Your experiences with system synergy
Hi All -
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to demo a top of the line tube amp in my system. This is a summit piece that many audiophiles would consider and end game piece. I was ready to open my wallet and spend a big chunk of money to upgrade my system.
Upon arrival at my home, I set this tube amp and sat back to experience the magic. To my surprise, the amp sounded good, but it did not best my far less expensive current tube amp. I played with speaker placement and demoed lots of different styles of music to find the magic.
Eventually, I plugged my own amp in, the one I was expecting to replace, and there was an immediate sense of rightness. It was if I’d introduced a new dancing partner to my current system and they just could not match rhythms on the dance floor. Now, to be clear, my current system has great components. I don’t think there is a weak link in the system. Thus, I thought the end game amp would be revelatory and transformational, but it wasn’t.
It made me realize the profound importance of system synergy.
I’m wondering if others have had this moment or epiphany when introducing a vaunted and desirable component into their system just be sort of utterly disappointed?
To bluethinker66 - Thanks for asking about my system and the elements of synergy. Current system: Cambridge Audio CXA 81 integrated, Revel Concerta 2 M-16's and a Velodyne SPL-1000 sub. Various vintage and used source equipment. Previously mentioned system: Arcam FMJ 19 integrated, Paradigm Titan Monitors V.6 and the same Velodyne sub. |
Thanks for clarifying. Sounds like it's just not for you....not at all uncommon with this hobby. We like what we like....no apologies! |
Synergy is very central fact... But also the law of diminushing returns which is not always understood well...Some say that this law which is not a law but a complex set of relations is purely subjective but it is not so simplistic...
Subjective hearing abilities and history and personal knowledge S----------------------> ( / T / ) <------------------O Objective gear refinement design levels
in this space ( ) is the diminushing returns VARYING and VARIABLE zone... This / / indicate a Treshold of optimal satisfaction between our subjective ability and biases and personal knowledge and our objective gear potentials levels ...
This zone which is not a point vary as a non linear relation between gear design technological improvement and our ability to insert it in our system objectively in a synergetical way and with our own subjective acquired biases and our ability to embed the audio system in a rightful way...
Prices tag of the gear design quality is not at all the main factor here... Because of other subjective biases factors at play and because of the underestimated acoustic objective factors mechanical factors and electrical embeddings factors ...
This is why the synergy between relatively low cost piece of gear, synergetically well matched , with basic acoustic knowledge and specific tailor made optimization of the gear , in the mechanical , electrical and acoustical embeddings could be enough to reach the threshold of the optimal sound quality for us at very low cost... Most people dont even believe it... Save for synergy between components, an underestimated factor is our luck and ability in spotting the right component in the price/S.Q. scale ratio... In my case it was two vintage low cost TOP components... Without these two components my satisfaction would have been very problematic and in fact impossible at the price level of my actual system...Some vintage components are difficult to replace for the same quality at the same cost... My headphone are nearly irreplaceable at their S. Q. /cost level for example... When we are at the optimal satisfaction treshold , which is a complex result of many objective and subjective factors , we feel it as the lost of upgrade urgency and the complete shift on music because each second the sound is able to translate it in a tactile ectasy... Before reaching this optimum threshold most people throw money in the easy direction : price tag of new improved technology , costly if they can...it is more easy to buy than to learn acoustic or to materially optimize the mechanical (vibrations/resonance) , electrical ( low noise floor level) and acoustical embeddings dimensions... Even me as a human i can dream about the ZOTL Berning amplifier for example even if my Sansui alpha completely satisfy me now... And even me happy and in ectasy each evening , i can dream for an upgrade , a real one The BACCH filters of Dr, Choueri because i study it a lot, but my system will go from 700 bucks to 15,000 bucks... But believe it or not, it is not necessary and i dont feel any frustration , because i know what i have already and why and how i did it ; i know also what it would be... Studying and experimenting is key... My luck was i did not have the money to buy what i wanted to buy.... I must did otherwise and learn a lot to compensate for the lack of money ... 😊 |
@bluethinker btw I would still love to see your room pic with the mid-century modern furniture matching the Qln Three speakers :) (that was an audiophile way of ordering things - furniture to speaker - I am possessed!) |
btw I was in a friend's house high up in the mountains a few weeks ago and noticed his system, the first time, it was placed so obscurely. It consists of all 30-40-50 year old components. He couldn't get more than $1000 for it on any marketplace, mostly because it was all dinged up, worn, blemished and wasn't much to look at. I asked him to turn it on, he opened a cabinet with 100s of records and told me to pick one. It sounded incredible. I guess it must have been the synergy, the room, the decades of experience of fine tuning things (he is a musician). It was significantly better than a lot of 10-20-30K systems I have heard. |
