Synergy

[speakerman1]

You know how I feel about this word. I have read the definition many times. When I started in Audio you never heard the word used. Either it sounded good or it didn't. When I read reviews in the 70s and 80s I took them with a grain of salt. I still read reviews. I still laugh at them sometimes. I have never read the word synergy in a review. Either it sounds good or it doesn't. It is like what makes a system sound good. It is the sum of all factors. One thing doesn't make a system. I have proved this to Lee. There are a lot of ways to tweak a system. Steven was right in one aspect it is the ears. You may like horns. I'm not a big fan. I don't like Piezo tweeters either. I don't know about Stats. I like my straight forward old time speaker. Don't tell me I haven't heard horns we all have in one form or another. And now the SPL is being thrown around. When I built speakers I wanted my SPL to be about 90db. That was an average for me. To me the SPL is the efficiency of the speaker. There are 2 measurements of it.1 watt @ one meter I forget the the other. It takes more power to get the same results from a speaker of 87 dbs than it does a speaker of 90dbs. The SPLs don't break things. The vibrations break things. The reason it is easier for a woman to break a glass is because the vibrato of here voice can reach that pitch. A man can not unless he has a ball bat. Now I can send my Normans to Danny and he would check my SPL. I don't even think at this time I can pick up my Epos to send to Lee.

Stuwee
I am going to give you an example. You want the Macintosh to push your MLs. Why? Have you had a Mac hooked to them before? Or do you know it is a good amp and will sound good. No matter what. See when you guys start throwing terms around I start getting confused at what you mean. These terms don't mean the same to me. So I start wondering if I'm wrong. So I set back to re-evaluate what I think they mean.

Larry

 

[stuwee]

Call'n me out eh??
this might be a two-parter partner , as I've said before, I have always been a speaker/amp fiend , it started with the little Sanyo Plus Series intergrated and the Genesis speaks, then the AKG K340 'stat headphones, the power to match the load nails my dick in the dirt , next up was the SAE system and I had to have a small 2-way speaker for the NYC life, so I got the Celestion DL-6 II's, wicked badass UK monitors, they were a biatch to play, the fine line between just enough power and overload was a trip. You had to get the SAE just right in it's zone and then makes the walls explode out of the room, push to hard and that titanium tweet got harsh real fast.

I went to a local audio shop and listened to the big Celestion Ditton 6's on $600 stands with a big Mac amp, $5,000 all in and was not impressed, probably the room, the poor sales guy thought i was nuts hehe, not on my dollars ... then I got the Logans, Lord help me Jesus, you talk about a fine sound, heavenly angels emit such a sound from a piece of plastic pulled back and forth from a metal stator, no mass of a cone or crossover to mess with the sound wave, just like God meant it to be! But a wicked evil tremptress for an amp, she needs .... craves current ... and a firm hand the SAE was up to it for a little guy, in fact one of my favs, loves to get down and dirty! But like Tim Allen my brain screamed 'More Power !! So the Yammie came into su casa .... con't ...

 

[stuwee]

... Now you bastids pushed the X-amps on me, new D-chip outputs with gain issues, I don't know how the mono's will sound after Larry and Jerry and Joe work their magic on them, but that little stereo guy worked my last good nerve with the ML's thru the Marantz, which leads me to the McIntosh FF has up for sale, the 6100 has that 'old school' Mac magic in it, it will probably be used for late night jazz and classical tunes (I still need to know if it's a later model with the impedence switch for low ohms). It has a massive pre-amp section and a phono pre to match, none finer... I might be crazy to even go there with it, might not match up right, but all the ML guys swear by it as a preamp, so ..... it's all a crap shoot, s'all good!

 

[Fairchild]

For me it is easier to describe things that are synergistic in foods. With food gums in particular, guar will be viscous in the presence of calcium, by adding xanthan gum the gel will be even stronger as well as more resilient, locust bean gum and carragenan are consider to be synergistic as the two work together also forming a stronger gel than either alone.

Another way of looking at it would be I think warm apple pie is really good, I also think that a good vanilla ice cream is good, put the two of them together and the sum is better than to two alone.

In example one there is scientific evidence proving the existance of the improved bond. In example two it is purely my opinion, I beleive that this is were this word synergy gets confused with things that can be proved and things that are opinion. I think Sarah Palin might be ok for some things and stuwee thinks not, is either of us right, I think not because for both of us it is just an opinion, can't be measured and proven, but maybe I would be smiling bigger, does that count.

Jim

 

[stuwee]

Awww, shut yer pie hole

 

[Fairchild]

Awww, shut yer pie hole

With some Dutch Apple Pie al mode

Jim

 

[speakerman1]

I agree with Jim. If you take 2 known goods and put them together you should have 1 known good. No synergy. Thats like saying that Lee's system and the Taras had synergy. No not really they improved the sound because they are better than Monster. No synergy.

Larry

 

[nakdoc]

Synergy was used to describe Bang and Olufsen, in the era of the BM4400 / BG4002 / MMC20CL / S70 system... The MMC20CL and its little bros has a bright sound compared to other cartridges. S70 speakers had accurate midrange, but dull highs. The BM 4400 was adequate powerwise, but was designed for the S70 4 ohm, constant impedance load. Sold with stands, the S70 had ok bass, but the BG4002 turntable was a great performer in the bass region. As a system, there was synergy. Taken as parts, each piece had its flaws. That is the definition of audio synergy, that units work to compliment each others' flaws.
Did you ever own Dahlquist DQ 10's ? A frustrating speaker, as the amp choices were limited if you wanted to play them loud. The Yamaha B-2 however, formed a synergistic relationship that the HK Citation 16, Dyna 400, Amzilla, Phase 400/700 just couldn't make. In fact, if you want to tame an NS-1000, use the B-2!