Synergy


Hi.

I hear a lot of talk about synergy. Most agree that it is an important piece of the puzzle. I would think the greatest synergy would come from using all the same brand as they were most certainly designed for each other. If this is the case, why is it that 99% of the systems here on Audiogon are not entirely one brand(excluding speakers in most cases)?
develyn50
place 11 audiophiles in a room and you will get 12 opinions. synergy is somewhat ephemeral in that what is ysnergistic for one may not be for another.

the question is production or reproduction ? a hobbyist will make a choice as to pleasing him/herself or trying to minimize inaccuracy.

if one likes the sound of a stereo system than one says synergy is present. since there maybe subjective disagreement as to the presence or absence of synergy, it may be more useful to use preference in lieu of synergy.
Here's a definition:

"The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects."

That pretty much sums up what you are shooting for in a good sounding system to me.

Of course, with audio gear,the only thing objective are the specifications and any actual performance measurements you might have at your disposal. These provide the only metrics available for objectively determining synergy or no.

That's fine but we know that no set of measurements can tell the whole story behind what our ears are actually capable of hearing, right?
sme say that synergy has to deal with Impedance and gain compatibility.

how you do the Impedance matching
and how to do the Gain matching?

thanks
Mapman's definition of the term is the accurate one. Many use the term in a semantically incorrect way. There's really no way to predict or quantify if the sound/presentation of one's audio system will be, "greater" than the sum of it's parts/effects(other than the owner's subjective opinion). System or component, "compatibility" is what people actually seek. I suppose that, "synergy" sounds more upscale to some though. If one's collection of components achieves actual synergy(per it's definition); it's purely serendipitous.