Synergy

There's perhaps nothing more important to the success of a hi fi system than the synergy of its parts. We've been discussing how the addition of some preamps help the sound of some DACs; a perfect example of the synergistic quality of parts within a system. The speakers we are playing in our room at RMAF, the YG Acoustics Sonja 1.3–magnificent six foot tall metal sculptures–are sometimes described as clinical sounding. I think it's accurate to say they reproduce whatever they are fed–without colorations of their own. Paired with the richness of BHK electronics, the fullness of the DirectStream DAC and openness of the MG Audio cables, the synergy between components works. The soundstage, separation of voices within the space, the realism and three dimensionality of individual instruments–proper tonal balance–are just amazing. On the Perlman violin piece, a live recording of many years ago, few have failed to remark that the sound of the violin is the closest they have ever heard to live–something exceedingly rare with reproduced music. While not as overall full and harmonically rich as some speakers, the combination does work by virtue of the synergy of the system's components. Choosing cables, electronics, speakers, all require careful attention to synergy of assembled components. You would not want to put lean and mean sounding cables or electronics in the setup we have at the show - you'd exaggerate those qualities and be unhappy with the sound. Yet, on overly fat or exaggerated loudspeakers, lean and mean components might be just the ticket. It is for this reason that we want to start our systems by building firm foundations - getting the AC power right, for example, the room, speaker positions, etc. Once foundations have been shored up, we can more easily make good decisions about what matches the synergy of our setup for best reproduced music.