The system featuring Vivid speakers, Luxman
electronics, and Synergistic Research cables had two purposes: demonstration of
Synergistic Research's ART room-treatment system and, or course, playing music. It
accomplished both very well, highlighting changes that were made to the room
treatments, and displaying every bit of musical information on the recordings played.
A Luxman L-590A Mk II integrated amp ($9000) drove Vivid B1
speakers ($15,000 per pair), with a Luxman DU-80 universal player ($9400) and E-1 phono
stage ($3700) providing digital and analog support. Cables were Synergistic Research Apex
interconnects and speaker cables ($3000 per meter pair and $5400 per eight-foot pair
respectively), and Hologram power cords ($2400 each). The Synergistic ART system -- a
piece of which you can see on the wall behind the equipment rack -- cost $3100, and the
Synergistic Powercell 10SE power conditioner was $5000, including a high-grade power cord.
The analog sources were all vintage products: a
long-out-of-production Luxman turntable along with modified Technics and ReVox
reel-to-reel recorders that played Tape Project tapes, which sounded highly resolved,
liquid and big. In fact, "highly resolved, liquid and big"
describes this entire system's sound perfectly.
