Speaker/System Upgrade - SR XOT

[obsydian]

As most know from past posts in addition to being a Naim/Focal fan boy, it also includes Synergistic Research (SR)

Over the past 9 months I have added SR fuses, Power cable, support pucks and most recently Ethernet, all have worked an impressive level of magic.

My NACA5 are over 7 meters, so an expensive option with SR, but i wanted my speaker to somehow benefit, hence i ordered the XOT Carbon for my speakers.

A doodle to fit, sadly i Googled and read up about the XOT came across a "i opened one up and snake oil" thread(s), but i wanted to decide for myself, as pretty much the same hater response to the SR fuses, MIGs, etc… The XOT piggy back onto your binding posts or banana sockets.

Barely an hour in for sure the improvement is clear, yes it is not massive but it really has removed that hash, now details are more defined, vocals even more clear, sound stage more solid. I expected as with all SR products (cables) they take a good 150-200hrs to settle, I thought if they improve more then i am even happier.

To say it is only a noticeable difference is unfair, as i have been through many box upgrades in the £1000’s and ended up with just a bit more control, with the XOT Carbon the effect is greater, you would have to spend allot of money to make similar gains with pre or power amps, etc…

Now a week on (burn in) the XOT are remarkable, everything has improved akin to a major pre and power upgrade, more of everything, very addictive, the level of emotion is very high, the detail the air, the timing is so natural.

[james_n]

You nearly had me and then I read

Now a week on (burn in) the XOT are remarkable, everything has improved akin to a major pre and power upgrade, more of everything, very addictive, the level of emotion is very high, the detail the air, the timing is so natural.

and realised the date

[catswhiskers]

Except…these words appear on the SR website dated 26th March.

[obsydian]

I have not posted anything on the SR site only the dealer, if you go there, you will see my two posts.

1st 26th and 2nd yesterday, ok so not a week, but I guess your just looking for holes to pick.

[catswhiskers]

Not at all, I was querying the suggestion of April 1st

[Xanthe]

Well I’ve looked ar the Synergistic Research website, and their explanation of how the XOT Carbon works is just a shed load of drivel. Their explanation is…

“XOT Carbons are high-frequency filters specifically designed for your speaker’s crossovers. They scrub the nasty EM fields that adversely affect your music. The powerful XOTs clean up high-frequency noise that otherwise distorts harmonic structures within the music signal. UEF particles within the XOTs are excited by the EM fields, in turn, the EM fields become balanced by the XOTs and more phase correct information is achieved.”.

This explanation simply isn’t credible. The study of EM fields is a well understood discipline; to obtain the effect described you would need a Faraday cage around the speakers (not that that would do anything useful for the speakers - although it could shield other things from the EM emissions from the speakers!).

They also claim that the device is “specifically designed for your speaker’s crossovers”; yet there is only one type of device despite the fact that there are many different designs for speaker crossovers, so they can’t be “specifically designed for my speaker’s crossovers”, (and incidentally I have two speakers so they’d have to be specifically designed for my speakers’ crossovers, but that’s probably just lax use of English).

They state the devices uses UEF particles without any information about what UEF particles are, and describe the devices as transducers without any explanation as to between what forms of what entity (entities?) the transduction is taking place.

It wouldn’t at all surprise me if all they contained was a network of two resistors and a serpentiform oil filled capacitor.