Sonographe seems to have been c-j's 'budget' line. The models were similar to Synthesis, but were less expensive and had less impressive cabinets. Synthesis speakers were designed by Dave Fokos, who later founded his own mail order company, Icon Acoustics, worked as a designer for another company or two, and went into photography. A local store in Charlottesville Va handled all the c-j stuff and I got to listen to several models of Synthesis speaker: the 2-way LM-210, LM-260, LM-260i, and 3-way LM-300. I also heard the Sonographes. I believe the Synthesis speakers used Bessel filter crossovers, which Jon Bau had popularized with the Spica TC 50. The imaging was outstanding on all of them, though the bass of the 210 was a bit underdamped, while the 260 was overdamped, but to very nice effect. Deep organ notes produced silence but tympani sounded wonderful - you could hear the decay clearly separate from the sound of the mallet striking the head. The 260i extended the bass. Lewis Lipnick was quoted as liking Synthesis speakers in a NYT article, though of course he went on to praise other brands.
I couldn't afford the speakers at the time, but I'd love to have a used pair of 260s or even 210s. The 260s had uncanny imaging if not a lot of depth. The 210s had more depth if not quite as much specificity, and had a really ballsy midrange with solid state, but with cj tubes they sounded extremely liquid and sweet. Great dynamics made them great for either rock or classical. A pair of CM-205s sold just recently on Audiogon. These are similar to the 210s only standmounts with less low end than the 210, which is a tower, like the 260 and above. The seller said they use the same drivers as the 210, in which case they should be pretty capable speakers. All the Synthesis designs got excellent reviews in Sphile. Now I know that nearly everything else does too, but the reviews were good enough that taken together with cj's reputation they should have been able to move some wood. I don't know why these speakers are not more common. They are scarce as hen's teeth. I get the feeling that c-j didn't place the line in a lot of stores. I can't imagine customers were disappointed with them. Also, Synthesis made too many different models given the volume of business. They had silly variations: for example the 300 was just a 310 in a clunky cabinet. I think there was a 200 that was a 210 in a clunky cabinet. Very bad marketing. Dave Fokos is still around and from time to time the idea occurs to me of asking if he has the specs for a DIY project. I would welcome any news or stories anyone has to share. I hope to pick up a pair of one of these models sooner or later, though locating a pair is not trivial.
