Reviewers' ChoiceOver the last 18 years, Synergistic Research has introduced five generations of its Active Shielded signal cables, interconnects, and power cords. The company claims that applying a 30V DC bias to the cables’ shield isolates the signal from the dielectric, thus reducing phase and time distortions and improving sound quality.

More recently, Synergistic has applied this active technology to other audio products, including its PowerCell power conditioners, Tranquility Base component platforms, and Atmosphere and Frequency Equalizer (FEQ) room wave generators. In fact, Synergistic is now best known for its ever-broadening implementation of its Active Shielding technology.

It was therefore a shock to learn from Ted Denney, Synergistic’s lead designer, that his new Atmosphere speaker cables and interconnects are not active. I’ve been using Synergistic’s active Element cables for years, and I could hardly be happier with them.

According to Denney, applying Synergistic’s new Uniform Energy Field (UEF) technology to the Atmosphere cables has made it possible for him to increase their sound quality over that of the Element models without having to use Active Shielding. This has reduced the complexity and thus the cost of the Atmospheres’ internal geometry. Externally, it has eliminated the need to use one of Synergistic’s AC-to-DC power transformers -- either the Master Power Coupler wall warts (one per cable), or the component-size, full-system converters: the solid-state Transporter, or the Enigma, which runs on mercury-vapor rectifier tubes.

The sound quality of Synergistic’s active signal cables and power cords can’t really be questioned. However, whichever way of converting AC to DC was used, it was necessary to run a thin DC power cord from the transformer to each speaker cable, interconnect, power cord, and active device. As a result, any system -- mine -- running a full loom of Synergistic products is ensnared in a web of wires of unprecedented complexity. This doesn’t make cleaning around one’s system easy, or score highly with significant others. And it required frequent checking to ensure that none of the DC leads had become loose. For me, the active cables’ minor inconveniences were well worth their stunning sound, and I liked their industrial look. But I can see why some might shy away from their complexity.

Ted Denney also told me about the new Atmosphere power cords, which, unlike the Atmosphere signal cables, are active. However, he explained that he’s placed the Active Shielding transformers inside the new cords, thus eliminating the need for external transformers and their wires.

But as I spoke with Denney, an unsettling question crossed my mind. In light of an apparently shrinking high-end market, has Synergistic sold out by creating less costly and complex cables that appeal to the mainstream, but don’t sound as good as the old ones? He assured me that the Atmospheres’ sound quality far exceeded that of the Elements. But knowing how committed Synergistic has been to their Active Shielding technology, and how good the Elements indeed are, I was skeptical.

After a review was set up, Peter Hansen, Synergistic’s vice president of sales and marketing, came to my home to dress my system with all-top-of-the-line Atmosphere wires: Level 4 speaker cables ($4995 USD per 8’ pair, $5195 biwire version) and interconnects ($2495 per 1m pair, RCA; $3095 per 1m pair, XLR), and Level 3 power cords ($2995 each, analog or digital; $3250, High Current).

Along with the above, Hansen brought along a Synergistic Grounding Block ($595), which uses UEF technology to star ground not only components and other active audio devices, but the Atmosphere speaker cables and interconnects as well. In addition, he brought High Definition (HD) Ground Cables ($495 per 10’ for Grounding Block to wall, $395 per 4’ for Grounding Block to components and other active devices), which he said offered better sound than the Standard Ground Cables that come with the Grounding Block.

Look, Ma -- no transformers!

A common thread of the products under review is Synergistic’s UEF technology. Many high-end audio companies don’t disclose the significant details of their proprietary technologies, and Synergistic is no exception. All they would tell me was that UEF, which is active only outside the signal path, acts as a parallel filter to reduce noise that can distort harmonics. All of these products are also significantly lighter, more flexible, and thinner than their Element predecessors -- a welcome change that your audio connectors and lighter components will thank you for.

Atmosphere Level 4 speaker cables and interconnects

The Atmosphere speaker cables and interconnects come in four Levels; the number of features provided increases with the Level number, as does the claimed level of sound quality. According to Ted Denney, the sound quality of the Level 4 products is surpassed only by the company’s top line of signal cables, the active Galileo SEs.

Thankfully, the Atmospheres not only cost less than the Galileo SE cables, but the outgoing Element models as well. For example, the Atmosphere Level 4 speaker cables and interconnects are cheaper by about $1100 and $2500, respectively, than the top Element models, the Copper-Tungsten-Silver. That’s good news for audiophiles.

Atmosphere Level 4

The Atmosphere Level 4 speaker cables feature 12 geometries per channel, four each of Synergistic’s High Current Speaker (H.C.S.P.), Tricon, and Silver Air String conductors. The H.C.S.P. conductor itself is made of a Silver Copper Matrix (i.e., alloy) and contains a separate ground conductor that leads to the cable’s shield of silver Mylar. The Tricon consists of nine stranded Silver Matrix conductors per pair, surrounded by a Teflon dielectric. The Air String is four conductors of 99.9999%-pure silver surrounded by an air dielectric.

The Tricons and Air String conductors use Synergistic’s ground-plane technology (which grounds the conductor from the cables’ shield) and one UEF filter. The Atmosphere Level 4 speaker cable uses a modified polyethylene dielectric and Synergistic’s own spade or banana connectors.

The Atmosphere Level 4 RCA interconnect features eight geometries per channel: four each of Synergistic’s Tricon and Silver Air String conductors. The XLR version essentially doubles the number of conductors listed above. Connectors are Synergistic’s own silver Teflon SR 20 (RCA) and Neutrik’s silver connectors (XLR).

Many parts of the Atmosphere speaker cables and interconnects -- their conductors, ground wires, shields, and connectors -- are treated with Synergistic’s Quantum Tunneling process.

Atmosphere Level 4

Unlike the Level 1 and 2 Atmosphere interconnects and speaker cables, the Levels 3 and 4 come with Synergistic’s newly developed, bullet-like Tuning Modules, which attach to the cables at their source end via barrel connectors. According to Synergistic’s website, with the Tuning Modules you can voice your cables to match your musical preferences and your system’s sound characteristics. The Red Module is claimed to increase warmth, liquidity, and musicality; the Blue one, refinement, detail, and focus. The Level 3 products come standard with Red Modules, the Level 4s with both Red and Blue.

The Levels 2 through 4 Atmosphere interconnects and speaker cables also come with a male banana mini-connector that allows their shields to be connected to the Grounding Block. When I asked Denney how this could improve sound quality, he stated that cables can transfer noise between components, and between other active devices and speakers; and when connected to the Grounding Block, such noise is directed to ground.

The Atmosphere Level 4 RCA and XLR interconnects respectively contain 44 and 56 point-to-point connections, all hand soldered; each pair takes 4.5 hours to build. The speaker cables contain 36 such connections; each pair takes four hours to build. All are handmade in the Synergistic Research factory, in Irvine, California.

Atmosphere Level 3 power cords

According to Synergistic, the Atmosphere power cords, also hand-built in the company’s factory, are the first to use graphene, a recently developed superconductor reported to have the highest current density of any material at room temperature -- eight million times that of copper -- and to be 30% lighter and 300% stiffer than carbon fiber. It’s not surprising that graphene is being used by Magico in the midrange driver of its new flagship speaker, the Q7 Mk II.

The Atmosphere power cords’ Active Shielding is powered by an internal transformer, and, like the Atmosphere cables, their conductive parts are Quantum Tunneled.

Atmosphere Level 3

There are three Levels of Atmosphere cords, and the highest models, Level 3, come in three varieties: Analog, Digital, and High Current, the last for use with power amplifiers, line conditioners, and other high-current components. The Atmosphere Level 3 cords come with two bullet-like modules, Gold and Red, that attach to the cords near their male IEC via barrel connectors. The Level 2 cords come with the Red Module but not the Gold.

The Gold Module, claimed by Synergistic to provide “UEF calibration,” is generally similar in purpose to the Red and Blue Tuning Modules, except that it’s designed to work with AC power. Synergistic states that the UEF Gold Module adds warmth and bloom to the sound, and can be used as needed depending on personal preference and system characteristics.

The Red Module is the Active Shielding circuit. In the unlikely event that the circuit fails, it can easily be replaced without having to send the cord back to Synergistic.

Grounding Block

The Grounding Block is small (4”L x 1.5”W x 1”D), and was designed to improve the sound of active components (e.g., D/A converters, preamps, power amps, turntables), other active audio devices (e.g., routers, computers, and Synergistic products with external ground-plane connectors such as the Tranquility Base and the FEQ and Atmosphere room wave generators), and interconnects and speaker cables of Atmosphere Levels 2-4.

On one side of the Grounding Block is a female banana mini-connector. This receives a Ground Cable with a male banana mini at one end and a male IEC plug at the other, the latter plugging into an AC outlet.

On another side of the Grounding Block are 18 female connectors -- enough to accommodate 18 Ground Cables and thus 18 components, devices, or Atmosphere cables. One end of each of these cables contains a male banana mini-plug that connects to the Grounding Block. The non-Grounding Block end of each cable connects to the component to be grounded, active or otherwise, or to an Atmosphere signal cable.

Grounding Block

For active components or other devices, the non-Grounding Block end of the Ground Cable is either male-terminated or bare wire, and goes into a ground connector or into any other open connector on the component or device. For the Atmosphere cables, which have male mini-bananas for the Grounding Block, the non-Grounding Block end of the Ground Cables is terminated with a matching female mini banana.

Synergistic can terminate the non-Grounding Block end of the Ground Cables with a variety of connectors: RCA, XLR, USB, Ethernet, banana, spade, or even an alligator clip. Denney states that the idea is to get a pathway from ground into the component or devices’ printed circuit board. If the component being grounded has a rear ground connector, make sure that it leads to a circuit board and is not a mere chassis ground.

Included with the Grounding Block are six Ground Cables: four 4’ long and two 8’ long. These are terminated so that they can be connected to two pairs of Atmosphere interconnects and one pair of Atmosphere speaker cables. In light of the fact that these cables are terminated on both ends with mini-bananas, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to use them to ground components.

Unlike the Standard Ground Cables, the hand-built HD cables, which are not made to be used with the Atmosphere cables, feature an air dielectric and UEF technology. The HD Ground Cable that goes from the Block to the wall also features the same G07 male IEC plug that Synergistic uses in its top-end power cords.

If you want to connect more than 18 cables or devices to a Grounding Block, you can daisy-chain two Blocks. Synergistic does not recommend plugging a Grounding Block into a power regenerator or line conditioner.

Keep it simple, stupid

When Peter Hansen arrived at my home to dress my system with the review samples, what he saw surprised him.

Using the active Element Series cables and a pair of Synergistic’s active Galileo Speaker Cells, the latter as junction boxes, I’d separately wired each driver of my YG Acoustics Kipod II Signature speakers: the tweeter and midrange drivers at speaker level and the active bass cabinet at line level. For jumpers, I’d used a pair of Element speaker cables. I’d also used two pair of Synergistic’s XOT Crossover Transducers on the speaker terminals. The resulting levels of air and resolution were well beyond what I heard when the speakers were wired with just a pair of Element speaker cables and interconnects.

What Hansen soon realized is that, for my speakers alone, we were replacing four pairs of Element speaker cables, a pair of Element interconnects, a pair of Galileo Speaker Cells, and two pairs of XOTs -- total retail cost about $20,000 -- with one pair each of the Atmosphere speaker cables and interconnects totaling $7690. Hansen became visibly nervous, but after a few moments bravely stated that the Atmospheres would outperform the outgoing Elements.

In all, the initial setup of interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords was straightforward, and removing almost all of the DC leads for Active Shielding greatly uncluttered my system. But the Enigma power transformer must have felt underappreciated -- now it powered only the Tranquility Bases, and the PowerCell line conditioners and their Element power cords.

We experimented with the Tuning Modules. I found that the signal cable’s Red and Blue Modules did exactly what Synergistic’s website said they would: increase warmth, liquidity, and musicality (Red); and refinement, detail, and focus (Blue). The power cord’s Gold Tuning Module added not only the promised warmth and bloom, but created a wider soundstage and a silkier, smoother sound. I can see how a tubed system might not need Gold Modules on the power cords or Red Modules on the signal cables. However, if your system sounds a bit lean or bright, you may want to be liberal in your use of them.

Prior to shipment to me, the Atmosphere cables and power cords had been burned in. Now all they needed was some time to settle in. At first, I found the Atmosphere products to sound a bit cold and brittle. Hansen ameliorated this by connecting Red Modules to all signal cables and Golds to all power cords.

Hansen then began all the way upstream, with my Esoteric K-01X SACD/CD player and DAC. He connected it to the Grounding Block, then proceeded downstream, grounding in turn my Stanford Research Systems PERF10 clock, Esoteric C-02X preamp and A-03 power amp, and Synergistic Tranquility Bases and FEQ. Although the rear panels of my Esoteric components have ground connectors, we weren’t sure if those connectors were wired to the circuit boards. To be safe, we attached the Ground Cables to open RCA and XLR connectors on my components, which necessarily led to circuit boards within. I was later told by Scott Sefton, marketing specialist for Esoteric, that the ground connectors are indeed connected directly to boards.

At my suggestion, we also grounded the active bass modules of the YGA Kipod IIs through their unused XLR terminals. Finally, we grounded the Atmosphere speaker cables and interconnects, beginning with the Standard Grounds.

Not grounded were my two Synergistic PowerCell line conditioners, the Enigma power supply for my active cables, and the two Element power cords for the line conditioners.

During setup we hit a snag. After grounding the Stanford PERF10 clock and connecting an Atmosphere power cord, the K-01X failed to lock on to the clock’s signal. Hansen immediately diagnosed the problem: Changing the clock’s power cord and interrupting its AC power broke the digital handshake of clock and K-01X. When the clock was then powered up, it saw two output devices: the K-01X and the Grounding Block. However, the clock could shake hands only with the K-01X, which caused it to freak out, sending into the K-01X a clock signal erratic enough that the Esoteric couldn’t lock to it. Hansen’s easy fix was to attach the Grounding Block to the clock after the K-01X had locked on to the clock’s signal.

Into the Atmosphere (speaker cables, interconnects, power cords)

Peter Hansen left, but my work had only begun. As everything settled in, I re-evaluated the sound and replaced many of the signal cables’ Red Tuning Modules with Blue. I also removed a few of the UEF-calibrating Gold Modules from the power cords. The combined effect was increased detail and transient impact, and the coldness and brittleness were gone.

But there was something that had been apparent even before Hansen’s departure. As he’d promised, the Atmosphere speaker cables and interconnects, both of which were used on my YGA speakers, trounced even my extreme setup of some $20,000 worth of Element speaker cables, interconnects, XOTs, and Galileo Speaker Cells. I now heard more liquidity, transparency, detail, air, better imaging, bigger soundstages, and less noise than with the Elements.

The Atmosphere power cords further increased these improvements, significantly exceeding the effects of my reference Element cords. Although the changes wrought by the Atmosphere cords warrant a separate review, suffice it to say that, compared to the Elements, they significantly expanded soundstages and delivered more detail and a greater sense of rhythm and flow, all while further reducing noise.

These improvements manifested themselves in seemingly unlimited ways. Peter Gabriel’s voice in any of the tracks of his Live Blood (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC, Eagle) had never sounded so large or firmly planted on the soundfield, or the bells in “Mercy Street” so liquid and clear. The microphone rumble at the opening of “Old Man,” from Neil Young’s Live at Massey Hall 1971 (16/44.1 FLAC, Reprise), had never sounded so detailed and realistic.

Atmosphere Level 4

My listening didn’t follow the usual pattern of a new version of a cable or power cord retaining the sonic signature of the old while making incremental improvements within the same, standard audiophile criteria. Rather, the Atmosphere products produced a sound that was qualitatively different from that of their predecessors in at least two ways.

First, compared to the Elements, the Atmospheres had a naturally warmer, more organic, and harmonically fuller sound that lacked the older cables’ relatively sharp edges. This not only improved the reproduction of the sounds of instruments and voices throughout the audioband, but makes these products the poster children for natural voicing.

For example, in “April in Paris,” from Ella and Louis (CD, Verve/LIM UDH 045), Ella Fitzgerald’s and Louis Armstrong’s voices -- and Armstrong’s trumpet, the sounds of which mostly fall in the midrange -- were now not only more defined in space, but much more full-bodied and harmonically saturated, with unprecedented warmth and bloom. With the Elements, those sounds were not only coarser, they were also harmonically deflated and, in retrospect, a bit sharp-edged.

You might assume that, as in the choice between tubed and solid-state gear, the Atmospheres’ fulsome sound will be good or bad depending on personal preference. That would be incorrect. To attain their repleteness of sound, the Atmospheres didn’t compromise transparency, speed, or detail. In fact, they significantly improved on each of these characters. With the Synergistic Atmospheres, I had my cake and ate it, too.

Second, compared to the Elements, the Atmospheres sounded uncommonly clean. In fact, it was this cleanness that made them sound more modern than their Element predecessors. The voices and trumpet in “April in Paris” sounded as if scrubbed clean of filmy layers of dirt.

Perhaps as a result of this sonic purity, the Atmospheres also bettered the Elements in parsing timbres. I’d thought that my Esoteric C-02X preamp, which aces timbral variations like nobody’s business, had allowed me to identify the tonal differences of the most prominent instruments in my “go to” music. But playing “Prepared Piano Pt. 1,” from Neil Thybo, Bo Stief, and Lennart Gruvstedt’s Super Trio (16/44 FLAC, Stunt/LIM), with the Atmospheres revealed otherwise.

In this track, Thybo uses a technique pioneered in the 1930s by John Cage, inserting between or placing on a piano’s strings nuts, bolts, washers -- even bits of rubber trash -- to mute its tone and create complex, inharmonic timbres. The technique transforms a piano’s usual sound into something resembling a gamelan, a traditional Indonesian percussion ensemble comprising gongs, xylophones, and metallophones.

With the Atmospheres, Thybo’s percussive keystrokes had better detail, air, clarity, transparency, bite, and transient speed, all against a lower noise floor. Unexpectedly, I could also better discern the timbre of each of his piano’s manipulated strings. It was now virtually impossible to believe that the complexity of the prepared inharmonic sounds was being produced by a single instrument, much less a piano.

Yes, the outgoing Element products are still very good, but after listening to the Atmospheres, I couldn’t help but conclude that they travel a different and more direct road to great sound. Chalk it up to Synergistic Research’s UEF technology, or whatever you like -- the Atmospheres not only scored well on all the standard audiophile benchmarks, they also had a warmer, more natural, more organic sound that better allowed for the development of harmonic structure. They also sounded cleaner and more modern, and made it easier for me to differentiate tonal colors.

Back on the Grounding Block

When Peter Hansen and I connected Synergistic’s Grounding Block to my Esoteric K-01X SACD/CD player, the results were astonishing. Noise and digital grunge were reduced, imaging and microdynamics improved, and soundstage size and perceived gain increased. According to Hansen, the last was the result of decreased dynamic compression and a much lower noise floor. That plugging a $595 device into a $20,000 component could have that kind of effect was mind-blowing.

As we grounded the rest of my components, all of the above just got better and better. In “Walking on the Moon,” from the Yuri Honing Trio’s Star Tracks (CD, Jazz in Motion 9920102), it was hard to know which was now the more jaw-dropping aspect of Joos Lybart’s drumming: the incredible microdynamic details of his drums’ resonating skins or the sheer force of his strokes. We were not in Kansas anymore.

The idea of grounding the YGA Kipod IIs’ active bass modules was pure genius, if I do say so myself. As I’ve stated before, these speakers own the low register. But only after we’d grounded their bass modules did we realize that, before, their bass imaging had been relatively localized around each speaker. Now the low end was freed of the speakers to take up residence wherever on the soundstage the recording dictated. It was also further cleaned.

Take, for example, J.S. Bach’s Fantasy in G Minor, BWV 542, from organist Virgil Fox’s The Bach Gamut (16/44 FLAC, Reference), recorded in St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco in 1976, at one of Fox’s controversial “Heavy Organ” concerts. Bach’s music is mostly very religious, but Fox’s interpretation of this piece is decidedly not. Complete with a light show and liberally reinterpreted, the work’s florid, baroque opening showcases Fox’s ability to cause low-register drama, and in the process provide the quintessential pipe-organ demo track. With the Kipods’ bass modules grounded, the St. Mary’s organ was placed much more solidly in the soundfield. It also sounded much more thunderous, detailed, and articulate than anything the YGAs had been able to muster before. It wasn’t even close.

As improbable as it seemed, connecting Synergistic’s Tranquility Bases and FEQ to the Grounding Block further lowered the noise floor, and improved transient thrust and soundstaging. But what really dumbfounded me was that perceived gain again markedly increased. Remember, the Tranquility Bases and FEQ are not applied to the signal path. I can’t explain how these improvements happened, but they did.

As if the Grounding Block had not already proven its worth several times over, replacing the Standard Ground Cables with the HDs cleaned things up and lowered the noise floor even more. Voices had less grunge, microdynamics further improved, instruments such as cymbals sounded more real, and aural images snapped more into place.

The effect of the HD Ground Cables on an old audiophile workhorse, the title track of Shelby Lynne’s Just a Little Lovin’ (16/44.1 FLAC, Lost Highway), was stupefying. Gregg Field’s elongated cymbal decays, which often occur against a quiet background, are key ingredients of this recording’s tranquil feel. With the HD Grounds, those decays were now set against a background of the “blackest” silence I’ve ever heard, fragments of their metallic sound lingering into portions of this track that, even on many world-class systems, had previously sounded free of cymbals. In fact, the decays were now so fully rendered that it became apparent just how closely Lynne had used them as cues for her entrances. The effect was remarkable.

Connecting the Grounding Block to the Atmospheres further improved the sound, but I have to accept Ted Denney’s explanation of why. I’ve heard Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (SACD/CD, EMI 5 09995 22433 2 5) through many systems in many rooms, and its buried sonic gems have again and again been mined by my prog-rock audiophile buddies and me. Still, when connected to the Atmosphere cables, the Grounding Block allowed my system to disclose myriad whirling, buzzing mechanical noises in the recording that none of us had ever heard before, even when listening through top-end gear. These sounds were now much larger, more solid, better placed, and, due in no small part to the quieter noise floor, more spine chilling. For example, the sounds of wind in the opening of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” now emanated from well behind the speakers, and their improved drive, body, and detail made them feel more forbidding. The fact that the Grounding Block could make me feel as if I were listening to such overplayed audiophile standbys as “Just a Little Lovin’” and Wish You Were Here for the very first time is a testament to its transformative abilities.

The cumulative effect of completely grounding my system was unforeseen. Details, imaging, soundstage size, dynamics, noise reduction, perceived gain, and transient impact all dramatically improved. Moreover, my system’s noise floor dropped like a sack of wet potatoes, revealing its pre-Grounding sound as relatively harsh and grating. Gone was much of the noise that, unbeknownst to me, had been attacking my central nervous system -- the music now had a calming effect. In high-end sound, this is the definition of luxury; once you’ve experienced it, there’s no going back.

In fact, with both the Grounding Block and Atmospheres in my system, my more moderately priced Esoteric components outperformed Esoteric’s statement Grandioso models in significant ways. I can only imagine what a Grandioso system tricked out with Grounding Block and Atmospheres might sound like.

I conclude that Synergistic’s Grounding Block is no mere accessory or tweak, but a necessity. After letting it work its magic, I realized that the power supplies of audio components, even really expensive ones, aren’t designed to remove much of the signal-damaging electromagnetic demons that ride our electrical lines.

Don’t call them sellouts!

The Atmosphere models are not evidence of Synergistic Research selling out, because Ted Denney was right: The non-active Atmospheres trounced the active Elements. Moreover, the Atmospheres’ simpler, thinner, more flexible designs greatly decluttered my system, and provided needed stress relief to my component’s connectors.

Beginning with Synergistic’s Tesla and Element products, and now with the Atmosphere cables and power cords and the Grounding Block, the increase in my system’s sound quality can be represented by a line pointing pretty much straight up. I know that can’t go on forever. I’m convinced that there is only a finite number of sounds still unheard in Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.

But for now, as incredible as it seems, Ted Denney has once again shown that we haven’t yet reached a point of inflection in an ascent of sound quality that has so far been linear. Kudos to Synergistic Research for earning Reviewers’ Choice awards for these products, and for being one of a very small number of companies that consistently and innovatively push the state of the art of high-end audio.

. . . Howard Kneller
howardk@soundstagenetwork.com

Associated Equipment

  • Power amplifier -- Esoteric A-03
  • Preamplifiers -- Esoteric C-02 and C-02X
  • Sources -- Esoteric K-01X SACD/CD player-DAC player, Windows 7 laptop running JRiver Media Center
  • Speakers -- YG Acoustics Kipod II Signature
  • Interconnects -- Synergistic Research Element Copper-Tungsten-Silver (components, active bass modules of speakers)
  • Digital cables -- Synergistic Research Galileo LE USB, JPlay JCAT USB
  • Speaker cables -- Synergistic Research Element Copper-Tungsten-Silver (tweeter) and Element Copper-Tungsten (midrange driver)
  • Power cords -- Synergistic Research Element Copper-Tungsten-Silver Analog (power amplifier, preamplifier), Copper-Tungsten-Silver Digital (SACD/CD player-DAC), Tesla Precision AC SE (speakers), Element Copper-Tungsten (PowerCell 6 SE and PowerCell 10 SE Mk.III power conditioners), Element Copper-Tungsten-Silver Analog and Digital (Enigma power supply fed by two AC cords), Tesla Hologram A (QLS Lines strips with Galileo MPCs)
  • Power conditioners and distribution -- Synergistic Research PowerCell 6 SE (digital only) daisy-chained to PowerCell 10 SE Mk.II
  • Isolation devices -- Symposium Acoustics Osiris Racks, Synergistic Research Tranquility Bases, Custom Isolation Products amp stand, Silent Running Audio VR fp Isobase, Synergistic Research MiGs, Symposium Acoustics RollerBlock Series 2+ Equipment Support System.
  • Room treatments and correction -- Synergistic Research: Acoustic Art System, HFT and FEQ room-treatment devices, XOT Crossover Transducer
  • Misc. -- Black Discus Audio System Enhancer, Synergistic Research Galileo Universal interconnect and speaker Cells

Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 4 Speaker Cables
Price: $4995 USD per 8’ pair; $5195 USD, biwire version.
Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 4 Interconnects
Price: $2495 USD per 1m pair, RCA; $3095 USD per 1m pair, XLR.
Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 3 Power Cords
Price: $2995 USD per 5’ cord, analog or digital; $3250 USD per 5’ cord, High Current.
Synergistic Research Grounding Block
Price: $595 USD each.
Synergistic Research HD Ground Cables
Price: $395 USD per 4’ cable, $495 USD per 10’ cable.
Warranty: Lifetime.

Synergistic Research
17401 Armstrong Avenue, Suite 102
Irvine, CA 92614
Phone: (949) 476-0000
Fax: (949) 476-0800

E-mail: service3@synergisticresearch.com
Website: www.synergisticresearch.com