oregonpapa
Are you still enjoying these PC in current system?
Happy Listening!
Are you still enjoying these PC in current system?
Happy Listening!
Synergistic Research Atmosphere Power Cords.
For those who have been following the SR Red and Black fuse thread in the Amp & Preamp forum, it goes without saying that I loved the way they transitioned my audio system. What I thought was a highly resolving system has been transformed into a system that has been improved in every way ... drastically. For many of us, me included, our music collection and the playback system is a labor of love. I've been working on mine for over 40 years now.
After I got into the SR fuses, I started watching SR's youtube video demos. In watching the videos and reading their literature, I discovered that their new power cords used the same technology as their fuses. That got me to thinking ... if a one and a quarter inch fuse could make such an improvement in the system, what could a five-foot power cord do? I decided to find out.
Four of the new Synergistic Atmosphere Series level 3 AC cords arrived at the house.
http://www.synergisticresearch.com/new-atmosphere-series-ac-power-cords/
When they arrived, I unpacked them right away and was totally impressed with the build quality and materials used. More beautiful than the pictures depict. A shame no one is going to see them because they are behind my equipment rack out of sight. But it sure is an indication of the builder/designer's pride of workmanship. My first thought was ... Wow, if they sound half as good as they look, they should be great. With most things in this hobby, I've acquired a wait and see attitude.
I removed my old PCs and installed the SR's right away (of course). They were replacing two different brands of custom PCs. I had found through the years that this combination of PCs to beat anything else I tried, especially in terms of musicality and digging down into the organic sound of real instruments. Two were built by the Music Advancement Company (MAC) in Oregon. The other two were custom built by David Magnan, a very respectable cable builder and a fine gentleman. Those who know Dave's cables know what I mean. Throughout the years, I've had the privilege of using most of Magnan's work from his speaker cables, ICs and PC's. They are exceptional. So, this gives you an idea of what I'm comparing these new SR cables to.
After installation, I warmed the system up, adjusted the bias on the amp and sat down for an initial evaluation. What I heard right off the bat was an overall improvement in the areas we really like ... bigger , wider, deeper soundstage. More transparency. Far less grain .. in what I thought was a grain-less system. I thought the SR fuses had finally bought me to a grain free audio Utopia. Ha ... silly me. That's the good part.
Now, for the rub: The SR PC's, right out of the box, were doing exactly what the SR Black fuses did and that was to introduce a hard edge, especially on strings. There was an overall degradation in musicality and emotional connection to the music as a result. The reason? The PCs , like the fuses, need at least 100 hours of break-in before they really come to life. Like the fuses, I could hear the promise of these PCs right off, but man, new out of the box, again like the fuses, things just weren't "right." It reminded me of when I first fired up the new ARC REF-75se. It took 500 hours for the caps in that amp to finally come around full tilt.
So, as these new SR PCs break in, I'm going to chronicle the experience in this thread all the way from new to tatal break-in. From what I've heard so far, they offer great promise, trouncing my old PCs in so many ways. Now let's see what they can do musically as they break in.
Stay tuned ...
143 responses Add your response
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Appreciate this thread is old, but i followed this and the Blue fuse, so it was oregonpapa who got me to bite the bullet, try the blue fuses (everything he described) and recently the SR Atmosphere Level 1 Power cable ~ $1000. First the good, yes the power cable was as per this thread, a big step up, but sadly that has been ruined, how. I purchased a 3 PIN UK version which SR advertise, their moto being "NEVER COMPROMISE", so imagine my horror when it arrived with a $2 UK plug fitted, the type folk use for kettles. Took make matters worse i contact SR and even got a response forwarded from Ted basically saying tough, thats all we offer, if you want to buy a better plug and send it back we can re terminate. So i pay $1000 for a cable and am then expected to fork out another $150 on a Plug and then also the shipping back to the USA. What infuriated me most was the SR response. I also explained the heat shrink was applied over the mating plug surface, meaning the plug could not even connect safely without cutting it back. So all in all SR products, i cannot deny are great, but frankly the customer service and attitude of Ted Denney leaves me shocked. "NEVER COMPROMISE" is Ted motto, telling me it is economics of scale, not worth the effort, then why bother DO NOT OFFER A UK SPEC CABLE IF YOU CANNOT BE ARSED. I own a number of Blue Fuses and also MIG2.0, intent was after the power cable, to add the SR Atmosphere Ethernet, but as good as the products are the attitude SUCKS. |
For those SR fans out there or others interested in the graphene technology I just posted about my experiences with the new Powercell 12UEFs -- another great application of this technology I think |
2channel8 ... You should be good to go. The PHT's come as a pair. Try one on your head shell, and the other one on either the junction box where the RCA jacks go into the turntable. If you don't have a junction box, then try the second one on either the power cord where it goes into the turntable or on the turntable motor itself. I've read reviews where they make for an improvement in all of those places. Some rave reviews by the way. Please report your results here. The PHT's are on my bucket list. OP |
^^^ I can hardly wait for your assessment. This is going to be interesting. Currently, I'm auditioning a pair of Von Gaylord's biwired speaker cables and two of their IC's. They are just breaking in ... but so far, they have brought a new magical performance from my audio system. And they seem to be a real complement to the SR pc's. When the Von Gaylord cords are fully broken in, I'll start a new thread on them. In the meantime ... happy listening., OP |
I bought a used Shunyata Research ZiTron power cord. Kevin Hayes says "the go to power cord for VAC amps". I'll compare with my 10 gage black late next week and share my thoughts then. If the Shunyata works best in my VAC the black will go to my CD spinner or Garrard. I don't plan on letting it go. The retail Shunyata price is more than three times the Black PC. |
Would also seem to make sense that the wring in most homes must be well suited in this regard otherwise that would have to be the bottleneck and that mass produced wiring can't cost much in comparison to many audiophile products.Romex is illegal for use as power cords as it is inflexible. This can lead to fire and shock hazards. So the challenge for power cord manufacturers is to build a cable that does as well but uses legal materials (IOW, is flexible). |
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https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sarcastic+smiley+emoticon&sa=X&prmd=isvn&tbm=isch&... For geofkait, dont know if this link works because i’m not used to copying and pasting on a kindle fire. If it does, take your pic, there’s hundreds, some are quite humorous Sorry about going off topic Mark |
^^^ The major problem with trying to communicate via the keyboard is the fact that we can't see each other's facial expressions, hand gestures or other body language. Sooo, its easy to be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Maybe a good "emotion" for sarcasm would be to just end the statement with the simple term ... "bite me." *lol* :-) |
Yes I agree the warm to the touch observation was a very useful one for clearly determining if things might be working better than they are. Also the comment about how simple commercial grade in house wiring seems to be up to the task as described is an interesting one to take note of before dropping a bundle on power cords perhaps.. |
^^^ Well, all of that technical jargon is way beyond the pay grade of this life-long commissioned salesman. But, I thank you Al for posting Ralph's previous information on the subject. In the meantime, I'm going to spin a few LPs and explore the gift that God bestowed upon Sarah Vaughn. :-) Happy listening ... |
Would also seem to make sense that the wring in most homes must be well suited in this regard otherwise that would have to be the bottleneck and that mass produced wiring can't cost much in comparison to many audiophile products. So I gotta wonder how hard and expensive meeting that criteria in fact really is. |
Yes I seem to recall that discussion and does make senseat least for power amps. Thanks for the repost Al. For line level devices I suspect shielding is the most important factor. Pangea power cords seem designed with these two things in mind accordingly. I use their line level power cords and noticed an improvement over stock cords. I'd like to try something like theirs for my power amps someday. |
Regarding Ralph’s thoughts about power cords, perhaps it will save him some time if I quote some posts from this thread: Atmasphere 6-2-2014 11:30 am EDT Rockadanny 6-2-2014 2:23 pm EDT Atmasphere 6-3-2014 11:46 am EDTMakes perfect sense to me, as do just about all of Ralph’s posts. Best regards, -- Al |
^^^ mapman ... Have you ever been to one of Ralph's rooms at an audio show like CES? Believe me, the man knows how to make music. As you leave one of the other demonstration rooms, walking away from a $150,000 turntable and enter Ralph's room, you're faced with a beautifully restored classic Empire turntable, OTL amps and beautiful music emanating from the speakers. I'll bet those "known reasons" are .... which power cords sound the most like real, soul connecting music. I doubt if Ralph measures anything when it comes to power cords. Maybe he'll chime in here and solve the mystery. |
I’m interested in Atmasphere’s view specifically about what constitutes a power cord that works "very well" with his amps and some examples at various price points if possible. Any good quality power cord should "work well" I would think but if Ralph knows from his extensive experience some work better than others for known reasons I’d like to know. Lots of people approve of many things which is fine. Its not about that. |
^^^ True, that mapman. We all hear differently to some extent. If you go back and read this thread from the beginning, you'll find that at least 95% of those folks who have tried the tweaks that were suggested in the thread have reported positive results. We can't "measure" those results of course, but the proof is in the listening. It seems to me that a 95%+ approval rating should be subjective enough. What other proof would satisfy you? |
I do not have one of Ralph's Atmosphere amps but I do have an OTL amp for my headphone system - the Eddie Current Zana Deux. This amp has responded beautifully to Synergistic Research power cords. Specifically to the SR Tesla 3, Hologram A , CTS, and most recently the Galileo. I have not tried the latest SR Atmosphere power cords at the amplifier location but I am impressed with an Atmosphere Level 3 power cord 3 attached to my SACD player. I think there are some very good buys in the used Synergistic Research power cords here at Audiogon. David Pritchard |
Nice, mid40sguy ... I wish you could have heard SR's demo at the Newport show. I met David Pritchard there ... and we were both blown away. Like I said in another thread ... it was in a huge room and when all of the various SR products were operating in the room, it was like listening to a 3-D I-max theater of sound. When the products were disconnected and/or taken out of the room, everything just collapsed. It was very interesting. |
I've had my ten gage SR Black power cable connected to my VAC Sigma 160i two months now. It has 200+ hours on it. I swapped it with my Oyaide then Purist PC the change was not huge but the Black is clearly a noticeable step up. The amp sounded more open clear extended. Its not cheap like the fuse but it's a great power cord and value for the $$$$. |
spar ... Early on in the SR Fuse thread I posted about the same phenomenon. Not only did I have the experience with the SR fuses, but also with the PC's. Had the same experience breaking in the ARC-REF amps too. Why these things continue to break in while turned off is a mystery to me. Perhaps someone like Al could chime in with a technological explanation. |
@ folkfreak: When I first replaced the SR Tungsten with the Level 2 Atmosphere on the Transporter I, too, was not impressed. I burned in the AC cable for approx one week with really not much of a change. I am not sure why I did the following but I decided rather than continuing to prolong the burn-in process, I turned off the transporter/atmosphere for a day and then turned in on for two day and cycled the system on/off this way for another week. Sounds crazy but by the next week, the overall sound of the system was markedly improved. I have continued this type of cycling alternating the duration of on/off time and after about a 1-2 months the AC cable/transporter/active cables stablized with a definite improvement in the sound. I'm not sure this approach will work for you but you may wish to try this and see if it works if you don't get an improvement by prolonging the duration of burn-in. In the end I hope you find the addition of the Atmosphere to the Transporter to be as substantial an improvement over the Tungsten AC as I did. |
folkfreak: I am glad you are hearing positive changes. These Atmosphere cables take longer to fully develop than any previous Synergistic Research product. I believe you will have a very good idea if they are the direction you desire for your already fabulous system at 200 hours. Be patient and send them back if not the sound you want! David Pritchard |
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folkfreak: What a fabulous Synergistic Research based system you have. SR still considers their Galileo LE cables their highest performing products. I have the AudioDHarma Cable Cooker to initially condition and twice a year recondition my cables. I do think it allows a cable to demonstrate it's maximum performance. Although it has a lesser effect, I also use the Hagerman Frycorder device. This conditions the in- wall wire back to the power company's transformer. Both devices really allow the music to achieve a sense of" flow" that i find emotionally meaningful. David Pritchard |
I will experient when I have a chance to pop the top and let you know. Here is a pic from the net giving an approximation of where mine are. Although mine aren’t lopsided. Haha. http://www.highfidelity.pl/foto_testy/1210/audio_research/21.jpg Btw- I REALLY hate "auto correct". I think it creates more typos than it corrects. |
