78%, OFF - Synergistic Research – TESLA POWERCELL 10 - SE

The design has an electrically charged active shield on the power code.

This 10-SE has 2 “wall wart” power supplies, to the power cord shield. With one connecting to the cord, and one to the conditioner chassis.

The 10-SE has a SPEAK ON screw on lock power cord with active shielding. 10 outlets. The conditioner is in good condition. The “heatshrink” on power cords is not adhesive. So, it gaps a little bit, if you bend the cord. Nothing effecting the performance.

Unlike many conditioners, it doesn’t feature chokes or transformers. The chassis, Synergistic says, is electromagnetically inert, but on the inside it conditions the electricity by subjecting it to various electromagnetic fields. The power cord for the unit also allows for active shielding. The unit is non-current-limiting—which many conditioner manufacturers say, but which often turns out not to be the case—and is lightweight, making it easy to move around. Nor does it have an on-off switch. You simply use its locking power cord and plug it into the wall. 

Reprinted From: The Absolute Sound, by Jacob Heilbrunn on the Powercell 10-SE

“The Synergistic PowerCell immediately offered a warmer and more relaxed presentation.”

“The difference was surprisingly dramatic. The Einstein preamplifier I’ve been using recently is quite dynamic, but can be a little astringent at times. The Synergistic PowerCell immediately offered a warmer and more relaxed presentation. It also made the Wilson MAXX 3 loudspeakers sound more elegant, particularly in the highs. By comparison, the sound before I added the PowerCell seemed somewhat disjointed. In addition, the conditioner endowed intricate passages with greater resolution, helping to delineate musical lines more clearly. Overall, the PowerCell had a holistic effect, drawing me further into the music.
One of the Tesla’s most palpable improvements was its ability to open up the soundstage. On Simone Dinnerstein’s intriguing recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations [Telarc], which features a reconditioned Steinway model D concert grand, hailing from the town council of Hull, in Northeast England, it was easier to hear both the reverberations of the piano within the concert hall as well as its rich, telluric sound, closer almost to a Bösendorfer than a Steinway. The sound of the felt hammer hitting the string was also more articulate. As always, this may be something of a double-edged sword—recordings provide a lens into music-making that a concert hall simply will not offer, further proof, I think, that it’s very tricky to compare CDs with live music. But honest to gosh, I almost swear you can hear the aged quality of the wood (whose aging process can’t be speeded up like metals that can be treated cryogenically).

The ability of the PowerCell to help disentangle complicated passages was underscored by a wonderful piece, W.L. Thompson’s “There’s A Great Day Coming” [Gala], which is played by six trumpeters led by the New York Philharmonic’s Philip Smith. There was no suppression of dynamics, if anything the PowerCell conveyed a greater sense of authority and body. The burnished sound of six trumpets popping up seemingly out of nowhere was quite striking. In fact, I would say that it was the closest reproduction of the actual sound of a trumpet that I’ve heard.
But the most striking improvement rendered by the PowerCell was the confidence with which the
music unfolded. The presentation simply seemed more relaxed and self-assured. On Angela Hewitt’s recording of Bach’s English Suites [Hyperion SACD], for example, the piano simply sounded less constricted and compressed than it had previously. The graceful, composed nature of her playing emerged more fully.

Was the PowerCell, however, blurring transients? Not to my mind. I can see that not everyone will gravitate to the PowerCell. If your system tends to the warm, lush, rich side, you might not welcome the extra dollop of plushness that the PowerCell provides. But I wouldn’t consider my overall system, given the number of tubes in it, on the dry side, even when using solid-state amplification. To my mind, the fuller presentation of the PowerCell was more authentic. What’s more, the PowerCell really does seem to be non-current-limiting—it does not choke amplifiers, which, for the most part, are best run directly into the wall.”

“Overall, the PowerCell had a holistic effect, drawing me further into the music.”