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Synergistic Research apparently at "war" against Gene from Audioholics

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puppet

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I'm thinking an Audio Underwriters Laboratory is in order.
 

SimpleTheater

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After finding this thread, I was interested in finding out just how good Synergistic Research products were. At $30k for 8 ft of SRX Speaker Cable, they should be pretty damn good. And if I'm going to drop that kind of coin, what if they don't do anything for me, or not sound as good as my $8k Kimber Kables? Well, much to my surprise, there is NO return policy. Compared to Kimber Kables 60 day return policy.

But, maybe the Synergistic Research warranty, matches the "Never Compromise" motto. Well you get a whopping 5 years! Wow, I've got original copper speaker wire the owner of the house installed in the garage that's been working 25 years, that cost under $15. Kind of surprising they only cover them for 5 years. Then you get to the " Synergistic Research is not responsible for return shipping costs. ". I really like that, you ask $30k for 8 ft of speaker cables, they FAIL (hypothetically) and you won't even pay to return them to the customer under warranty!

Who has this kind of money would ever buy this product? Even a dumb rich person with more money than they know what to do with would want a serious warranty (aka: 25 yrs or lifetime) behind a piece of wire.

Hyundai/Kia offer 10 years on their car engines, and many of their cars cost LESS than 8 ft of Synergistic speaker wire.
 

Thomas savage

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SR need to invent and manufacture microphones and Ted needs to lend his blinding genius toward recording and mastering techniques.., only then will his other incredible offerings make sense . They are handicapped by others ineptitude, you can only polish a turd so much , Ted knows this from personal experience.. No matter how much money you throw at a turd , its hard to disguise is place of origin .
 

ta240

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..... Even a dumb rich person with more money than they know what to do with would want a serious warranty (aka: 25 yrs or lifetime) behind a piece of wire.
....

I don't think logic comes into play at all with a purchase like this. It is purely emotion.

I don't need a warranty when what I'm buying is really a membership into the elite group of people that are able to hear a difference.
It is a modern day, not-so-secret society where the only initiation is spending a lot of money.
 

ta240

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This is why I don't do social media. ......... Forgive me for going off on an off-topic tangent.

It really isn't off topic. Social media sites as well as youtube will feed their visitors a constant diet of exactly what they want to see to keep them there and watching more advertisements.
If someone starts watching videos or reading about how cables make a difference, they will be shown more like that and will not be shown anything that counters that point of view. Because posts or videos with a different point of view may make them stop watching. All the information they take in will reinforce the belief that cables do change the sound.
 

Thomas savage

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Not everyone who spends lots on audio gear is doing it for egotistical reasons . Its perfectly possible to be sucked into the vortex of mainstream hifi media and industry and get on a path of self affirming confusion.

This can lead one to commit serious funds trying to obtain something ' perfect ' and ' without compromise ' .

Nothing at all to do with trying to impress people , actually its often embarrassing to admit such expenditure.


I'm certain if we all laid bare our lifes decisions and failings we'd all be equally ridiculous in one another's eyes regardless of whether one of our sins was paying too much for a hifi tweak .

Quit the self congratulatory ' back patting ' it betrays ones nature.
 

bogart

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Not everyone who spends lots on audio gear is doing it for egotistical reasons . Its perfectly possible to be sucked into the vortex of mainstream hifi media and industry and get on a path of self affirming confusion.

This can lead one to commit serious funds trying to obtain something ' perfect ' and ' without compromise ' .

Nothing at all to do with trying to impress people , actually its often embarrassing to admit such expenditure.


I'm certain if we all laid bare our lifes decisions and failings we'd all be equally ridiculous in one another's eyes regardless of whether one of our sins was paying too much for a hifi tweak .

Quit the self congratulatory ' back patting ' it betrays ones nature.
Thomas makes an excellent point as usual. The audio hobby can be a channel for anxieties and neuroses the same as any. There’s no doubt there are folks committing funds compulsively to stuff like SR products.

Imagine the decrease in bad feelings from fixing the problem Ted tells you he’s solved. Yeah, the same can be said for tons of consumer products, but snake oil audio products are particularly obscene examples of it.
 

ZööZ

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It really isn't off topic. Social media sites as well as youtube will feed their visitors a constant diet of exactly what they want to see to keep them there and watching more advertisements.
If someone starts watching videos or reading about how cables make a difference, they will be shown more like that and will not be shown anything that counters that point of view. Because posts or videos with a different point of view may make them stop watching. All the information they take in will reinforce the belief that cables do change the sound.
It's funny how ads can be seen for utter nonsense products on pages debunking them but I have never seen ads or links to debunking those false claims anywhere where those products are promoted.
 

Jim Matthews

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It really isn't off topic. Social media sites as well as youtube will feed their visitors a constant diet of exactly what they want to see to keep them there and watching more advertisements.

This is an insidious problem and at the rotten core if what the internet has produced : indoctrination is the opposite of information.

The worst part about this is that there is no regulator, at all.
 

Thomas savage

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This is an insidious problem and at the rotten core if what the internet has produced : indoctrination is the opposite of information.

The worst part about this is that there is no regulator, at all.
You get the social media you deserve..

Welcome to ' knowing your neighbours 2021 ' ..

Humans when they think or know they can get away with it are fairly bloody rancid .. when in little bilaterally affirming closed groups they are even worse ..

Ahhhh ahhhhh ahhhh ... what like niche audio forums ... ahhhh ahhh ....
 

SimpleTheater

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This is an insidious problem and at the rotten core if what the internet has produced : indoctrination is the opposite of information.
Agree.
The worst part about this is that there is no regulator, at all.
Disagree. Do you want a gov't body to tell you that you can't buy Synergistic products because testing shows no difference? People who buy those products insist they are wonderful. Who's going to pay for the blind studies these dogmatic people would insist on to show any/no differences?

No, regulation would be the WORST thing you could do. People need to be free to make terrible decisions. That terrible decision may actually bring them joy, and to regulate joy, well that would be the worst kind of tyranny.
 

ta240

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It's funny how ads can be seen for utter nonsense products on pages debunking them but I have never seen ads or links to debunking those false claims anywhere where those products are promoted.

Their algorithms aren't so good (or choose not to be) at knowing that the page is talking negatively about a subject so it reads the keywords on the page and throws up the ad. When selling products with massive markup they can pay a lot for customer acquisition. There aren't advertising dollars available from those that are debunking, so they don't get ads or links to them shown.
For a business, it is a real chore going through and adding all the necessary negative key words like "debunk", "fake", "snake oil" etc. to the ad listings to stop them from showing on the pages that are against them. And google gets paid the same if the person just clicks to see how silly a product is or if they click with full interest in buying.

Don't even get me started on companies that pay for their name as a search term when they already show up as the top un-paid result when searching for their name. The people running their ad campaign show them impressive stats on how many clicks they got through the paid service when most of those clicks are the ones using their name for search terms. Of course they don't bother to tell them that they could have gotten those clicks and not had to pay several dollars for each one anyways.
I got trapped in a logic circle with a salesperson once. They said "don't pay to show up when customers search for your competitor because people will just back out of your page as soon as they realize it isn't them and go to the next, correct, listing." and 30 seconds later said "be sure to pay for your own name because your competitor will be bidding on that to try to lure people to their site by showing up above your search listing"
 

ta240

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Agree.
Disagree. Do you want a gov't body to tell you that you can't buy Synergistic products because testing shows no difference? People who buy those products insist they are wonderful. Who's going to pay for the blind studies these dogmatic people would insist on to show any/no differences?

No, regulation would be the WORST thing you could do. People need to be free to make terrible decisions. That terrible decision may actually bring them joy, and to regulate joy, well that would be the worst kind of tyranny.

It would be really difficult to regulate. And as stated above and many times before, their customers are almost always happy customers.

With a fair amount of expense you could do like the supplement companies and go after them if they try to make fact based claims that can't or haven't been proven. But then they'd just do like that industry and not make claims themselves, just put quotes from customers and reviewers on their site. Some audio ones do that already. Or they could have disclaimers saying "it hasn't been scientifically proven to make any difference".

The best you can hope for is to inform the new to the audio world people that there is another point of view on these things. Maybe save them from throwing their wallet down the rabbit hole. But the siren song of lifted veils and incredible blackness between songs is a hard thing to fight against.

Although we do live in a world where customers got a settlement from Red Bull because it didn't actually give you "wings" when you drank it....
 

SimpleTheater

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With a fair amount of expense you could do like the supplement companies and go after them if they try to make fact based claims that can't or haven't been proven. But then they'd just do like that industry and not make claims themselves, just put quotes from customers and reviewers on their site. Some audio ones do that already. Or they could have disclaimers saying "it hasn't been scientifically proven to make any difference".
I like it, but you know some business would get their fingers into the regulations and twist it all around. Then Amir would be the one making the disclaimer "it hasn't been scientifically proven that a person can hear a SINAD > 90 dB".
 

phoenixdogfan

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I will not engage these posts under the advisement of my lawyer other than to state the same day Ted posted his challenge, his lawyer issued a threatening letter for me to remove the posts relating to the harassment I endured from Ted for over a year. The letter also states I cannot talk about Ted or his company going forward. Last night Ted turned his Facebook into a shrine on me to intimidate. He continues posting my family photos on his page to humiliate. Attached is a screen shot from last night as example. I will not participate in his tactics nor will I accept his relentless stalking behavior or his "challenges" which IMO are nothing more than a facade to rile his base and control the narrative of me being his boogeyman.

https://www.audioholics.com/editorials/synergistic-research




View attachment 124184

My sympathies, Gene. You have simply been doing your job: reviewing audio gear and offering evidence based, scientific advice to audio enthusiasts on how to optimize their experience. Along the way, any number of snake oil purveyors will not doubt become your enemies as you dismantle their horseshit claims to protect the interest of the audio consuming public.

Hope your have very good legal representation, b/c it looks like the SR guy has already committed an intentional tort against you, your family, and your business, and has sizable assets you could demand as damages. Hang in there and sue his ass!
 

Chrispy

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The only powerful person Ted knows is Thomas Mapother, a guy known to believe in the efficacy of SR products and other weird stuff.

Didn't "Tom" also introduce Jimmy Fallon to his audio weirdness?
 

Jim Matthews

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No, regulation would be the WORST thing you could do. People need to be free to make terrible decisions. That terrible decision may actually bring them joy, and to regulate joy, well that would be the worst kind of tyranny.

The FDA regulates drug sales, even online.
ICE regulates, and confiscated counterfeit goods, where detected.

The FCC regulates broadcasting, everywhere else.
There should be no safe haven for disinformation.

Spare us the Libertarian Fairy tales.
 
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