An Effective Dem from Shunyata

"Do you hear that difference?" asked Shunyata's Grant Samuelson. Indeed I did. Grant was playing a track from singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne on Focal speakers and had replaced the Marantz amplifier's and disc player's stock AC cords with Shunyata cords; the voice and instruments became slightly better differentiated from one another. Then,instead of plugging the AC cords straight into the wall, he plugged them into a Shunyata Hydra distribution box. There was a further improvement in the same direction. Finally Grant removed the German-made Stillpoints wideband acoustic absorbers from the room's sidewalls. He didn't need to play any music, the sound of his speaking voice acquiring a distinct "honk."

This was an effective demonstration of the benefits of Shunyata's and Stillpoints' components. Shunyata's Caelin Gabriel had designed systems to reduce self-noise dealing with very–low-level signals in the military and his Shunyata cables and AC distribution boxes are based on that research. Grant then passed around the duplex outlets used by Shunyata. Made by Hubbell for Shunyata, these offered a much greater contact area and significantly lower measured series resistance.

COMMENTS
pwf2739's picture

Those look like Focal Electra 1038 Be speakers- the same model I have. Wish I had gone to AXPONA to hear them so I could compare them to my own system!

Sure hope they sounded great. 

mauidj's picture

I just added a full complement of Shunyata Zi-tron power cables and Hydra distribution to my system and was really suprised by the obvious difference the upgrades made. Don't know why or how but it sure worked on my rig :-)

MVBC's picture

 Finally Grant removed the German-made Stillpoints wideband acoustic absorbers from the room's sidewalls. He didn't need to play any music, the sound of his speaking voice acquiring a distinct "honk."

No kidding. Close the drapes at home and you'll feel it too...

handler's picture

Did the listeners hear and "discover" these improved characteristics, or did Grant tell the audience what they would hear in advance??

This is a very significant (and not popular to talk about) detail. 

John Atkinson's picture

handler wrote:
Did the listeners hear and "discover" these improved characteristics, or did Grant tell the audience what they would hear in advance??

Yes they did, and no.

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile

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