Synergistic Research Comes Down to Earth

Sabai,
Our approach is 180 degrees different. I believe simpler the better, less is more, no cable is the best cable ...

The Powercell choked off the sound when I ran it in series with the Bybee Stealth. On its own it did not appear to constrict the sound until I compared it with the Stealth.

You can also conclude the Stealth is the one that is constricting if running separate did not appear to constrict???

Majority of components are not designed to use in a series. It's logical (to me anyways) that the more you add to a chain, the more it will constrict/alter and I bet if add enough, you will hear NOTHING. You are basically using these products in a series as tone controls.

When I spent big $$ for a VAC, Hegel, Pass ... I want to hear what the designers hears and not some altered manipulated sound.

Personally I don't like active PCs. They seem to alter the sound in an unpleasant and unnatural way and constrict dynamics. I finally ended up with a passive Weizhi PRS-6 that restores the natural tone and doesn't constrict dynamics/current. I also use one for my amps.

Like I said before, you do what sounds best to you but IMO, you are wasting lots time and $$.

@Knghifi, would you say that is true about S.R Powercells. They are actively shielded too?

Knghifi,
You stated, "Our approach is 180 degrees different. I believe simpler the better, less is more, no cable is the best cable ..."

Of course, I fully understand. But I run a lot of plug-and-play Bybee products in my system and I find that they work best when spliced between two cables instead of being plugged directly into a component. I realize this is unconventional and defies the commonly accepted approach, but it works. It is totally paradoxical and I have no explanation for its success. Tone controls? The tone is definitely affected, as well as many other sonic parameters.

There are other audiophiles using, up front, an isolation transformer > power conditioner > power regenerator with great success, like me. They have written about this in detail on another site forum. Those writing about this are also finding dramatic improvements in the sound. This up-front series approach also requires extra cabling, of course.

I imagine you are correct in that, if I kept adding wires, I would eventually choke off all the sound. The real choker was the Powercell -- it choked off the sound completely, which told me there was something seriously going on with the Powercell in spite of SR's claim that it is not current restricting. It obviously is current restricting, in some way.

My system is a work in progress. I am experimenting with taking cords out and re-configuring to see how this affects the sound. So far, I have not been able to take out any cables without the quality of the sound deteriorating.

Bacardi,
The Powercell is actively shielded when you plug in its MPC.

" So far, I have not been able to take out any cables without the quality of the sound deteriorating. "

SAbai, is it possible that the sound merely changes from the optimal (as you have it tuned to your liking) to something different?

Does having all the cables in place truly result in undeniably better sound?

A lot of these judgements tend to be somewhat subjective IMHO, so there is little that most people report that surprises me.

Mapman,
Good question. There is no doubt that the sound improves with series cabling. But now that I have taken out the SR Powercell the dynamic may have changed for all I know. I will need to see what changes will happen to the sound when I take out different cables -- and then reinsert them.