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In-Depth Explanation of the Audio Term "Synergy"

Hello: I've read and heard the term "synergy" bandied about frequently since getting into audio. Just the other day, an audiophile friend of mine said in an email. "Regardless of gear brand, I feel synergy is the most important thing to try and achieve really." This term "synergy" gets thrown around often and very easily. Most often I've heard this term used in the phrase, "amplifier-speaker synergy is the most important element of an audio system." I've always felt that if you put together a system and it sounds good to you or sounds "right", you have a system with amp/speaker synergy. I also felt that if your amplifier works with your speakers as it is designed without straining, clipping, running too hot, remaining stable etc., and produces good sonics with your speakers, then you have achieved synergy between your amp and speakers. I do an awful lot of research on the internet for all things audio (much to my wife's chagrin) and I've read several articles that discuss synergy. None of the articles I've read give a definitive and in-depth explanation of what "synergy" between a power amplifier or integrated amplifier and the speakers connected to it actually entails. So, I'm asking other audiophiles: What does "synergy" between an amplifier and speakers actually entail? Does anyone really know, or is this just one of those generalities that audiophiles put out there? What elements are really involved when synergy exists between the amplifier and speakers? I've always been curious about this subject
foster_9
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
interesting thought bob p, but the issue of your example is your statement that the preamp and amp combination sound better than expected. that is subjective, since "better" is a matter of opinion.

my approach is objective. also if in most cases the whole does not exceed the sum of its parts, there is no synergy in most cases.

i suppose, if synergy means "i like the sound", then your idea makes a lot of sense. but if synergy occurs in those instances when the whole equals the sum of its parts, there needs to be another explanation.

i guess, after all, there is no definitive answer, because the concept itself is philosophical.
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chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
A fat wallet, a good salesman and an insane upgrade urge all together is great synergy.
timf
237 posts
 
Mrtennis -
if any misunderstanding of the term of synergy is to be had, Ill go with yours. Your 3 examples seem about right to me.
inpepinnovations1e75
395 posts
 
Yes Tvad, but is the meal considered to be a 'synergistic' accomplishment? Not usually, but usually defined or caracterised as 'cuisine' or just good chemistry.
Again, I submit that 'synergy' does not exist in audio systems, i.e. there cannot be a system that is greater than the sum of its parts. There can exist, however, a system where the combination of parts adds up to a more satisfying system than any one of the parts would leave one to expect - sort of the 'zero-sum' concept, when one deficiency is cancelled out by another's deficiency. But that is not synergy.
Bob P.
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