Shunyata Plant Visit
 

Well what a past few months between visiting Dan D’Agostino, RMAF and now Shunyata, located here in Poulsbo, Washington State.

Shunyata operates its expanded factory (their proudly doing good!) on the peninsula between the east and west side of Puget Sound, and reachable from Seattle by ferry or driving around and over.

After my date picked me up we decided to drive as its a little faster than by boat, especially with lead foot in a M series BMW.

So what was the occasion? The reason for today’s visit was to pickup Marc’s (2fastdriving) new Denali Conditioner obtained from Ivan and get a tour on how Shunyata does business.

Caelin and Richard greeted us upon arrival, soon after Caelin lead us on an interesting and informative tour.

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Right from the beginning, we went over the fundamentals and importance of power, something I have always invested in from the start. Highlighted was their dedicated transformer feeding the listening rooms breaker panel, something you just don’t see everyday, for most of us this is located out somewhere on the street shared with neighbors and the noise of the ‘hood and wants to add more noise and interference once power is in the home challenging our systems sonic quality.

One of the first stops in the plant was the assembly benches making all sorts of cables, including the Sigma Ethernet being made, and it’s one I still want to someday try - I’m still very partial to Digital, done right and here’s where we plugged Puma Cat and his passion for Shunyata [emoji851]

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Next up was Shunyata’s patented proprietary process called KPIP which eliminates the wasted hours of burn in to fully enjoy the sound quality from what we purchase right out of the box. It was stated that 1 hour of KPIP treatment is equal to 1 year of burn in, they were running KPIP on several Denali’s and other models of conditioners for 4 full days, do the math! This process is proprietary and is claimed to be better than the traditional burn in we all know - it does not take away from the “settling” time that is essentially where everything becomes adjusted with one another and bakes in so to speak, but this is a day or two, not 100 plus hours.

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Another highlight, was Conditioner assembly, these are little tanks. On the rear of the Conditioner are what they refer to as cradles, it keep our heavy cords from losing full grip or even coming out, and also keeps terminations snug and tight between both receptacles versus pushing apart from one another.

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I can’t say enough good things about these guys, they seem to get it. Anyone looking to upgrade their system really needs to start with power, then the cables connecting between distribution and the components. If you are looking to add or upgrade, I would seriously consider Shunyata as an option.

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Note: I am not a brand ambassador, nor receiving funds, or employed by the company, just an “Audio Junkie” in the pursuit of perfect sound if we ever can believe that!

Thanks Ed! I was going to start this thread, but I was busy enjoying my new Denali.

I will add some more later.

Thank you for another awesome factory visit Ed!
Shunyata has introduced so many awesome new products.

Thanks Ed for the factory tour, and Marc for the catalyst. There’s nothing better than to meet the people behind the brand and see how they build their products.

I have been a skeptic on power but recent experience has changed that. I’ll post my impressions in a separate thread.

Tom

Ed.......As a recent convert to Shunyata products with my new Sigma USB cable and Sigma s/pdif digital coaxial cable, it is enjoyable to have the opportunity to see where the products are manufactured and see the good people who make it all happen. Thank you for including us in your tour.

Here are a few more pics and some more information.

We spent a bit of time discussing KPIP and it's benefits. Shunyata has moved away from cryo treatment and favors KPIP instead. They have a lot of cables and conditioners being burned in on what looks like 2 KPIP machines.

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Next we talked a bit about power in general and how it gets to your house. This picture is interesting because it shows two transformers, the one on the right is for the WHOLE factory...and the (bigger) one on the left is just for their listening room! Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of their listening room, but there is a lot in flux, they are moving to a new listening room, or building another one at least.

https://i.postimg.cc/vBf4nhW4/IMG-20190912-135147.jpg

Here, Caelin and Richard are explaining some features of the Denali to Ed and I.

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Caelin mentioned several new products in the pipeline including the new Omega line of cables, which will be the flagship above the Sigma. Here is a prototype that was rejected due to weight. I held it, it's pretty heavy. They came up with a different design that is lighter and sounds better. I didn't get to see that!

https://i.postimg.cc/c17K4Dxj/IMG-20190912-142637.jpg

While I didn't snap any pictures of the gear they use, I can tell you that they have constellation, ayon, Berning, pure audio project, harbeth, and some other swedish brand I have never heard of :) Oh and I think I saw a Kronos turntable in their unfinished listening room.

I want to thank Caelin and Richard for an enjoyable afternoon! We learned a lot and enjoyed the visit.

Finally, here is the unboxing of my new Denali, thoughts and impressions will be forthcoming.

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Thanks Marc, Shunyata is a very interesting company, and I don't recall ever hearing anything but good comments about their stuff. I'm going to have to "try" some of their products one of these days soon.

Great thread. I'm really enjoying it. Just curious, were you left with the impression that the Omega is going to include ICs as well as PCs? I think that's how they do things, but I'm just checking.

I don't remember if Caelin got very specific about that. If he or Richard is reading this, perhaps they will have an answer for you.

very interesting gents, thanks for sharing !