A few days ago our Audio Influencer Al was singing the praises of the Synergistic Research Black Box.
I had listened to one many years ago as a Cable Co. loaner, hoping to rid my room of some nasty nodes with Magnaplanars. I remember it did smooth out some nasties but I couldn’t justify the expense ($2k)
as it was near the cost of the speakers themselves and I was going to put in more room absorbers and
diffusers. Flash forward to the present, I got a CC loaner again, and, moved the passive device around the room until something happened. And it did happened. The bass got tighter, but upper frequencies benefited too. Vocals and instruments have better focus and air. I would best describe it as “fog lifter”.
I guess this make sense if your fundamental frequencies are clean, they won’t muddy up the works as they resonate at higher frequencies.
I ended up with a location that is between speakers away from the wall. Most locations around the room
did little or nothing. So be patient, but at least there is no break-in time. I was lucky to snag one on Audiogon. Like SR’s fuses, I think the cost is a bit rich for this gismo, but it did subdue some bumps and humps that traps couldn’t get. I tried a second Black Box as well with little improvement. Al has two in his setup and digs it. As with all this stuff, YMMV, but this seems nice.
I demonstrated one in Jacksonville at the House of Stereo. I listened to a track a few times. He put in room and the boom was gone but he just tossed in front of listening position and I though it may have taken too
Much out of the music. But the darn thing does work. Crazy how the boomy came back when he took out of the room. I was thinking of trying them.
Anyone try the “dots”?
That little box costs more than 3 Master fuses? That’s absurd!
I am very sad but I like the effect the Synergistic Research Black Boxes have in my listening room. Darn, Darn, Darn!
I heard those demoed by Synergistic Research at Tampa’s audio show and thought they were the most obviously efficacious product I heard. They definitely improved the bass performance in the room. I considered buying a pair but ended up installing four bass corner traps instead. A bit more aesthetically intrusive but also more effective.
I’ve tried the PHO dots on my head shell/tonearm, dealer gave me some to try. I tried the green, purple and blue
I did not hear any difference with or without them in various places. I left the green one on as I had the VTF dialed in with the combination of counterweights I had on the arm, I’ll pull it off there one of these days. I have since trimmed off the extra “tac” from around the DOT
Have never tried the DOTS you place around the room and on speakers
Best,
-JP
On the good side, the boxes are black and not silver
They come in white too
That could match my white FR20’s 
I wasn’t looking to revive this thread but I was fortunate that @straightwire let me borrow this magic device for a couple days and his description is spot on! It’s hard to believe the little black box that requires nothing other than proper placement delivers the Magic and I don’t think it needs to be burned in! I can’t believe what it’s done for my setup. We played around with two of them at @aangen place but I wasn’t familiar with his systems sound tho there was no doubt that the boxes were changing the sound as they moved around and I think we dialed them in before we (my friend Doug and I) left.
It’s different when experienced in your own personal setup when you think it doesn’t get better than it already is and wow I’m blown away! Damn you SR and your Black Box!
Every Pandora’s Box has a surprise inside. I’ve listened to plenty of Synergistic Research “tweaks” over the years and there isn’t a clear pattern. Some work, some don’t. I tried the Black Box years ago and it did nothing. Now it cleans up the bass that room treatments and speaker placement couldn’t address.
Al put it back in view and I’m thankful for that. A same old sheep in new clothing.
You remember I also tried the Black Tower that does Nothing and identified it as such.
The little black boxes exceed my expectations by a large measure.
I demonstrated these in FL and yeah it was amazing how they changed the Bass response in the room.
I’ve heard these things do something, but having said that, given that it does seem to do something audible in the bass, shouldn’t that be detectable as a change if a before and after impulse response measurement is taken? I’m curious as heck - if someone nearby had one I could try, I’d love to run some before and afters just to see if I could find anything that could correlate to the change heard.
They are Magical. I don’t believe there is a test that would explain it. And moving them from one place to another makes obvious audible changes. When you get them in a really good location there is no question about it.
Good description of the Stealth power cord tuning ring.
Oh I know. I’ve heard it at shows. It just piques my curiosity that it seems no one has even tried to do such an assessment. Just for curiosity’s sake.
As you may be aware, I don’t pay any attention at all to measurements. Not interested.
If I don’t hear the Magic, the numbers don’t matter.
I don’t get it, what are you describing?
There is no disagreement, Al. I’ve never bought anything based on measurements. This does not mean I’m not willing to try and understand how something I’m hearing may correlate to something. I’m agnostic to all sides.