July 2017

World Premiere Review!
Synergistic Research PowerCell 8 UEF SE & Atmosphere Level 2/3 Power Cords
Goosebumps with my favorite music!
Review By Rick Becker

  So what's most important in a system – the front end or the speakers? Where should you put the most money? These are the kinds of questions that arose for me when I first became aware of the High End. And the answers were as numerous as the sales people that I spoke with. Without a lot of experience or knowledge, what seemed like outrageous prices were daunting barriers to investing. Fortunately, I lived in a town with a few high-end dealers who were sympathetic to my thirst. A variety of high-end audio shows including Toronto and Montreal opened my mind to a broad international spectrum of products. Gradually, I learned how to listen.

Cables and power conditioners were gaining serious traction as significant components back in the early 1990's when I came into the realm. But for nearly a decade I remained content with home-brew interconnects, generic shielded power cords and a Tripp-Lite power conditioner. There were other contenders for my attention and my dollars in those days beside audio. When the urge or the need to upgrade struck it was usually for critical components like amplifiers or speakers that desperately needed replacement. Along the way – maybe from rec-audio.high-end or from observing successful layouts in rooms at shows – I developed a critical understanding of the importance of the listening room. When I re-married and we bought a house, the listening room was a prime factor. My wife, on the other hand, was thrilled with the kitchen. The new (to us) home opened the possibility of reviewing equipment and among the very first products I reviewed was the new JPS Labs In-Wall cable which I installed along with a 20 Ampere Romex line for comparison. I immediately began to take electricity more seriously.

The Synergistic Research PowerCell4 I reviewed in June, 2011, along with a nest of their Tesla SE T3 Active Power Cords with active shielding was an ear opener, advancing my system to such a level that I lost interest in the category and turned my attention elsewhere. I mean…like how could it get any better than this? It's a natural consequence of acquiring a very satisfying new component. By this time I was ascribing to the chain link model of audio systems where attention should be paid to improving the weakest link. Well, that's sort of true, but my adventures in hot-rodding a Linn LP 12 turntable and reviewing the Calyx 24-bit/192kHz DAC and the outstanding Kronos Sparta turntable tilted the balance of importance more toward the front end.

A lecture/demonstration at the TAVES show in 2012 by Roy Gregory of The Audio Beat brought a lot of more peripheral issues into play, many of them focusing on the importance of vibration absorption with footers and racks (Stillpoints was one of the sponsors.) but also on filtering the electricity and grounding the entire system. I've paid a lot of attention to vibration absorption over the years, including the use of AVM (Anti-Vibration Magic) to coat the fuses of my components. This interest led me back to Synergistic Research to review their new Black Fuses and Black Duplex outlet, two modest products (relative to the cost of amplifiers or speakers) that took my rig to new heights. An opportunity to borrow a friend's Atmosphere Level 2 interconnect and a newer (but not current) power cord from SR, fired my enthusiasm for experiencing more of their new products, which brings me around, finally, to the review at hand.

You Can't Always Get What You Want
Andy Wiederspahn, who is kind of the point guard for Synergistic Research, had the new PowerCell 8 on the horizon and wanted me to review it. To ensure I experienced the best effects of this new product he asked me to send him a complete breakdown of my entire rig including all the cables. I was secretly hoping for a power cord or two, plus an interconnect and some speaker cables in the Atmosphere Level 2 series that would allow me to run their cables from my dedicated line all the way to the loudspeakers. That was not to be. In their greater wisdom, they beefed up the power cords for my best components. Along with the SE version of the PowerCell 8 comes an Atmosphere Level 2 power cord with a 20 Ampere connector to mate with the PowerCell. He sent a Level 3 Digital AC cord for my DAC, a Level 3 Analog AC power cord for the Coincident Statement Line Stage, and two Level 2 Analog AC power cords for Eddie Wong's Magic Tube Research monoblocks.

These were expensive power cords I would have been uncomfortable buying on my own initiative, but who am I to argue with their greater experience? Ted Denny dances with electrons and his wisdom permeates the company. The trajectory of their success is evidenced by their new factory with refined equipment that allows them to offer lower priced products that rival their statement products of just a few years ago. I had the feeling I was being set-up for a really good listening experience, but also for a lot of work.

I had not used the monoblocks for a couple of years, but I refreshed the capacitors by using the amps with my original Synergistic Research Tesla SE T3 active power cords for a while before the new gear arrived. I had forgotten how really good these amps are with parallel 300B tubes and seven transformers, each. When the package arrived, I tore down my rig completely and vigorously vacuumed the rug, suspecting I would be on my hands and knees a lot during this review. With a power conditioner having eight outlets instead of four, and active power cords that no longer needed a separate power supply, it was a whole new ball game. I no longer needed their two QLS power strips. I set them aside with plans for a follow-up review of them in the fall. As I re-configured the rig it didn't escape me that they sent the better cords for the source and preamp and stepped down a level to drive the power amps. This correlated to my understanding of the great importance of the front end in assembling a first class system.

One of the virtues of my vintage Sony ES CD player is the Repeat button, a feature that is sadly missing from most modern players and essential for burning in new gear. I could rack up the hours without having to listen or even be present. Nevertheless, it was evident from the start that good things were awaiting. The problem I faced was differentiating the contributions made by the power conditioner from the contributions made by the cables. I set up a protocol.

The Protocol
Some audiophiles are engineering types who like to see evidence of a scientific approach to product reviews. Others follow the approach of British Empiricists and like to read a more subjective assessment of the (as yet) unmeasurable variables of music reproduction. I kind of have one foot on the platform and one foot on the train. So I charted out a series of steps that would give me a quasi-scientific analysis as a basis for differentiation among the older products and the new ones with enough breathing room left in for personal opinion. The list started out with a dozen steps, but over the months grew to twice that. As I started writing about each individual step the task grew more tedious. By the seventh step, I could hardly bear to read what I was writing. A thousand words hit the editing room floor. I shifted gears into my familiar story-telling style.

Since I had been reviewing the new Coincident Dynamite speakers for the previous several months, I started out driving those speakers with the PowerCell8 UEF SE (hereafter, simply the PC8) and the Atmosphere Level 2 and Level 3 power cords. It was an obvious improvement with a stronger, more tightly focused deep bass than before, though it didn't remove the strong emphasis in the upper bass region of that speaker. It was clear this was going to be an interesting ride and it didn't take long for me to move my Kharma 2.2 speakers into position for the remainder of this review. With the Kharma there was a more solid image with better focus – a tighter sound, all around, than what I was accustomed to. The Kharma does not reach as deep into the bass as the Dynamites and there is no hump in the upper bass of the Kharma, so the bass doesn't seem as strong, but it was tight. (I was tempted to hook up my subs at this point, but didn't want to add another variable to the rig along with two additional power cords.) The female voices of Wilson Phillips' tight harmony were more differentiated & pinpointed. Mahler's 1^st was more transparent, sounding almost as transparent as the live performance of Beethoven's 5^th I heard recently in Cleveland.  The lyrics in "One Mic" by the rapper Nas were much cleaner and more intelligible. The bass on that tune was not as forceful because it was less distorted and would not go as deep as with the Coincident Dynamite.

Adding the Synergistic Black UEF Fuse to the Coincident line stage brought further improvements. In my review of those fuses I suggested they would be a good way to get a taste of Synergistic Research without spending big bucks, and I stand by that statement. If you decide to invest in one of their PowerCells or a bevy of their power cords, the money spent on Black Fuses will not have been wasted. The effect was cumulative, not overshadowed. Since I only had one 8A Black Fuse from the review, Andy Wiederspahn was kind enough to send out a second so I could use them in the monoblocks, too. There was more transparency, greater timbre and better focus. Especially good was the overdubbed refrain on Bruce Springsteen's "57 Channels" which is often barely intelligible. Overall, music in this early stage of the review was brighter and sharper with more contrast. The music came out at me more. Mahler's 1^st was even more like Severance Hall, moving me up from my actual seat 2/3^rd back from the stage, to only 1/3^rd back. Simply put, there was more presence. While the PC8 and power cords sounded impressive from the beginning, it was clear that the sound was evolving as they continued to break in.

Dedicated Line
To this point, I had been using my 30 Ampere (10 gauge) JPS Labs dedicated line. I switched the PC8 into the Synergistic Research Black Duplex outlet of my 20 Ampere (12 gauge) Romex line. The music was more relaxed, not quite as sharp and seemed to lack power on the attack of loud notes. This brings to light some interesting thoughts. I knew from my review of the Black Duplex that it was superior to the standard audio grade PS Audio Power Port. I also knew from my review many years ago that the JPS Labs In-Wall power cable was superior to the standard 20Amp Romex. Given the quality level of my rig at this point in time, a 30 Ampere Romex dedicated line should be considered a minimum requirement and a JPS Labs In-Wall 30 Ampere dedicated line would be preferable to that. Presumably, adding a Synergistic Research Black Duplex outlet to the JPS line would put some icing on the cake. I'll put that on my "to-do" list for a follow-up review. It is also obvious from the 20 Ampere IEC input connector on the PowerCell 8 that SR hopes you will use more substantial wiring than your basic 15 Ampere home wiring. It is rated for a 20 Ampere input, but music at reasonable levels will rarely and only instantaneously draw more than that. A dedicated line can be a relatively inexpensive addition to a high-end rig, particularly if the distance to the box is reasonable and you can run the wiring yourself. Serious, more affluent audiophiles will often run a second dedicated line for just the power amps, allowing them to position the amps closer to the speakers and reap the audible benefits of using short speaker cables with longer balanced interconnects running back to the preamp or source.

Bloom
With the PC8 now plugged back into the JPS 30 Ampere line again, I swapped out the new power cords for the old ones. The Chinese drum cut on my compilation CD sounded more powerful, but was not as well focused. The refrain on 57 Channels was still very good. Most notable was that the bloom returned; a feature I loved so much about my reference set-up. The focus was not quite as good with the old cords back in, but the transparency was about the same, perhaps slightly better. And the voices of Wilson Phillips were not as distinguishable as with the new cords. The lack of bloom with the new cords led me to surmise that they simply needed more break-in time, but over the course of a couple of months, it had not happened. From the very beginning I had been using the gold tuning modules that purportedly bring out more bloom. What the Atmosphere cords brought out in this early stage of the review was a more accurate, highly focused listening experience that revealed room tone and a truer sense of the performance's venue. The new cords also gave the minute spatial and tonal differences among voices singing in harmony that led you to believe you were listening to real people and real instruments in a real space. I missed the bloom for a while, but I got over it as I learned to revel in the greater tonal color and micro dynamics that took its place. But this is not the end of the story on bloom. In speaking with Andy Wiederspahn about this he informed me that the new power cords need a lot of time to burn in. Like 300 hours. And even then it will continue to get better. Hang in here with me for a while.

Pillars Of A System
As I slide from room to room at audio shows, it is usually the speakers that first grab my attention, either visually, acoustically, or both. Speakers are also the first component mentioned when people describe their system to others. But I've come to recognize four pillars of a good system. The room is probably the most important, but often the one you have the least control over, given the building in which you dwell and the people and pets that share your home life. Positioning the speakers carefully and tuning the room will pay big dividends for those willing to put in the effort. Often times it takes more knowledge than money and there are lots of different ways to achieve the same goals.

The front end and the speakers – the two ends of the reproductive chain are clearly two additional pillars, each with fervent advocates as to which one is more important. And the fourth pillar, in light of what I learned in this review, is the power delivery system. That would include dedicated lines, power conditioner, power cords and grounding system. It is also the pillar on which a lot of us (me included) are reluctant to spend serious money. We need to get over that. For our front ends, amps and speakers to sound their best, there needs to be a quality network of electricity throughout our systems. Everything matters to some degree, for sure, but if you don't want your system to teeter like a chair with uneven legs, you need to keep these pillars relatively balanced in quality.

This is not to say amps, interconnects and speaker cables are not important. (Tom loaned me his SR balanced Atmosphere Level 1 and single ended Level 2 interconnects which mysteriously found their way into my rig, resulting in huge smiles from both of us.) I've come to learn that everything matters. The trick to improving a system is to find the components that will give you the most improvement by upgrading them. Sadly, there are those who completely ignore the power/cable category altogether. Yet I can also acknowledge a very few components that are carefully designed to filter out noise, and I know some dealers who present their wares without filtration (or regeneration) so as to present the products they sell with uncompromised honesty. The flip side of the coin here for the enthusiast is that without paying attention to the electrical power and signal pathways, they may blindly spend a lot of money replacing major components that do not need replacing.

Value
Most of my time with the PC8 and power cords was spent with my electrical components on my long term "rack" and amp stands – home-brew supports that approximate what the majority of audiophiles typically use. Generous application of the wide variety of footers that I've reviewed and accumulated over the past fifteen years put my rig near (what I thought was) the top tier systems I hear at shows. The addition of the PowerCell 8 UEF SE and Atmosphere Level 2 and Level 3 power cords pushed me right up to that top shelf. The total cost of these upgrades is not insignificant, but in hindsight (which is indigenous to all reviews) it is an appropriate sum for the level of components I own. The value added is not simply what they contribute to the music, but also that they allow my components to reach their own higher potential. This not only increases the value of the components you already own, but eliminates the need to buy a new, "improved" version and suffer the loss incurred if you sell off the old one – if, in fact, you ever get around to doing that.

In saying that, I feel like I'm echoing my own comments on the Codia Acoustic Design Stage 3000 BAB Audio Rack I reviewed last October. At $5260, it was not a small ticket item, either. Like the Synergistic Research products here, it raised the resolution to that top tier, more than justifying its price. This presented an obvious question. To answer it, I tore out my home-brewed equipment rack topped with a Panzerholz shelf and installed the Codia to see if the improvements wrought by the PC8 and power cords would mask the improvements contributed by the Codia rack. As seems to frequently happen with gear designed to improve resolution and transparency, the combination was... well, synergistic. No bleeding edge notes pierced the night air. Shakey Horton's screaming harmonica on American Folk Blues Festival 1970 sounded like the real thing and the crystal in the dining room didn't shatter. The rig seemed pretty close to perfect. The primary shortcomings were the limited depth of bass response (about 33Hz) which can be addressed with subwoofers, and the absence of great slam, which would require more than the 18 pure Class A watts of Eddie Wong's SET monoblocks. Frankly, I don't think I want to give up the gorgeous tonal color and three-dimensionality his amps provide. And I'm not a head-banger.

I've learned something here. The Kharma Ceramique 2.2 speakers have been my reference for fourteen years now. I've been suspecting they might need replacement. First the Codia rack and now the Synergistic Research PowerCell8 and four Atmosphere power cords have shown me that I've yet to reach their full potential and I don't need to spend anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 to replace them. For my system, in my room, these Synergistic Research upgrades represent an extreme value, bringing out the very best I've experienced from my components so far.

That the products reviewed here surpass my other Synergistic Research products of only six years ago by such a wide margin attests to the fact that this entire category and Synergistic Research in particular, is making enormous progress through their research and development. I mentioned their recent expansion to a new facility earlier and their investment in more efficient production equipment has not only advanced the technology they offer, but made it more affordable. If you can't afford these particular models I've reviewed, or if they are not appropriate for the level of gear you currently own, there are models below these that may fit your needs. The PowerCell 12 UEF series above the one here approaches the performance of their previous ultra-high-end Galileo series. That series has recently been re-engineered as the Galileo UEF level for the very wealthy. As I've written before, this is not a company that is standing still. They are on a creative roll and appear to be having a lot of fun and success doing what they do. Nonetheless, research and development costs money and those costs must be passed along to enable future R&D.

It should be easy for you to prioritize your purchasing decision between the PC8 and the power cords. The PC8 UEF SE benefits the entire system for $2995. The Atmosphere Level 2 and Level 3 power cords at $1995 and $2995 respectively, will enhance a single component. If that component is at the front end then the benefit will flow through the chain. Look at what you have in place already and figure out where to invest if you can't go for everything at once. $2000 or $3000 sure seemed like and expensive add-on to a $5000 line stage and a $2000 DAC and it didn't make any sense to me until I heard it for myself. Once everything was fully burned-in there was no going back.

Ergonomics
The Synergistic Research V8 and PowerCell8 series use a brick-shaped chassis of extruded aircraft grade aluminum with the receptacles facing upward, unlike the PowerCell 12 series which is designed more like a component with the outlets on the back side. The former, at height 3" x width 10.75" x depth 6", and weighing 6.6 pounds can easily be placed beside or behind a rack, while the latter, at height 5.5" x width 17.5" x depth 13.5" and weighing 19 pounds begs for a shelf on a rack – either that, or it will take up considerable floor space once the cables are attached. Obviously, there is a lot more to the PowerCell12 series, as well as a lot more cost. From the results of my listening tests, it is evident that Synergistic Research is packing a lot of performance into a modest, yet very well finished chassis in an effort to appeal to a broad spectrum of audiophiles.

As a reviewer, I appreciate the smaller footprint and upward facing outlets as it allows for a more convenient placement and easier plugging and un-plugging of gear – something I seem to do a lot. There are four small rubber feet on the bottom. I've placed the unit on a couple of vibration-absorbing blocks, but it is hard to say if they offer much, if any, benefit. A 20 Ampere IEC inlet is fitted to one end of the chassis. All the PowerCell and V8 conditioners are bundled with an appropriate level 20 Ampere power cord. The grip of the Black UEF duplex outlets is substantial and you need not worry about power cords falling out.

The Atmosphere power cables are about as supple as the Tesla series and were easy to work with but they do not make sharp right angle turns. The IEC connectors seemed to be the same G 07 models used on the earlier series and had a familiar, firm grip. The Atmosphere series lacks the entwined smaller cables used for the active shielding as this series incorporates that function internally, and no longer needs the additional plug-in transformers of the Tesla series. That's a real plus. The red anodized tuning modules are for the internal active shielding and they retain the blue LED light on their tip which gives the walls around the rig a blue cast and the rig itself a hint of Christmas.

Blinded By Science
Obviously I have not delved into a lot of science in this review. There is plenty of it involved in Synergistic Research products, but I'm not going to pretend to be an engineer. Rather, let me point you to their website for greater technical insight; though don't expect them to disclose the intricacies of their proprietary technology. Things that stand out for me are their use of graphene, their UEF (unified electronic field) technology, tuning capability with plug-in modules, quantum tunneling, complexity of design, man-hours of build time, two-stage burn-in, and last, but not least, made in America. It's all there, waiting patiently for you, along with pricing.

The instruments I'm most comfortable using are my own ears and my brain, which has become reasonably adept at interpreting the electronic signals that are transmitted from the ear. This leads me to another anecdote to share. All of my reviewing had been done using my CD player / DAC and FM radio as sources since they had set me up with a digital power cord for my DAC. But as a music lover, I'm much more of an analog guy. Since I had blown far past my initial protocol in this review, I figured it wouldn't hurt to reconfigure my rig for LP playback for one more trial.

The Coincident Statement phono stage has dual potentiometers that allow me to run it straight into the monoblocks. Due to personal business, it had been a couple of months since I had listened to music, save for a few evenings with Hearts of Space on NPR. The transport, DAC and tuner had slowly been drawing current for all that time, adding maybe fifteen hundred hours of burn-in to the PC8. It had been even more months since I had played an LP. Dropping the needle after all that time blind-sided me with what was almost the best LP listening experience I've had at home, save for a stint with the Kronos Sparta turntable and an $8000 AirTight cartridge. The lower noise floor, blacker blacks, the way the dust seemed to jump out of the groove to avoid the cartridge, the dynamics, the transparency were all so improved it sounded like somebody else's rig. The only downside was the recognition that my Charisma 103 cartridge lacked the smoothness I thought it had when my rig was less revealing. Alas, it's still a great daily driver.

The Big News is the rig had regained the bloom that I thought was gone forever. Now, I had bloom with a transparency and resolution that far surpassed anything I had experienced before with my hot-rodded Linn. The future looks bright as I look forward to embarking on Stage 2 modifications of the venerable old record player. To double and triple check this experience I revisited FM broadcast and CD playback. Sure enough, BB, the thrill has returned. While three hundred or a thousand hours may seem like a rather long break-in period, hang in there. It's great from the start, and gets even greater with time. Plus, you get to listen to music while doing it if you choose. For those soul-less persons who think bloom is a distortion or corruption of the original musical event, they can simply remove the Gold UEF Tuning Module from the Level 3 power cords. I had two of those – the digital version powering my DAC and the analog version powering my line stage (or alternatively, my phono stage.)

Going back to the live recording of Shakey Horton again, after the first pass I removed the gold tuning module from both the DAC and line stage Level 3 power cords. The bloom vanished, leaving a highly resolved but relatively flat soundstage. Next, I replayed the same piece with the gold tuning module in the Level 3 Analog power cord for the line stage where it would benefit multiple sources. A substantial portion of the bloom returned bringing me about 40% of the way back to full bloom. After several trials, I concluded that using the one gold module in just the DAC's power cord brought me back to about 60% of full bloom. Adding the second gold tuning module to the other power cord brought the bloom back to full strength. Keep in mind that beside the Gold UEF Tuning Module there is additional technology in the Level 3 that improves the resolution and bumps the price up another thousand dollars over the Level 2. If I were to have just one Level 3 power cord, I'd have it on one of my source components. You may not want to use it all the time, but the tuning module is a nice way to sweeten up a dry recording. Personally, I think it ranks right up there with dark chocolate.

It's not like bloom or no-bloom is the "right" way to listen and the other is not. It's more like the same group of musicians is playing in a different venue. At the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival earlier this evening I attended four shows. Each of them featured a pianist and three out of four featured upright bass and drums, so there was a lot of commonality of instrumentation. Each venue had its unique sonic signature that was additionally affected by the location of the seat I took. They included two churches that featured ample bloom and a corporate auditorium that was heavily damped with a lot of drapery. Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music was exceptionally fine sounding, as you would expect. All of the performances were obviously live, but the listening experience was vastly different in each venue. The particular recordings you listen to at home will also contain varying degrees of spatial cues that will be amplified or attenuated by your listening environment. The point here is that the Atmosphere Level 3 power cords all have the Gold UEF Tuning Module to bring your recordings more in line with your personal preference.

Summary
It is easy to imagine the PowerCell 8SE costing twice the price with a thick faceplate and fancy footers. You can add your own footers for a lot less than the difference and few will even notice the chassis of the PowerCell 8 if it's tucked behind a rack. As for spending thousands of dollars on power cords, I wouldn't have believed they could have made such a difference. Combining the two, there is not much sonic distance between my system now, and those costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. I may not be at the top of Mount SOTA yet but the air is pretty thin, the view is terrific and, as Jimi sings, "the wind cries Mary."

Reader Dave Lalin, on The Absolute Sound website made the comment, in essence, that... a purchaser who chooses to wait for "the next big thing" chooses to waste his most valuable commodity, which is their life and time. Sure, he said, you can wait two, three or even four more years for the timing or market conditions to be right. But life is to be lived now, while you can. John Mellencamp put another twist on that message in "Your Life Is Now".

As a cutting edge Boomer, that note rings as loud and clear to me now as when I bought my first motorcycle in my early twenties, or started climbing mountains in my forties. The time for music is always now, even as one's choice of genre matures. The PowerCell 8 UEF SE and Atmosphere Level 2 and 3 power cords revive the goosebumps with my favorite music and let me feel the bass vibrations through the leather of my listening chair. This is great gear and it's staying right here!

Specifications
Construction: Aircraft Aluminum
Dimensions: Height 3″ x Width 10.75″ x Depth 6″
Weight: 6.6 lbs.
Internal Active UEF EM Perpendicular Plane Cell area: 387 square centimeters including
Dielectric: PTFE
Connector Input: 1 each 20 amp IEC
Connector Output US: 8 UEF Black Outlets (Two Stage Quantum Treated)
Connector Output International (EU/AU/UK): 8 UEF Black Schuko outlets (Two Stage Quantum Treated)
99.995% Pure Silver Ground Strap: 62 square centimeters
Power Cable: Atmosphere Level 2 High Current PowerCell Power Cable
12 awg. Mil Spec Silver Matrix Multi-Stranded Wire
Swiss-made “Active Power Supply”
SR Quantum Capacitors
Point-to-point wiring
Silver Solder 4%
Hand Built Time: 2.5 hours
Quantum Tunneling: Standard Level 2
5 Day Burn In: 2 Step Process
Voltage and current Rating:
Input rating US: 20amp/125v
Input Rating International (EU/AU/UK): 16amp/250v
US Version: Rating is limited by the US Outlet rating of 20amp/125v
International(EU/AU/UK) Version: Rating is predicated upon the Schuko Outlet rating of 16amp/250v

Atmosphere Level 2 PowerCell power cable (included)
Level 2 High Current A/C Specifications:
three each 12 awg. Copper Matrix Alloy:
Dielectric: Modified PE
Shielding: Braided Ground Plane Technology
Geometry: 2 channel 
One each 4th Gen-Tricon:
Silver Copper Matrix: Mono-crystal conductors with a separate ground conductor from shield
Dielectric: PTFE
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Geometry: Tri-axial
Listened for signal direction before build 
One each Silver Air String:
Silver Air Strings: 99.9999% pure mono-crystal Silver conductor 
Dielectric: PTFE Air (sealed)
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Handmade in our California factory
One each Tungsten Air String:
Silver Air Strings: 99.99% pure mono-crystal Tungsten conductor 
Dielectric: PTFE Air (sealed)
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Handmade in our California factory
One each Active Shielding UEF Cell:
Swiss-made DC bias Power Supply 
UEF: Graphene treated pcb
SR Quantum Capacitors
Dielectric: PTFE
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Housing: Carbon Fiber Cylinder
One each Red Active Module:
Optional for lowest noise floor, completes Active bias circuit

Atmosphere Level 2 Power Cable Specifications
Three each 12 awg. Copper Matrix Alloy:
Dielectric: Modified PE
Shielding: Braided Ground Plane Technology
Geometry: 2 channel 
One each 4th Gen-Tricon:
Silver Copper Matrix: Mono-crystal conductors with a separate ground conductor from shield
Dielectric: PTFE
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Geometry: Tri-axial
Listened for signal direction before build 
One each Silver Air String:
Silver Air Strings: 99.9999% pure mono-crystal Silver conductor 
Dielectric: PTFE Air (sealed)
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Handmade in our California factory
One each Tungsten Air String:
Silver Air Strings: 99.99% pure mono-crystal Tungsten conductor 
Dielectric: PTFE Air (sealed)
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Handmade in our California factory
One each Active Shielding UEF Cell:
Swiss-made DC bias Power Supply 
UEF: Graphene treated pcb
SR Quantum Capacitors
Dielectric: PTFE
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Housing: Carbon Fiber Cylinder
1 each Red Active Module:
Optional for lowest noise floor, completes Active bias circuit
Price: $1995 for five foot length

Atmosphere Level 3 Digital Power Cable Specifications
Three each 12 awg. Copper Matrix Alloy:
Dielectric: Modified PE
Shielding: Braided Ground Plane Technology
Geometry: 2 channel 
Three each Silver Air String:
Silver Air Strings: 99.9999% pure mono crystal silver conductor 
Four separate conductors RCA / 8 separate conductors XLR
Dielectric: PTFE Air (sealed)
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Handmade in our California factory
One each Active Shielding UEF Cell:
Modified Swiss-made DC bias Power Supply 
UEF: Graphene treated pcb
SR Quantum Capacitors
Dielectric: PTFE
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Housing: Carbon Fiber Cylinder
One each Red Active Module:
Optional for lowest noise floor, completes Active bias circuit
One each Gold UEF Tuning Passive Module:
Optional voicing for increased warmth, liquidity 
Connectors:
Connector Input US: 1 each Synergistic Research G07 Pure Gold
Connector Input Int'l: 1 each Synergistic Research G07 Pure Gold Schuko 
Connector Output US: Synergistic Research G07 Pure Gold IEC 15 amp and 20 amp connectors 
Connector Output Int'l: Synergistic Research G07 Pure Gold IEC 15 amp and 20 amp connectors
Build Notes:
32 point-to-point hand soldered connections
Atmosphere UEF 4 Treatment: 2 different UEF coatings with Graphene are applied at a higher level to the UEF Active Cell, Quantum Capacitor, connectors, cabling and ground significantly reducing the noise floor and allowing a purer signal to transfer with less grain providing more warmth and detail. The conductors and ground plane and UEF Cell also benefit from dampening effect that UEF provides
One Termination for Atmosphere Active Tuning Module (Red)
One Termination for Atmosphere UEF Passive Tuning Module (Gold)
Silver Solder: 4%
Hand build time: 2.5 hours
Quantum Tunneling: Before the Active power supply is incorporated all connections and cabling are treated with 1,000,000 volts of electricity at specific frequencies and pulse modulations, creating a canal in the conductor material and contact points at the molecular level that lets electrons to flow more freely. This also allows the "Active Shielding" to work more efficiently yielding the maximum amount of low level information through the conductors and provides for the highest amount of realism in your music
Five day Burn-in: 2 step process
Handmade in our California factory
Price: $2995 for five foot length

Atmosphere Level 3 Analog Power Cable Specifications
Three each 12 awg. Copper Matrix Alloy:
Dielectric: Modified PE
Shielding: Braided Ground Plane Technology
Geometry: 3 channel 
One each 4th Gen-Tricon:
Silver Copper Matrix: Monocrystal conductors with a separate ground conductor from shield
Dielectric: PTFE
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Geometry: Tri-axial
Listened to determine signal direction before build 
Three each Silver Air String:
Silver Air Strings: 99.9999% pure mono crystal silver conductor 
Four separate conductors RCA / 8 separate conductors XLR
Dielectric: PTFE Air (sealed)
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Handmade in our California factory
One each Active Shielding UEF Cell:
Modified Swiss-made DC bias Power Supply 
UEF: Graphene treated pcb
SR Quantum Capacitors
Dielectric: PTFE
Shielding: Ground Plane Technology
Housing: Carbon Fiber Cylinder
One each Red Active Module:
Optional for lowest noise floor, completes Active bias circuit
One each Gold UEF Tuning Passive Module:
Optional voicing for increased warmth, liquidity
Connectors:
Connector Input US: 1 each Synergistic Research G07 Pure Gold
Connector Input Int'l: 1 each Synergistic Research G07 Pure Gold Schuko 
Connector Output US: Synergistic Research G07 Pure Gold IEC 15 amp and 20 amp connectors 
Connector Output Int'l: Synergistic Research G07 Pure Gold IEC 15 amp and 20 amp connectors
Build Notes:
32 point-to-point hand soldered connections
Atmosphere UEF 3 Treatment: 2 different UEF coatings with Graphene are applied at a higher level to the UEF Active Cell, Quantum Capacitor, connectors, cabling and ground significantly reducing the noise floor and allowing a purer signal to transfer with less grain providing more warmth and detail. The conductors and ground plane and UEF Cell also benefit from dampening effect that UEF provides
1 Termination for Atmosphere Active Tuning Module (Red)
1 Termination for Atmosphere UEF Passive Tuning Module (Gold)
Silver Solder: 4%
Hand build time: 2.5 hours
Quantum Tunneling: Before the Active power supply is incorporated all connections and cabling are treated with 1,000,000 volts of electricity at specific frequencies and pulse modulations, creating a canal in the conductor material and contact points at the molecular level that lets electrons to flow more freely. This also allows the "Active Shielding".
Five day Burn-in: Two step process
Handmade in our California factory
Price: $2995 for five foot length 

Company Information
Synergistic Research Inc.
1736 E. Borchard Avenue
Santa Ana, CA 92705

Voice: (949) 476-0000
Website: www.SynergisticResearch.com