Sound, Systems & Synergy

[Mr Peabody]

I read an article where an audio club was going to listen to a couple phono stages and had two sets of amps. They listened to the least expensive amps first, sound was good. So they switched to the more expensive and capable amps but the sound wasn't as satisfying. Being a bit disappointed they went ahead and switched to the other phono stage. Interestingly the sound was very good. So they went back to the lesser set of amps. The sound then was not quite as good as with the better amps. The determination was the better amps must have been showing the weakness of the first phono stage. And the intended moral of the story was if we hear a not so good room at a show it may be due to a similar equipment mismatch.

This got me reflecting over my own journey in hi fi and how many times I changed something in the chain that upset my synergy and set off a domino effect in my system.

I call it "synergy", "balance" I don't think is quite the correct word. An example, in my second system I actually like the smaller MBL amp opposed to the Coda I had in that spot. The Coda is a better more powerful amp but the MBL seemed to have better synergy with my Parasound preamp, plus the smaller power helped to integrate the sub properly.

My most recent experience was replacing my 532h with a superior 534. Although the 534 was better in every way I was still missing a synergy or balance I had before. I didn't really know what to blame, I was a bit disappointed in the amp at the time. I had planned to experiment with DAC's so moved forward on that. I added the N05xd and not only was synergy eventually back but my system is now exceeding my expectations.

 

[JCS123]

So true about "synergy", "compatibility", whatever you want to call it. My systems are much more modest that yours, but I've also experienced on several occasions switching in something that is claimed to be better in everyone else's systems but just doesn't do anything for mine.

The only brands I share with those in your signature are Marantz pre-pros and SVS subs. To me, both offer great sound and value.

 

[Mr Peabody]

This thread has been read over 400 times, go ahead and share an experience of your own, if you have one.

My biggest domino effect of component switching happened when I replace a set of Dynaudio Contour with Revel F52. I was using Conrad Johnson tube gear. I could just tell the F52's weren't getting what they needed this sent me on an amp search. To keep it short I ended up with a Pass. Then I wanted to go all balanced so traded in my CJ pre for a Pass, balanced and same brand, worked well.

 

[Mr Peabody]

What amp(s) do you use with your Marantz? Definitely a good value and you saw how old mine is, LOL

So true about "synergy", "compatibility", whatever you want to call it. My systems are much more modest that yours, but I've also experienced on several occasions switching in something that is claimed to be better in everyone else's systems but just doesn't do anything for mine.

The only brands I share with those in your signature are Marantz pre-pros and SVS subs. To me, both offer great sound and value.

 

[JCS123]

What amp(s) do you use with your Marantz? Definitely a good value and you saw how old mine is, LOL

Since I have no shame, here goes: I drove my Marantz AV7705 with an Emotiva XPA-5 (only using 2 channels) and I couldn't believe how good it sounded in my room. The Blue-ray of Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scotts was just jaw-dropping. I haven't used it in years for various reasons, but I also remember it as having a very good audio-delay control for syncing audio and video. A slight delay in movies is OK, but for music real time is mandatory for me.

 

[JCS123]

This thread has been read over 400 times, go ahead and share an experience of your own, if you have one.

My most recent experience with system synergy (or lack of in this case) was adding the gigaFOIL in my chain between switch and LUMIN T2. It just didn't do anything for me. I have been alternating an Allegro Vivace and WW Starlight 8 cord between switch to gigaFOIlL and gigaFOIL to LUMIN, and I haven't settled on one way or the other. To me, both sound very good and both improved the system when added. Just trying to find the best combination. When I get a Venom-X, I will try that in combination with the other two and see what works best.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

This thread has been read over 400 times, go ahead and share an experience of your own, if you have one.

My most recent experience with system synergy (or lack of in this case) was adding the gigaFOIL in my chain between switch and LUMIN T2. It just didn't do anything for me. I have been alternating an Allegro Vivace and WW Starlight 8 cord between switch to gigaFOIlL and gigaFOIL to LUMIN, and I haven't settled on one way or the other. To me, both sound very good and both improved the system when added. Just trying to find the best combination. When I get a Venom-X, I will try that in combination with the other two and see what works best.

Be sure to let us know which combo you end up liking best.

 

[Kingrex]

I think we all know to some degree there is a level of quality that needs to be maintained across equipment. And that the weakest link will drag it all down. At one point in time I was rolling amplifiers. I though the amp was a big influence. Then I had some upgrades made to my First Sound preamp. Those upgrades were fairly profound. I suddenly was sensitive to the impact of the signal chain. That got me into my vinyl and digital. I ended up changing from an Allnic H1201 to Lino Channel D3.3.

After a while I sort of felt stagnated and wondered just how much more I had to spend on my vinyl equipment to step up to a system that played similar to what I would hear at Mike Lavignes. But then Scott with Found Music came by with his Blade amp. It was completely transformative to my system. Everything jumped in levels of magnitude. It really made me wonder, what is the most important component. And just how much something in the chain can hold you back. In the interim till my amps are built, I have some old KT88 PP amps running. What a load of crap I hear out of them now. They drag everything into the dirt. I wish I had my amps in the system when JR comes to setup my vinyl. He is going to hear a not so impressive system at the moment.