a cables state of break in-a strange dichotomy I suppose. It is this increase in resolution across the entire frequency spectrum and the improved phase transfer characteristics that contributes to the 300 hours of break in many are reporting-you are simply aware of information that previously went unnoticed. I actually find my cables continue to improve all the way to the 700 hour mark however at the 300 hour mark you are nearly all the way there.
Yours in music, Ted Denney Lead Designer Synergistic Research Inc.
Anyone compared the Accelerator speaker cables to the Acoustic Reference? Would be used with Magnepan 3.6´s. Heard that the Accelerator is their best value by far.
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