Linn Owners

A Phenomenal Year Of Audio Upgrades

Oscar P.

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Mar 6, 2020
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Tranquility Pods? O no! Not a new tweak that seems to work!!!

2022 for me was the year of the powercords. Never thought that the most important cord makes such a big difference (Furutech DPS 4.1). Massive improvement.

2023? I’m still in doubt. Upgrade the ADSM and A2200 with Utopik PS or upgrade the most important powercord again. I will let you know!
 

CounterTenor

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Mar 3, 2022
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HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Sadly, the Pods work brilliantly . A friend came over last night who last heard the stereo about six weeks ago. By profession, he is a DJ and hears many systems, plus his own stuff frequently. His response, without my saying a word about the SR Pods’ additions, was: “what the F# have you done to your system? It sounds fantastic!”
 

Oscar P.

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Mar 6, 2020
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I will put them on my (long term) wish list.

Not in a hurry for the SR pods. They are expensive and their promo is useless for me, because I only have two components.
 
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CounterTenor

Newbie
Wammer
Mar 3, 2022
93
157
53
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I will put them on my (long term) wish list.

Not in a hurry for the SR pods. They are expensive and their promo is useless for me, because I only have two components.
If you can get in on the sale, you could sell off the extra stuff and significantly reduce your costs. I sold one three set of the MiG 3.0s and the second set that I recently got is now on the market. Instead of paying $4k for 6, it will end up being $2.5K for 6: $400 each instead of $900 each at regular price—without bonus MiGs.
 

Paulssurround

Space Explorer
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Oct 11, 2018
3,991
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AKA
Paul
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Tranquility Pods? O no! Not a new tweak that seems to work!!!

2022 for me was the year of the powercords. Never thought that the most important cord makes such a big difference (Furutech DPS 4.1). Massive improvement.

2023? I’m still in doubt. Upgrade the ADSM and A2200 with Utopik PS or upgrade the most important powercord again. I will let you know!
Yes, the Tranquility Pods work brilliantly.

It was my second best upgrade of 2022, after my new Klimax DSM/3 Hub

This has also been a year of some power cord upgrades, with the wonderful Cardas Clear Beyonds.
 

Paulssurround

Space Explorer
Wammer
Oct 11, 2018
3,991
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148
Vancouver
AKA
Paul
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Sadly, the Pods work brilliantly . A friend came over last night who last heard the stereo about six weeks ago. By profession, he is a DJ and hears many systems, plus his own stuff frequently. His response, without my saying a word about the SR Pods’ additions, was: “what the F# have you done to your system? It sounds fantastic!”
That is my response as well, with the Tranquility Pods installed in my system.

I purchased and installed a 4th Tranquility Pod in my system yesterday and adding to the magic. My system has never sounded anything like this before, and never sounded better.

When I normally listen to music, I can easily tell it is a recording, compared to a live performance. But with the Tranquility Pods, the “recording sound signature “ is greatly diminished, leaving the most “live“ sounding music I have heard in my system.

Several of my audio friends here, have also purchased at least 4 Tranquility Pods each. They are finding impressive improvements by adding better quality grounding cables, compared to the ones supplied by Synergistic Research
 

CounterTenor

Newbie
Wammer
Mar 3, 2022
93
157
53
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Well: There goes my plan to sell off the three packages of MiG 3.0 Isolation footers given with my purchase of the three for two Tranquility Pods. With little to do this morning, I put them under the three power amplifiers and, well, I don’t think this retirement thing is going to work very well for me🤣 Idle hands do the devil’s work and the $750 I planned on recouping with their sale will never now happen
WTF: how the heck does SR do this with simple metal supporting walnut looking shells?
Wider stage presentation, more resonance, richer bass, crisp sharp imaging.
Just when I thought nothing more could be found, SR proves me wrong.
I am greatly anticipating a set of custom cables made by AlanU for the ground line and inputs on the Tranquility Pods. The ones provided by SR are thin, cheap and flimsy. According to the very fortunate few who already were gifted a set, the improvement is stunning.
Will report once received and installed.
 

Paulssurround

Space Explorer
Wammer
Oct 11, 2018
3,991
4,295
148
Vancouver
AKA
Paul
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Well: There goes my plan to sell off the three packages of MiG 3.0 Isolation footers given with my purchase of the three for two Tranquility Pods. With little to do this morning, I put them under the three power amplifiers and, well, I don’t think this retirement thing is going to work very well for me🤣 Idle hands do the devil’s work and the $750 I planned on recouping with their sale will never now happen
WTF: how the heck does SR do this with simple metal supporting walnut looking shells?
Wider stage presentation, more resonance, richer bass, crisp sharp imaging.
Just when I thought nothing more could be found, SR proves me wrong.
I am greatly anticipating a set of custom cables made by AlanU for the ground line and inputs on the Tranquility Pods. The ones provided by SR are thin, cheap and flimsy. According to the very fortunate few who already were gifted a set, the improvement is stunning.
Will report once received and installed.
Two nights ago, I installed 3 sets of Synergistic Research MIG3’s under various components. They are definitely keepers, for all the reasons mentioned above.

I have one more set of MIG3’s to place….
 

Paulssurround

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Oct 11, 2018
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Paul
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Hello Paul and <other pod-user>,

where did you place them: just under your source (DSM) and Exaktboxes, or also under your Poweramps?

Cheers
Frank
Hi Frank,

Yes, the Tranquility Pods can be placed on top of your Linn components or underneath them.

They can be placed on the DSM, Exaktboxes and amplifiers.

I have 4 Tranquility Pods at the moment, and have one placed on top of my Klimax DSM/3 Hub, my Exaktbox 6 for my centre channel, my OPPO 203 BluRay player and Environmental Potentials HPS wave form correction device into which all my electronics are plugged into

If I owned more Tranquility Pods, I would place one for my Akurate Exaktbox I and try to figure out how to place them near my amplifier modules for my Akubariks

Last night, I was listening to a number of albums in surround format, and have never felt so immersed in the music, since installing the Pods. There is a sense of realism to the music that defies a “recording” and sounds like a live performance. The sound floor is so quiet, all I hear is the music, out of a totally black background. I have never experienced this level of realism before in my system, and did not want to stop playing the music.
 

CounterTenor

Newbie
Wammer
Mar 3, 2022
93
157
53
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I have one under the AEDSM & the ExaKtbox; one on top of the Shunyata Denali power conditioner , and on top of each of the three power amplifiers for the 242s.
I can’t sing enough praises for the positive difference they have made in my system: it was worth every penny.
 

arm

Wammer
Wammer
Nov 8, 2018
681
571
98
Toronto
AKA
Anthony
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
My only upgrade was selling off my 5 year old Krystal while it still had good SQ to take advantage of a used Kandid through my dealer. Good price and the music just clicked a few notches in clarity and definition. What this swap really did was put into focus how great the Krystal is. Law of diminishing returns.
 

Paulssurround

Space Explorer
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Oct 11, 2018
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Paul
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Well, it seems like 2023 has started out with another wild start for upgrades.

Before Christmas, I installed 4 Synergist Research Tranquility Pods, which made a transformational improvement to my Linn system. I have never heard the kind of improvements that the Pods have done for my system from any previous upgrade. All the people I know here that have also ordered the Pods are experiencing the same kinds of improvements to their music.

Each Tranquility Pod is supplied with a 24 volt SMPS wall wart, a DC cable and a separate grounding cable that requires its own separate outlet in a duplex receptacle or a power bar. That said, you can daisy chain all the Pods together for DC power from one 24 Volt power supply and also daisy chain the grounding for all the Pods as well.

Turns out that you can upgrade the DC cables and grounding cables as well as the power supply. There are also benefits to powering and grounding each Pod separately.

I bought an excellent quality 24 volt linear power supply with 2 power outlets, so I can power 2 X 2 Pods, as well as upgraded all the DC cables and grounding cables. Surprisingly, a stellar improvement again from all the cable upgrades.

About 10 days ago, an opportunity came up to get a new Synergistic Research Active Grounding Block for a good price. Again the musicality for the grounding block is exceptional.

I now have separate grounding for each of my components with the exception of the Akurate Exaktbox I and my TV.

Using the Grounding block to ground my Klimax DSM/3 Hub, Exaktbox 6, OPPO BluRay player, TV HD box and all the Tranquility Pods has been a real game changer, with substantial improvements in sound quality and picture quality.

The Akurate Exaktbox I has an 8 channel amplifier built in, and did not seem to benefit from grounding, attached to the chassis screw on the back. Synergist Research recommends trying it out, as some amplifiers benefit and some don’t. It may also be that I had used a 20 foot cable for grounding which was inexpensive cable. Silver content grounding cable is preferred, but extremely expensive.

Grounding the HD box (Blue Curve) for my TV (LG 4K OLED 65 inch) brought substantial improvements in picture quality , but grounding the TV itself directly degraded the picture quality, so I removed that grounding cable.

This has been a fun experiment, and very unexpected benefits in sound quality, far beyond anything I could have imagined.
 

Craigas

Wammer
Wammer
Oct 13, 2018
527
502
98
I heard Paul's latest upgrades last weekend along with a couple of his Audiophile buddies.

I must admit Paul's system sounds stupid good, it always had but its on another level now. We listened to both two channel with SO on and off, and in surround with all channels firing.

In surround, Pink Floyd's welcome to the machine was simply amazing. The upgrades for the akudorik surrounds were clearly evident from my last listening experience. They could hit harder with great slam, but also just as delicate and detailed that the 3k arrays are famous for. For anyone with Exaktbox Akudoriks, you may want to reach out to Paul to see what upgrades are in the mix. I can't recall but they do seem to work well.

In two channel, with SO off, imaging was absolutely perfect, with great texture and clarity, and tight flavourfull bass. And i really do mean great texture and flavor. The Akubariks simply disappeared as did the noise floor, a truly remarkable sound quality within a pitch black background. Well done sir.

So as to not have all his praise go to Pauls head, a couple of tracks had a bit too much bass, but that was simply those tracks mushy 20ish-hz sub-bass perfectly recreated, which I'm not a fan of. There were also a couple of room modes ever so slightly noticeable in some tracks which SO should solve.

With SO on, in two channel, the room modes were gone but so was the perfect imaging due to a previously discovered SO bug (imho), which according to Linn is due to Paul's right speaker being so close to the glass patio doors creating a left-right balance problem. Funny that in surround mode with SO on, the imaging is perfect centre again, and without SO in two channel, its beyond perfect, go figure.

Paul is also right about the picture quality of his tv being improved, hate to say it but it has, very disturbing. His audiophile buddy also commented as they bought the same tv at the same time.

What type of voodoo is this? indeed. When does one spend money on new and un-familiar products as opposed to a more familiar component upgrade, such as streamer, pre-amp, amp, or speaker. With risk-free, at-home trials, perhaps its time to give one of these new components a try.
 

Paulssurround

Space Explorer
Wammer
Oct 11, 2018
3,991
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Vancouver
AKA
Paul
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I heard Paul's latest upgrades last weekend along with a couple of his Audiophile buddies.

I must admit Paul's system sounds stupid good, it always had but its on another level now. We listened to both two channel with SO on and off, and in surround with all channels firing.

In surround, Pink Floyd's welcome to the machine was simply amazing. The upgrades for the akudorik surrounds were clearly evident from my last listening experience. They could hit harder with great slam, but also just as delicate and detailed that the 3k arrays are famous for. For anyone with Exaktbox Akudoriks, you may want to reach out to Paul to see what upgrades are in the mix. I can't recall but they do seem to work well.

In two channel, with SO off, imaging was absolutely perfect, with great texture and clarity, and tight flavourfull bass. And i really do mean great texture and flavor. The Akubariks simply disappeared as did the noise floor, a truly remarkable sound quality within a pitch black background. Well done sir.

So as to not have all his praise go to Pauls head, a couple of tracks had a bit too much bass, but that was simply those tracks mushy 20ish-hz sub-bass perfectly recreated, which I'm not a fan of. There were also a couple of room modes ever so slightly noticeable in some tracks which SO should solve.

With SO on, in two channel, the room modes were gone but so was the perfect imaging due to a previously discovered SO bug (imho), which according to Linn is due to Paul's right speaker being so close to the glass patio doors creating a left-right balance problem. Funny that in surround mode with SO on, the imaging is perfect centre again, and without SO in two channel, its beyond perfect, go figure.

Paul is also right about the picture quality of his tv being improved, hate to say it but it has, very disturbing. His audiophile buddy also commented as they bought the same tv at the same time.

What type of voodoo is this? indeed. When does one spend money on new and un-familiar products as opposed to a more familiar component upgrade, such as streamer, pre-amp, amp, or speaker. With risk-free, at-home trials, perhaps its time to give one of these new components a try.
Thank you Craig for the wonderful review of my Linn system. Well written indeed.

It was great to have you over and meet a couple of the guys from the 604 group.

Vince is the main catalyst for our group, moving us forward with innovative ideas and products to try in our homes. He has been selling audio for more than 30 years and one of the most knowledgeable audio experts I know. His ability to evaluate a HiFi system and suggest improvements is astonishing.

Al has an excellent ear and ability to articulate what he hears with great resolution. Hopefully next time you get to meet one of the guys that makes cables for us and has a degree in Electronics.

As mentioned, the upgrades in my system since your last visit has been surprising and filled with exciting results.

Cardas Clear Beyond mains cables now power my Akubariks, and a custom mains cable to power the Akurate Exaktbox I driving the Akudoriks.

The biggest surprise upgrade was the Synergistic Research Tranquility Pods which now live on top of 4 of my components, including the Klimax DSM/3 Hub. Even more surprising was the dramatic improvements found by using the Synergistic Research Active Grounding Block SE, which added totally unexpected benefits to the music, that rival the improvements the Pods brought.

There has been time spent trying different DC cables and grounding cables with some amazing results.

On Thursday, I acted on Vince’s suggestion to move my whole Linn system away from the right wall which has the sliding glass patio door. 5 hours later, my Linn system now resides further away from the right wall, opening up the space between the right speakers and the wall. On Friday, the guys came over for a listening session to fine tune the speaker placement and toe-in. After their visit , I reentered the new speaker placements in SO.

This has resulted in an even bigger soundstage, with more width and height, while retaining all the qualities that Craig enjoyed last weekend. The bass has also improved in a moderate way for some of the music tracks that were slightly boomy with SO turned off.

The journey continues. ☺️
 

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