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 ...

 
128x128oregonpapa
I've had an epiphany with this post-----An idea on how to use Audiogon's discussion "forum" for very cheap advertising, perhaps even considering it to be subliminal; you know, you won't even know it's "just advertising". Eureka. Cheep advertising.
spar:
I have just finished evaluating upgrading the stock SR-20 fuses in a Transporter unit. The SR Red does improve my system's sound. Of course I now have three Black fuses to compare to the Red, and the SR-20 fuses.

The Atmosphere Level 3 Power Cord awaits to be tried at the SACD player, Amplifier, Transporter, and Power Conditioner locations!

Lots of fun listening to great music on a wonderfully satisfying system.

David Pritchard
Hi David,
Thought I'd move to this thread for the power cord, hope you don't mind.

The SR Black power cord has been powering my deep freezer since Friday afternoon, since that appliance runs about 1/3rd of the time that's about 8 hours per day. At that rate it would need about 10 days to reach the 80 hour mark, that would be Monday 4/18.......I don't think I'll be able to wait that long.
I will probably move it from the freezer on Saturday.
I plan to first put it on my power amp, replacing a Cullen Crossover power cord that I have enjoyed there since first bought about 1.5 years ago.
I look forward to the black power cord experiment, and hope that I get at least a portion of the magic afforded from the SR Black fuses.

I am also looking forward to hearing your observations of the SR Atmosphere 3 cord as it relates to your system.

Gary
Got my UEF black high current 10 gauge power cable this afternoon, along with my black fuse to upgrade the red in the preamp.

By far, of all the improvements, the biggest is the power amp power cord upgrade. It’s a massacre even from the first note, factory fresh. The factory cable from arc is a weak link in getting the resolution out of the amp.

These noise floor reduction is eerie. It’s like my whole library has been remastered in higher resolution. Im glad I got the cable for the power amp because I was so happy with the way the system already sounded with the black fuses and just the pre and cd re-cabled and really thought I was good to go. Glad I didn’t cheap out. This upgrade is just silly on the power amp. This cable allows the poweramp to really have an iron grip on the speakers and highlight the real outer edges of each note that were originally shaved off. Also, I never knew my little LS 17 had so much information to pass on! This system has had a blanket on it for so long and I never knew. In listening right now and have the volume low and images keep startling me in the recording because the dynamics have gone through the roof.

But seriously-the power amp took he biggest leap in performance of all the components. The amp has gone from Clark Kent to superman. I can’t even wrap my head around what this will sound like with break in time. Could I finally be peering at the gates of my own budget audio nirvana? I could see a lot of jealous ears after hearing this system, especially those who have spent considerably more than what I have. I'm sure there is better to be had, but I really think I'm finally reaching the law of diminishing returns here. 
Audiolover ...

I concur with your assessment on the power cords. Isn't it amazing how the SR fuses and PC's take what you thought was an almost grain-less component like your amp and completely transform it?  I have the ARC REF-75se and was already using custom aftermarket PC's. Everyone was taken by the transparency of the system before I installed the SR PC's .... but now, OMG!!  

Let us know how the break-in goes. Interesting stuff. :-)

OP