OK hold on to your hats! It's the Synergistic Research Atmosphere Video

[FrantzM]

Since We are in December , I can be certain it is not an April Fool thing ... Else ...

 

[PeterA]

Thanks Peter for posting and sharing the video. Whether I agree with the content or not, this is a great service because it exposes us to things that we might not otherwise ever see. And I think the quality of your videos is very good.

I found it difficult to hear any differences when listening through my iMac. Perhaps it is because they did not repeat the same ten second music clip over and over with the different ambience settings. I kept focusing on the beautiful cello music and forgot the purpose of the demonstration. It reminds me of a discussion on another thread where the slight movement of the listening chair is criticized for being more about the sound than about the music. The defense of the chair adjusters is that they want to optimize the sound so that they can more fully appreciate and enjoy the music. I get that, but if you are constantly fussing, when are you listening? If the effect is real, I would simply not want to spend time tapping a screen on a digital interface each time there is a new song on the system. Ironic, because I do pay attention to the VTA for each LP I listen to. If it needs changing, I change it. I guess that is like the chair movements, LOL.

Listening to Peter describe the effects in the video of what I could not hear reminds me of what I did hear when auditioning the latest and greatest MIT speaker cable. There were all of these dials and switches on the network box. When I moved them, I did in fact hear changes in the spacial presentation of the music. From intimate, to holographic to canyon, as Peter describes. This was quite disconcerting. MIT describes them as SD, HD and SHD, but what I heard sounded like phase shifts in particular frequencies which made the sound either focused, front and center, or ethereal, floating and wrapping around the room. It was very strange and I preferred the lowest or SD setting.

Assuming the effects of the Atmosphere device are real, I guess it comes down to whether you want to design your system to portray what the recording engineer and artist intended, or whether you want some sense of control to affect the way a recording sounds so that you enjoy it more. I don't think one approach is any better or worse than the other.

There is a distinction between fidelity and entertainment and marketing sometimes attempts to blur the differences.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Thanks Peter for posting and sharing the video. Whether I agree with the content or not, this is a great service because it exposes us to things that we might not otherwise ever see. And I think the quality of your videos is very good.

I found it difficult to hear any differences when listening through my iMac. Perhaps it is because they did not repeat the same ten second music clip over and over with the different ambience settings. I kept focusing on the beautiful cello music and forgot the purpose of the demonstration. It reminds me of a discussion on another thread where the slight movement of the listening chair is criticized for being more about the sound than about the music. The defense of the chair adjusters is that they want to optimize the sound so that they can more fully appreciate and enjoy the music. I get that, but if you are constantly fussing, when are you listening? If the effect is real, I would simply not want to spend time tapping a screen on a digital interface each time there is a new song on the system. Ironic, because I do pay attention to the VTA for each LP I listen to. If it needs changing, I change it. I guess that is like the chair movements, LOL.

Listening to Peter describe the effects in the video of what I could not hear reminds me of what I did hear when auditioning the latest and greatest MIT speaker cable. There were all of these dials and switches on the network box. When I moved them, I did in fact hear changes in the spacial presentation of the music. From intimate, to holographic to canyon, as Peter describes. This was quite disconcerting. MIT describes them as SD, HD and SHD, but what I heard sounded like phase shifts in particular frequencies which made the sound either focused, front and center, or ethereal, floating and wrapping around the room. It was very strange and I preferred the lowest or SD setting.

Assuming the effects of the Atmosphere device are real, I guess it comes down to whether you want to design your system to portray what the recording engineer and artist intended, or whether you want some sense of control to affect the way a recording sounds so that you enjoy it more. I don't think one approach is any better or worse than the other.

There is a distinction between fidelity and entertainment and marketing sometimes attempts to blur the differences.

+1. Excellent post.

 

[esldude]

Esldude, I thought you might work out that my comment on affecting the mic's is meant to be sarcastic/ironic. Highly so. I put so much thought into these posts, I feel a bit under appreciated LOL!

Well, I was in a hurry and posting from a phone actually. And it did seem you perhaps were being ironic. So my apologies, I should have read with more feeling for your comment.

 

[FrantzM]

Originally Posted by tomelex

While I would have preferred less pauses between various functions or effects, on my headphones I noticed tonal differences. I also noticed breathing sounds and other noises as well that may or may not be part of the effect, also rushing sort of sounds, which could be attributed to RF Interference of a continuous wave spectrum. So there it is.


ESLDUDE: That's interesting. SR claims this effects the listener not the sound. Only your perception changes the sounds perceived don't change by their claim.

So why should this video sound different to you? It isn't recording RF to effect you.

Ever heard of placebo? You just experienced it.

Like I said, its not the way I would do a comparison. And I am not familiar with the music, and maybe the chello was just going through different scales and I did think that the music was being paused the restarted, and yes, I did hear tonal differences. Now was it the device or was it the scale changing that they played, either way when I heard differences. I think if you use headphones and go back to some point, listen through and then listen when the device is changed, you will hear tonal differences. Like I said, I would have had quick changes and replayed the same piece of music, that's how i do listening tests myself. I listened again from 8 to 8:45 or so and hear distinct changes in tone. See if you do, and again, did the chello shift in scale or is it the effect of the device. The difference is easy to hear for me on my senn hd380 pros which I often use to hear more of everything as he restarts in intimate mode or whatever as peter said it sounded more like just the chello was emphasized and for me the tonal change is quite obvious. I trust my ears in this case 100%.

You are a closet subjectivist

 

[DaveC]

I agree with esldude and Dev on this one... by the description of the product you should not be able to hear any differences on a recording as it effects human perception, not the actual sound of the system. It seems really weird that we'd get a vid trying to differentiate it's effects when by admission of the inventor, it should have no effect at all on the recording.

I did hear some differences at RMAF as well, but I've heard amazing systems that use absolutely no devices similar to what SR sells. I'm making no judgements on the products them selves, their effects are just, well.. unnecessary in order to achieve good sound. It violates the KISS principle that I adhere to in audio that keeps me from spending money on non-essential things. But, everyone needs to figure out where they are going to draw the line, in a very high resolution system everything makes an audible difference. I choose to focus on improvements that actually move me toward my goals, not differences that are relatively insignificant to me.

edit: I would say that I have heard differences with a few SR products and I think they are very interesting. I think they get too much criticism because it's difficult to comprehend how they work.

 

[esldude]

Well, I think we all are, as in we all have ears and we all know what "sounds" good and given as you know I can change the electronic value of one capacitor and shift the FR and hear it and say wow, I guess upping the highs a little bit sounds better to me. The thing about the video as I say, is not knowing if at the point he kicks in the intimate setting that the chello now is playing a different scale, but it sure is easy to hear the difference right at that point on the video. For testing such as this I love my oppo ability to repeat tracks or bits of tracks, it sure allows me to hear what a component change does to a particular music or band of frequencies, as often I am inputting 5 tones at once and listen for changes, which is often easier than music. I would like to know if Peter selected this music to play or was it suggested to use it. I did experience the shumann generator and did notice a difference in the sound, but while it was a change it was soon forgotton or my ears normalized to it pretty quickly and it was subtle. As an enjoyer of SET amps on occasion, I certainly do like hearing added stuff on some music, and I have no problems with tone controls, or any other processors, as in reality, don't we choose the primary tone control in audio, our speakers, based on our own perceptions of how we think things should sound....

Meant to reply to you yesterday regarding your earlier post. Yes, I hear what you describe about where you say it occurs. I had just the day before run into a similar experience. Helped a friend setup Dirac room correction in his system. He picked out a very similar recording with violin featured. He wanted to turn the processing on and off to see what difference he made. The recording was one that was changing every few seconds. Just by happenstance he kept switching the processing on and off just as the speed and tone of the violin was changing rather obviously. Much like in this video. Now after a few tries where he just switched at the wrong time I suggested we get something else that stayed the same for a longer period of time.

My comment about the placebo, perhaps not what you meant, was listening to a video of a device said to change sound. One hears the sound change which gets attributed to the device. This happens several times in that video. One could even think it was planned that way though I don't. Having just accidentally watched someone do the same thing trying to evaluate processing that most definitely made a real difference. Placebo works both ways. Even when a for sure audible change has been made, if you know what the change was you will hear more 'clearly' than if you didn't know.

 

[esldude]

I don't think any of us are above being fooled by audio, and as I think you agree with me we must use a way to do tests that cant be misconstrued. I don't know if that music was picked on purpose or just by accident but it certainly did produce the tonal change when going to intimate, and if it was planned then now folks have even more reason to be skeptical. I do know that I heard an initial difference listening to an actual schumann resonance device at a local audio club members house so it does do something. What I don't know, but as we are part of our environment, perhaps a change in the resonance fields about is detectable by our ears or just processing of sound in our ear/brain interface, and this begs the question, is this device harmful to us in some way?

Well other reasons to be skeptical is the size of antenna needed to develop signal strength at 7 hz as an RF signal. The SR device doesn't appear to be very large. One test would be to see how much electrical power it draws. See what strength field it could generate by working backwards.

 

[DaveC]

Well other reasons to be skeptical is the size of antenna needed to develop signal strength at 7 hz as an RF signal. The SR device doesn't appear to be very large. One test would be to see how much electrical power it draws. See what strength field it could generate by working backwards.

It's USB powered so...

 

[FrantzM]

Maybe it is some kind of ESP thing going on

 

[esldude]

It's USB powered so...

Ah! I missed that it was USB powered. Darned funny that. Would have replied sooner, but had to pick myself up after I fell off my chair laughing.

Must have been inspired by these websites.

http://www.earthbreathing.co.uk/sr.htm

http://www.schumannresonator.com/

And here are some less expensive "solutions" to your Shuman resonance problem.

http://www.lessemf.com/schumann.html

 

[Joe Whip]

I finally had the chance to watch this video. I listened to it via headphones. I will listen through both my 2 channel system and HT system when I return home. In short, I heard no differences at all just like Peter's prior videos of the HTF dots. Is it just me or do these videos, with Ted there participating, play like SR commercials hawking the product? That may be a bit harsh, but it is the impression I got watching he clips. I think it would be best if Ted was not involved at all in the video with Peter describing his impressions. A couple of other points. Why would his device need a hour or so to "warm up". That just seems nonsensical. The same is true about the cost. $2,250! Really? For a device that generates RF. Seems like a ton to me.

 

[ipadasher]

I would never buy a product like this.
This statement is from someone who bought the HTF and the ECT, and really, really like them.
Nothing else to say.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

I love all the naysayers. Why don't you just try it (HFTs or whatever), they all come with a money back guarantees. There are numerous folks on this board who use Teds products, there is a reason why... they work. These naysayers are no different than the ones years ago when I began writing about SETs. Not a single (naysayer) person had listened to a single ended triode amplifier. Did SET go the way of the Tice clock? Hmmm. Don't think so. Our fearless leader here has them as his reference. You must keep an open mind with high end audio.

 

[Joe Whip]

Peter I have heard rooms treated with HTFs, several sets. We played around with them and I heard no difference, none, even though the guy who bought them swore he heard it at the same time. It is his money and he can spent as he sees fit. I wouldn't waste any more time on them. As for SETs, when you had the Philly group shows with SETs, I was not impressed with them. Others love them. Not me. Again, if you love them cool. Buy what you like. As for the product in hand, it seems like the RF is effecting you. Wouldn't a fine brandy or a good pinot give the same effect at a much lower price? Remember, there were quite a few audiophiles who swore the Tice clock worked. Again, have a demo with area members of WTF and post the results. I am sure a few will be game.

 

[beaur]

Peter,

Caveat; I have not heard any of SR's product line. You are asking naysayers to try the product. Well if past examples of this type (including Tice) are followed it will go something like this; 1. I deny your product works, 2. You haven't heard it so you have no standing, 3. OK I caved and bought one but I don't hear anything, 4. You didn't set it up correctly (or similar variation) as there are lots of satisfied customers out there, 5. Took a closer look at the instructions (or had a true believer come over) and still no effect, 6. Well your ears/system aren't good enough or your system isn't resolving enough. 7. On to the next tweak.

SET is a bad example as it's what I would call a system basic in that you need something to power your system. People can argue all day long whether SET sounds as good or has enough oomph as push pull or solid state but they can't argue that a SET amplifier powers a system as there is music coming out of the speakers.

I can play all day with SR or other tweak products and hear no difference and you can be right beside me and hear a difference. Plenty of room for "discussion" there.

When someone prosthelytizes to me about these things I am always reminded about the hasidic kids who stand on the corner and ask me if I am Jewish. Don't need to try that out to know it's not for me!

I love all the naysayers. Why don't you just try it (HFTs or whatever), they all come with a money back guarantees. There are numerous folks on this board who use Teds products, there is a reason why... they work. These naysayers are no different than the ones years ago when I began writing about SETs. Not a single (naysayer) person had listened to a single ended triode amplifier. Did SET go the way of the Tice clock? Hmmm. Don't think so. Our fearless leader here has them as his reference. You must keep an open mind with high end audio.

 

[GaryProtein]

Well other reasons to be skeptical is the size of antenna needed to develop signal strength at 7 hz as an RF signal. The SR device doesn't appear to be very large. One test would be to see how much electrical power it draws. See what strength field it could generate by working backwards.

I think antenna technology has progressed to where the physical size of the device is not crucial. The tiny size of cell phones pretty well demonstrates that.

Still, the device is bogus.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Peter - Are you convinced enough of it's effect and merit for you to buy this review sample and keep it in your system?

 

[GaryProtein]

Peter - Are you convinced enough of it's effect and merit for you to buy this review sample and keep it in your system?

You know he has to say "yes"

 

[Joe Whip]

I am sure there are but I can't think of any offhand. I will give it some thought on my long flight home. I will say that it is often times the case that people believe what they want to believe. Religion and politics come to mind. Snake oil in those areas may not be physical products like in audio, but are snake oil nonetheless. Of course, in those areas whether you view something as snake oil depends on your biases, which come to think of it is just like audio. I guess don't have to think about it on the plane after all. Time for bed!