Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler

Synergistic
Research A/C Master Coupler 90" (7.5') is a standard in the industry.
Compare 5' used power cords for $375. These are very lightly used and in very
good condition or better. At $199 for 7.5', can you think of a more efficient
way to add value and performance to your audio or video system?



See Review:



Do Power Cords Make a Difference?

Brian Damkroger

Reprinted from: The Absolute Sound, Volume 21, Issue 111

In the case of Synergistic’s original A/C Master Coupler, the answer is yes —
unequivocally, resoundingly, and oh my, yes. The original A/C Master Coupler
was a breakthrough product, a true High End classic that defined what an AC
cord could do for a system. Suffice it to say that when Ted Denney said that
his Reference model was “as much better than the original couplers than they
were compared to a stock power cord,” I was more than a bit intrigued. I’d
heard rumor of cord that bettered the original Master Coupler — the insanely
expensive NBS for example — but never actually encountered one. Cords that
sounded different, yes — better, no.

The Reference Coupler is similar in design and construction to the original —
two stranded conductors, one for each AC leg, with the shields combined and
used as the ground. Unlike the original, the Reference coupler uses a double
shield of gold and silver instead of a single copper layer, silver- matrix
conductors instead of copper, standard rather than foamed polyethylene as a
dielectric. Cosmetically, the Reference is distinguished by its use of a
silver, rather than black, mesh sleeve. The IEC and AC plug are the same as
those used in the original.

Though my experience with the Reference Coupler has been for the most part
positive, I found it to be the least satisfying of the Synergistic products
I’ve tried. Partly, I think, this is because it has a tough act to follow. In
most ways, and in most of the systems I’ve used it in, it did improve on the
original’s performance. When I replaced the original Master Coupler feeding the
VAC CPAI Mk II preamp with a Reference, I actually wondered if the original had
lost some of its magic over time. A comparison with the stock cord confirmed
that no, the original Master Coupler was working just fine. It was just that
the things that it did so well — removal of inter-image grunge, sharpening the
leading edge of transients, tightening the bass and cleaning the highs, better
elucidation of image edges — the Reference did even better. So what’s the
problem? One is that the original A/C Master Coupler was truly revolutionary,
capable of changing a system in a very fundamental way. Starting from the
originals, the Reference Coupler is just somewhat better. Like I said, a tough
act to follow. For $250, you absolutely cannot do any better than adding one of
the original A/C Master Couplers to your system. For an additional $350, I’m
not certain that upgrading to the Reference Coupler is as good an investment.

A second niggling difficulty I have with the Reference Couplers is that they
aren’t as universally applicable as the originals. I have yet to find a piece
of equipment that didn’t benefit greatly from the use of a Master Coupler. I
even joke about taking one to work and using it on my girlfriend’s scanning
electron microscope to see if the resolution can be improved. If you think High
End audio gear is overpriced, imagine what a two-times improvement in the
resolution of such a device might be worth. The Reference Coupler seems to be
more narrowly applicable. I’ve found that it has a tendency to make inexpensive
solid state and digital gear sound worse, accentuation any upper midrange
edginess and drying out any semblance of warmth in the upper bass and lower
midrange. It has worked beautifully with a wide range of tube gear and with
Audire’s Class A solid state gear, and the Accuphase DP55 CD player was a good
match as well. On the other hand, I’m concerned that the Reference Coupler
proved to be a bad match for the Spectron Model 10 preamp, which is a
super-fast, super-detailed, ultra-wide bandwidth design. I’d suggest particular
caution with equipment which tends toward the yang side of neutral. With a
Reference Coupler, everything is cleaner, faster and sharper, but the tonal
balance often seems to be shifted too, tipped slightly upward with a bit of
lightness and whiteness in the lower midrange. With the bulk of the gear I’ve
had, it hasn’t often been a problem, but try before you buy. In summary, the
Reference Master Coupler is a mostly successful attempt to improve on a High
End classic. Like many sequels, however, it breaks no new ground but rather
attempts to distill and further accentuate the qualities that made the original
a benchmark. In doing so, the Reference Coupler has become more narrowly
focused and moved closer to adding a sonic thumbprint of its own — a set of characteristics
that may mesh well with some systems but not in others. When it works, it works
very well indeed, but too often I found myself thinking of it as a means of
altering the sound of a component as much as improving it.

SUMMARY

Beyond any doubt, Synergistic Research has become one of the serious players in
the High End cable industry. Regardless of how you judge the validity of their
design goals and philosophy, their top models are unquestionably
reference-quality products. Taken individually, the Resolution Reference
speaker cable and Designers’ Reference interconnects are very close to neutral,
and do an excellent job at hiding their slight characters and deviations within
the fabric of the music. They do everything well and are particularly adept at
recreating a seamless soundstage populated with beautifully sketched images,
admittedly a key components among my listening biases. Their slight deviations
from neutrality offset and balance each other well, fortuitously or by design,
resulting in a cabling package that has worked spectacularly well in every
system I’ve tried. TAS