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Most Significant Product Introduction — The Absolute Sound

Greatest Technological Breakthrough — The Absolute Sound

“About five seconds into the first A/B someone behind me who had come in during the middle of the demo whispered,                 “Holy —-!” My feelings exactly” The Absolute Sound’s Steven Stone on our new Tranquility Base

“… (with the) Tranquility Base … sound was remarkably expansive and realistic, but with the Tranquility Bases removed low-level ambient cues and layered depth were reduced. A remarkable demo.” The Absolute Sound’s Jonathan Valin

CES 2012 Synergistic Research System

11 New Products Launched:

  • Tranquility basik
  • Tranquility Base
  • Tranquility Base XL
  • PowerCell 10SE Mk III
  • AC Master Coupler 20th Anniversary
  • Enigma Mk II- A new limited edition valve power supply for Active Shielding
  • Transporter- A new one box solid state power supply for Active Shielding
  • basik Active- A new affordable active interconnect and speaker cable
  • basik Active SE- Upgraded basik Active Series featuring Enigma Tuning Bullets and SR 20 terminations
  • basik Active USB- a new high performance affordable Active USB cable
  • The Music Cable 24/192- A new SPDIF version of our award winning “The Music Cable” capable of playing 24/192 files

To celebrate our 20th year we want to thank our partners for making this the most successful of 19 consecutive CES shows. Esoteric Audio for their remarkably transparent and refined class A amplifier and pre amplifier, YG Acoustics for their absolute reference quality Anat Studio III speakers and Grand Prix Audio whose exceptional carbon fiber racks and stands supported our new active Tranquility Base XL EM Stabilizers.

Synergistic Research Tranquility Base conditioning Esoteric A-03 Class A Stereo Amplifier

We began set up with the rising sun on January 9th at the Venetian Hotel to allow our system at least 15 hours of passing signal before Ted started the critical tuning process the following day. This proved a smart move as dialing in the system was more difficult then at RMAF where set up to great sound was a relatively straightforward process. To our surprise we found we were able to voice nearly all the Element Series interconnects and speaker cables with Silver Enigma Tuning Bullets and approximately 25% of the TESLA SE power cords. Had we not had the option to voice Active Shielding at the show our sound would have been somewhat dark and closed in. (Normally systems with a full loom of Element Series active interconnects and speaker cables and TESLA SE active power cords sound their best with a majority of Grey Enigma Tuning Bullets and only a handful of Silver (or Black) Enigma Tuning Bullets in strategic locations- like source to pre amp interconnects / speaker wires or on a few power cords). Our lead designer took this challenge and the solution his Enigma tuning bullets provided as positive reinforcement for his decision to leave the final voicing of Active Shielding in the hands of Synergistic Research Element Series and TESLA SE users who would otherwise be limited by fixed Active Shielding circuits as found in older Synergistic Research designs. Time will tell but it may be the case that in densely populated areas, or when systems are located in tall metal structures like the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, that Enigma Tuning Bullets will prove especially beneficial in over coming problems to deliver natural holographic sound.

Element Tungsten speaker cables with Grey Enigma Tuning Circuits as upgraded leads from the Galileo Universal Speaker Cells to the YG Acoustics Anat Studio III reference speakers

For this year’s CES we were excited to showcase our new Tranquility Base active EM stabilizers. Not only were they used under the Mac Mini / Western Digital hard drive / Synergistic Research The Music Cable digital front end, but under every component in the system including a big surprise we did not discover until midway through the show. As anticipated once the system was dialed in and working properly we had the most holographic sound of any CES in our 20-year history. What we did not expect was the effect the Tranquility Base had under our wireless router communicating with our iPad when selecting tracks and play lists during the show. Either the Tranquility Base eliminates digital hash or noise caused by the router or it somehow aligns the energy between router and the Mac Mini in a positive way. Regardless the difference this made was far from subtle and in the end, pushed our system over the top to the best sound we have ever created under show conditions.

Synergistic Research Tranquility Base making a surprise improvement to the system when placed under the wireless router

For Active Shielding we used the Limited Edition Enigma Mk II valve power supply to power the active shielding on Element Series interconnects, speaker cables and Galileo Universal Speaker and Interconnect Cells while TESLA SE power cords and digital cables including our new active Firewire 800 cable and new basik Active USB cable were powered by Galileo MPCs all plugged into QLS9’s. Nearly 30 active circuits and power supplies were treated including 3 power amplifiers all plugged into a single PowerCell 10 SE Mk III line conditioner. To increase the number of outlets we simply used one QLS 9 and two QLS 6 line strips each connected to the PowerCell 10SE Mk III with their own T3 SE active power cord.

Enigma Mk II Valve Power Supply for Active Shielding

CES 2012 System Components

  • 5 Tranquility Base XL - MSRP $ 2,995.00 each
  • 1 Tranquility Base - MSRP $ 1,995.00 each
  • Synergistic Research NEW Active FireWire 800 tuned with Gray Enigma Bullets MSRP $ 850.00
  • Western Digital 2 TB Hard Drive MSRP $250
  • MAC Mini file server with 8 GB Ram  MSRP $499.00
  • Synergistic Research “The Music Cable”  SP/DIFF 24/192 version all in one, plug and play Computer Audio Solution MSRP $3,599.00
  • Esoteric Audio C-03 Preamp MSRP $ 13,000.00
  • Synergistic Research NEW Element Copper/Tungsten/Silver interconnects tuned with Silver Enigma bullets between preamp and Power amp MSRP $ 3,600.00 per pair
  • Esoteric Audio A-03 Stereo Amp MSRP $ 14,000.00
  • Synergistic Research NEW Element Copper/Tungsten/Silver Speaker cables tuned with Silver Enigma bullets MSRP $ 7,500.00 8 ft pair and Synergistic Research Universal Speaker Cell MSRP $2,500.00 per pair.
  • Synergistic Research NEW Element Copper/Tungsten/Silver Interconnects tuned with silver Enigma bullets between Pre amp and sub woofers MSRP $ 5,490.00 per pair and Galileo Universal IC Cell MSRP $1500
  • Synergistic Research PowerCell 10 SE MK III MSRP $ 5,500.00
  • Grand Prix Monaco Rack $ 6,500.00
  • Grand Prix Monaco Amp Stand $ 1,995.00
  • YG Acoustics Anat III Studios MSRP $ 89,000.00
  • Synergistic Research NEW ENIGMA MKII Valve Power Supply for Active Shielding MSRP $ 10,000.00 (Limited availability March 2012)
  • Synergistic Research ART Acoustic Room Treatment with 9 Satellites, 2 Bass Stations and one Vibratron  MSRP $ 5,700.00
  • Synergistic Research standard MiG’s MSRP $150 per set of 3 under all components including the Western Digital Hard Drive and Mach 2 music server with BIG MiG’s under the Esoteric Audio A-03 and Enigma MKII  –  MSRP $ 200.00 per set of 3
  • Synergistic Research TESLA SE Active Power Cords- Hologram A MSRP $2,600.00, Hologram D MSRP $ 2,800.00, Precision AC MSRP $ 1,800.00 all voiced with Gray Enigma bullets

 

Acoustic ART Bass Stations located in front of YG Acoustics Anat Studio IIIs to control low frequency room acoustics

The Absolute Sound

By Steven Stone • Posted: January 18, 2012

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Steven Stone’s Best of Show— Most Significant Product Introduction

“Ted Denny and Synergistic Research have come up with another head-scratchingly good new product—the Tranquility Base. How does it work? All I know for sure is it’s based on the same technology as his Galileo Cable Cells. With several patents pending, this is anything but snake oil. During his demo Ted turned on and off the Tranquility base under a router and it had an audible effect. About five seconds into the first A/B someone behind me who had come in during the middle of the demo whispered, “Holy —-!” My feelings exactly.”

Tranquility Base conditioning a Mac Mini and Western Digital hard drive

By Neil Gader • Posted: January 18, 2012

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Neil Gader’s Best of Show— Greatest Technological Breakthrough

“Head-scratching, as well, are the Synergistic Research Tranquility Bases from the fertile mind of Synergistic’s Ted Denney. Available in three levels these active, tunable isolation platforms made me a believer.”

By Alan Sircom • Posted: January 18, 2012

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“There is a growing community of people discontented with the sound of computer audio, and for people like Ted Denney, the finger is firmly pointed at the way a computer can propagate electromagnetic interference. To help prevent this kind of hash, Synergistic Research has launched a range of three Tranquility Bases; the bäsik, Base, and Base XL, to fit on conventional furniture or into dedicated racks (the XL is custom designed to fit the Grand Prix Audio range). The active platforms take a variation on the theme of the EM Cell patented by Synergistic, so that the signals from any component sitting on that Tranquility Base are being conditioned while still in the component itself. Multiple components can be used on each table, and it’s easy to demonstrate (just turn the platform off). Prices start at $995 for the bäsik and rise to $3000 for the Base XL.”

Photo by Alan Sircom

By Jonathan Valin • Posted: January 18, 2012

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“Ted Denney of Synergistic Research managed his usual magic with the $90k YG Acoustics Anat Studios, driven by Esoteric electronics with Synergistic’s Music Cable as a source and a new Denney item, the Tranquility Base (an equipment stand with active EM), removing grit and grain from noisy components like servers. The sound was remarkably expansive and realistic, but with the Tranquility Bases removed low-level ambient cues and layered depth were reduced. A remarkable demo.”

Photo by Jonathan Valin

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