˻ PREMIERE ˼

⌈ THUNDER MELODY is a Polish audio brand, established in 2020. It was founded by Messrs. KONRAD RAS and RAFAŁ HŁADZIAK and specializes in anti-vibration, noise reduction and AC voltage conditioning products. This a premiere test of its products designed for passive filtering of line signals and AC supply voltage, offered under the common name ACCELERATOR; all in the top BLACK version. This is a WORLD PREMIERE. ⌋

S YOU CAN SEE ABOVE, Thunder Melody specializes in products that reduce noise in an audio system. Noise, we should add, of various origins, electromagnetic, mechanical, and finally radio frequencies. This company uses its proprietary solutions, it has worked on for years and continues to improve, expanding the number of materials it uses.

The design of its products is kept secret because it cannot be patented, and it cost a lot of money and time to get to this point, according to firm’s representatives. So one might think that it's a scam and that we are being fooled, into spending a lot of money, if it weren't for listening tests results. I tested in "High Fidelity" seven of this brand’s products, and also interviewed its creators. From all these encounters emerges an image of competent, excellent products of a quality that allows me to talk about true high-end components.

The Thunder Melody range is divided into three series: Silver, Gold and Black. The latter, the designers say, has no upper price limit, as the entire spectrum of techniques the company has developed can then be applied. Almost every one of the company's products can first be bought in Silver and over time can be upgraded all the way to Black level. Only some of them do not offer an upgrade option due to design considerations, of which the customer is informed in advance.

▌ Accelerator

UNDER THE COLLECTIVE NAME ACCELERATOR hides a whole system of products, which are united by the main design idea and an enclosure made of "armored" plywood (Panzer Holz). Formally, these are passive noise filters plugged into the system in series with the cables we use. There are RCA and XLR line, RCA or BNC digital, LAN, speaker and power versions. All of them are designed to minimize system noise. Interestingly, the materials used in them mean that some of the advantages of using them persist in the audio system for a while after they are unplugged, then slowly fade away.

These filters, which the company often refers to as "devices", noting their importance to sound, feature inputs and outputs, so you need additional cables to use them: power, line, digital, LAN and speaker ones. It significantly complicates life and increases the cost of such filtration. There are, by the way, many options for such an installation. We can use exactly the same cables as the ones we use, albeit shorter, we can go for Thunder Melody cables, we can finally use completely different cables. Each time, we have to work to some extent against what we have become accustomed to over the years, that is, the idea that improvements are brought by simplifying the signal path, not complicating it.

Like any dogma, however, this one is only a certain thought, not absolute knowledge. A good thought, a valuable one, but - as the example of Accelerators shows - not the only one possible. In fact, this would not be the first example of such solutions in audio, i.e., circuits that condition the signal flowing through them, as techniques originally developed for various industries are used in AC power filters by Acoustic Revive (more → HERE), or Furutech with its Flux-50 filter, and from Poland by Verictum (more → HERE).

I asked Mr. Konrad Raś, the company's technologist, about how the various Thunder Melody filters are built.

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| A few simple words…

KONRAD RAŚ
Owner, designer

˻ 1 ˺ Accelerator RCA ⸜ accRCA/accCOAX
Housing made of Panzer Holz in BLACK level, inside a proprietary cable based on Japanese silver from Kondo, also in BLACK level. RCA top silver sockets from WBT Ag, ground terminal also from WBT Ag in top version. The Accelerator is sold as a single piece, but you'll usually need two pieces for analog stereo signals, though you can also use one piece as an accCOAX Accelerator for digital signals.

˻ 2 ˺ Accelerator speaker ⸜ accSpeaker
Panzer Holz enclosure in BLACK level, inside there is proprietary 4 mm2 copper cable, also used in BLACK version. Speaker and ground sockets are top silver WBT Ag. In most cases two of them are needed, but there are sometimes configurations with active crossovers, but with external ones, where they can be used both before and after such a crossover.

˻ 3 ˺ Accelerator AC ⸜ nanoGraal
Panzer Holz chassis in BLACK version, inside proprietary copper AC power cable with integrated grounding in BLACK version, outlets are Furutech NCF rhodium-plated copper IEC C13 and Schuko. A high-current IEC C19 outlet can be installed upon request.

nanoGraal is designed for passive, high-pass conditioning for the largest power amplifiers and entire systems. The most common scenario for its use, is an Accelerator installed before an existing conditioner. But it can also be placed in front of any device, especially monoblocks. KR

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ALL ACCELERATORS ARE built into rigid, vibration-free boxes. Four small feet have been glued underneath, which look like ordinary rubber pads, if it weren't for the fact that they are made of material selected during listening tests and are, as Mr. Rafal who brought them to me said, an important part of the system. The Accelerators have a form of boxes, with input connectors mounted on one side and output connectors on the other. Next to the latter is a ground socket, to which an artificial ground can be connected.

Since there are quite a few of these components, the company offered me a sort of "Adventure with Thunder Melody." It would consist in the fact that I was to plug all the components into my system so that the final configuration, without touching it, would "spend - as the designers wrote - the night." What is important, they added, is "the effect of the next day," when there is "solidification and consolidation, the relaxation of the tired cables and their boxes." Only then, they say, can you realize how low noise their solutions work with.

To complete the system, Thunder Melody also provided the latest, already 4th generation of Estacade cable stands (Gen4), the second (GenII) of which we tested in June 2022 (more → HERE):

We hadn't planned to do this before," says Mr. Konrad Raś, "but there are three reasons for using them in this system. The first is a recall and memory comparison to impressions of previous versions, but that's the least important. The second reason is Accelerators. We plug them in series in both power and signal cables. And we put the Estacade in the same places, albeit non-invasively. The cost of the Accelerators is considerable, and with them the Estacade seems a "cheap" alternative.

The third reason may be to show that "closing" circuits other than audio, with our other components working in the system, is the best way to "immunize" the entire audio system against pervasive electromagnetic noise - a reminder of what the Vacuum Infinitum filter did.

And that’s how I tested the system.

▌ SOUND

˻ HOW WE LISTENED ˺ Because the materials used in Thunder Melody products change the properties of the materials they contact, minimizing surface charges, even after they are removed their effect is still perceptible for some time. This makes a direct A/B/A comparison, with a small time interval, unreliable. Therefore, this time the test looked as the designers suggested.

The day before the test, I plugged all the filters into the system and put Estacade Gen4 stands under the cables. To make it work, I had to use additional cables. Thus, from the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF SACD player to the filter, the signal was run with Siltech Triple Crown cable, and to the preamplifier with Crystal Cable Absolute Dream. The signal from the power amplifier to the speakers was routed with Siltech Triple Crown speaker cable, and from the filter to the speakers with a short section (20 cm) of Oyaide Tunami Nigo cable. And finally the power supply - from the wall to the filter with an Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9500 cable, and from the filter to the Acoustic Revive RPT-4 eu Ultimate strip with a Harmonix X-DC350M2R Improved-Version cable.

˻ 1 ˺ Ayon Audio CD-35 HF → Siltech Triple Crown → Thunder Melody accRCA → Crystal Cable Absolute Dream → Ayon Audio Spheris III

˻ 2 ˺ Soulution 710 → Siltech Triple Crown → Thunder Melody accSpeaker → Oyaide Tunami Nigo → Harbeth M40.1

˻ 3 ˺ Furutech wall outlet → Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9500 → Thunder Melody nanoGraal → Harmonix X-DC350M2R Improved-Version → Acoustic Revive RPT-4 eu Ultimate

⸜ Płyty użyte w teście | wybór

⸜ ROSEMARY CLOONEY, Rosemary Clooney sings Ballads, Concord/Stereo Sound SSCDR-007, „Flat Transfer Series”, CD-R (1985/2016).
⸜ THE OSCAR PETERSON TRIO, We Get Request, Verve/Lasting Impression Music LIM K2HD 032, K2HD Mastering, „24 Gold Direct-from-Master Edition UDM”, Master CD-R (1964/2009).
⸜ ANDRZEJ KURYLEWICZ QUINTET, Go Right, Polskie Nagrania „Muza”/Warner Music Poland 4648809, „Polish Jazz | vol. 0”, Master CD-R (1963/2016).
⸜ MAYO NAKANO PIANO TRIO, Miwaku, Briphonic BRPN-7007GL, Extreme Hard Glass CD-R (2017).
⸜ LAURIE ANDERSON, Bright Red, Warner Bros. 9362-45534-2, CD (1994).
⸜ KING CRIMSON, In The Court Of The Crimson King (An Observation By King ... “50th Anniversary Box Set”, 3 x K2HD UHQCD + Blu-ray (1969/2019).
⸜ JEAN MICHEL JARRE, Oxygene, Disques Dreyfus/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDCD 613, „Original Master Recording”, Gold-CD (1976/1994).

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NO MATTER how I would start this test, I would still end up with the same thing: Thunder Melody products bring new value to systems, even the best ones. While their performance translates into slightly different effects than replacing speakers, amplifier or source, I believe that in many cases they will make greater and more valuable changes to the sound than such replacement. Therefore, although they are very expensive, they are, in fact, a cheaper alternative.

As I say, the set of qualities that can be associated with them has its own vector. When I played the second track from ROSEMARY CLOONEY's Rosemary Clooney sings Ballads, burned in Japan from master files on CD-R and released by "Stereo Sound" magazine as part of its "Flat Transfer" series, the feeling of lack, as I listened to it after the filters were removed from the system, was palpable. I know this condition, I've dealt with it several times, and I know that it will soon pass, that I will get used to what I have again. What's more, I will be very happy with what I have.

And yet, every time something like this happens, there is a residue effect somewhere at the bottom that accumulates and eventually makes me think about change. But to the point - Thunder Melody's products change the presentation in a way that de-stresses it. This is one of the basic adjustments that can be heard when remedies are applied to the audio system to reduce noise.

This des-stress results in a significantly deeper sound with greater plasticity. In doing so, the often subtle artifacts that sharpen the attack and harden it disappear. It's not a matter of smoothing the sound. I would say that it was smoothed, that is, more "dull" without filters in the system. After all, when OSCAR PETERSON begins the Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars) track by running his fingers over the sides of the piano, it seemed louder and closer to me without them. The filters made it sound more natural, a little farther away, and yet the sound was clearer.

The same was true for the other two instruments of this trio, that is, the drums and double bass. The Thunder Melody products added more energy to them and better imaging, more like 3D bodies than before, even though I hadn't miss it before. The Accelerators extract a lot of small information that builds a much more believable sound. There's more of everything in it, the sonority of the brass, and the attack of the kick drum, and the saturation of the double bass. And yet we get the feeling that some sort of yoke has been removed from everything, which tied everything together in a somewhat unnatural way.

Beautifully what I'm talking about, also came out in the opening track of ANDRZEJ KURYLEWICZ QUINTET's Go Right album, a composition by Wojciech Karolak with the same title; Karolak plays piano here. It opens with a duet of the leader's trumpet and the saxophone of Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, who also plays transverse flute. And with Thunder Melody, these two instruments, aligned on axis, were clearly, but very clearly differentiated. Without filters, it was also clear, especially since, after all, I know this album by heart. But perhaps precisely because I know it so well, the differentiation that the filters brought to this range was amazing.

The instruments were pulled back slightly in the process. This is interesting, because usually with warming and with plasticizing the sound by withdrawing the treble, the sound is pushed out in front of the speakers. Here, although the changes are of a similar nature, the message was a bit further away, and it still seemed that the instruments were bigger and more interesting. They were bigger, but they were a bit further away, and maybe that's the point. Well, add to that, the energy of the drums that with Thunder Melody was much higher, much more like what we get from live performances, including those I work on.

Along with higher energy, with improved plasticity we also get much better clarity. Actually, I've already talked about this, although I may not have called it that. When I played the MAYO NAKANO PIANO TRIO album Miwaku, burned on an Extreme Hard Glass CD-R, having already packed the Accelerators, I immediately felt the "lack" I began this description with.

The kick drum and double bass sound here in a strong, slightly muffled way, as if the bass drum is heavily muffled and the double bass is recorded mostly off the "body" rather than the sound holes. It sounds great, but we know this is a studio recording. The Accelerators made the presentation clearer. It didn't lose what I'm talking about, but by adding energy, by slightly emphasizing the instruments and opening them up it showed everything in a better, more believable way. It was such a strong impression that I now know what to look for in the most sophisticated products I will test.

My favorite LAURIE ANDERSON’s album is Bright Red, released in 1994 by Warner Bros. Its opening track Speechless has always seemed to me divided in terms of recording into two parts. The first with mostly snare drums, with a kick drum hitting every now and then, and Anderson's vocals, and the second when the other instruments enter. The first seemed muffled to me, and the second a bit brightened, probably due to compression.

And so it probably is. Only that the tested filters did a sort of "fusion" of the two fragments. I no longer waited with slight anxiety to hear how the second one would sound, because both were remarkably vivid and open on the one hand, and warm on the other. Anderson's voice stayed close to me, that's how it's recorded, but with the Accelerators it clearly had a better defined body, it was more three-dimensional and expressive. And yet it seemed warmer (!).

The more time passed since I listened to the system with the Thunder Melody filters, the more strongly one could hear their absence. It may not have been a lack that was so acute that I stopped listening, but I had that sound in my head that was missing. The clarity, vividness and energy with the Accelerators were all the greater, and - without them - the lesser, the further I moved away from jazz recordings. Laurie Anderson demonstrated this powerfully, but it also struck me when listening to the KING CRIMSON’s In The Court Of The Crimson King (An Observation By King Crimson) in Steven Wilson's 2019 remix.

When I recovered, when I listened to it again a few days later, everything was where it needed to be. The dual voices in I Talk To The Wind with filters sounded powerful, dense, but incredibly clear, both in terms of lyric and timbre. But I also knew that without the filters, the voices sounded as if a little compression had been turned on. It's an illusion, that's not the point, but the changes made by Thunder Melody manifest themselves that way.

▌ Summary

IT IS EASY TO DISCRIMINATE PRODUCTS LIKE ACCELERATORS. Because they bring complications to the system, because they lengthen the signal path, because the changes that the materials used in them bring to the audio signals are measurably small (although you can see them in measurements). Go ahead and offer some creative contributions. You'd have to be a fool, however, not to appreciate their impact after you've applied them in your own.

They change the sound in a powerful way, perhaps even more powerful than replacing any of the basic components. Except that they don't do it by modifying any of the fundamentals, i.e. timbre, tonality, etc. They change something underneath, making the sound more energetic, more intelligible, and at the same time vivid and dark.

These are products that complement the system, not correct its basic character. They are absolutely neutral in the sense that they don't seem to modify anything, but only bring out even more music from what we already have. This is a very expensive, yet sensible solution for those who already have everything arranged in the system and would like something more. With Accelerators they will get much, much more. ●

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THIS TEST HAS BEEN PROVIDED UNDER THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry; HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. You can find more about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.

→ www.AIAP-online.org