I received my new Synergy 300 this week from AVA, and last night re-assembled one version of my system: Sony XA-5400 ES SACD player to Quicksilver Line Preamplifier to the Synergy 300 feeding a pair of Gunned MMG's & stereo Rythmik F12G subs (high level inputs). I threw on Magico: Carta de Amor (ECM 2280/81) with Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti and Charlie Haden and sat back to listen.
The Synergy is a perfect match for this rig. The tone was beautiful but not unrealistically euphonic. Gismoti's guitar (and especially piano) and Haden's bass were 'in the room', and the transients and decay of all the notes were natural and convincing. I recently transitioned from a DHT SET amp and high efficiency speakers, and yet with this amp I seem to still have the natural bloom that made me fall in love with the Czech EML 2A3 tubes.
This amp has more gain than I anticipated (or my line stage has more gain than I realized). In my 14' x 19' x 9' listening room, reference levels were reached at about 10:30 o'clock on the preamp's volume control.
This setup is leaning-back-in-the-chair, artisan brown ale in the glass, eyes-closed good.
I tried Johnny Winter's Roots, and had plenty of boogie factor. That's what I was missing from the SET arrangement. Powerful when it needed to be, articulate as all get out, and dead quiet.
5 stars. Thanks, Frank and company. Right out of the park and great value for the money.
