Synergy Capacitors

[Colossal]

Does anyone know who manufactures Synergy capacitors? I spoke with Robert from Valvestorm a while back and he said that they are made in the US and the Synergy brand formed after Sozo went overseas (China or Taiwan). He said they are the same as what a Sozo was before they went overseas, just US made. CE Dist would not answer my question about where Sozos are made, citing that it was proprietary

Thanks

[bepone]

font , colors, quite bad printing and shape looks like Sozo

[Colossal]

font , colors, quite bad printing and shape looks like Sozo

Yes, they do, but I was told that they split off from Sozo when Sozo went overseas and is the same capacitor as a Sozo before they went overseas and made in the US. I do like the sound of the Sozos (at least the old ones I still have from the original offerings) but would like an alternative, and not made in China.

[bepone]

Me too. But prices are too high... so i changed, i have luck nowadays with axial TAD Mustard caps (probably also chinese, cheap, but sounding very nice), looks good too

[Colossal]

Me too. But prices are too high... so i changed, i have luck nowadays with axial TAD Mustard caps (probably also chinese, cheap, but sounding very nice), looks good too

Yes, I haven't bought any in a long time. I have not tried the TAD caps, but good to know they sound good. I believe the Vishay MKT1813 metallized polyester are made in Portugal (IIRC). They have become popular in recent years and are cheap (for now).

[Mark]

Does anyone know who manufactures Synergy capacitors? I spoke with Robert from Valvestorm a while back and he said that they are made in the US and the Synergy brand formed after Sozo went overseas (China or Taiwan). He said they are the same as what a Sozo was before they went overseas, just US made. CE Dist would not answer my question about where Sozos are made, citing that it was proprietary

Thanks

So does that mean they are the same as the next gen SoZo caps?

[Colossal]

So does that mean they are the same as the next gen SoZo caps?

Hi Mark,

This is what I told, yes; that they are the same construction as the original line of SoZos. I only have spoken word on that but don't know who is making them. The Synergy caps are reported to be made in the US.

Some months ago, I asked CE Distribution about the country of origin for the current production of SoZos, and they refused to disclose it me. I cited that, on occasion, I send an amplifier to Europe (which is true) and in the past, I have been asked to account for country of origin on components, but to no avail. I will not use a part without knowing its pedigree, so will not be using any more SoZo caps.

[Mark]

So does that mean they are the same as the next gen SoZo caps?

Hi Mark,

This is what I told, yes; that they are the same construction as the original line of SoZos. I only have spoken word on that but don't know who is making them. The Synergy caps are reported to be made in the US.

Some months ago, I asked CE Distribution about the country of origin for the current production of SoZos, and they refused to disclose it me. I cited that, on occasion, I send an amplifier to Europe (which is true) and in the past, I have been asked to account for country of origin on components, but to no avail. I will not use a part without knowing its pedigree, so will not be using any more SoZo caps.

Fair enough, though the original line aren’t the SoZo Next Gen caps. I have some I can post a photo of them.

[wpaulvogel]

I thought I read that Sozo was bought out from the original company. I think the original company was a small production setup and maybe demand/economic situation caused them to be profitably undesirable and it was decided to stop production. The name and design was sold. Time passed and from what I remember reading, the situation got better and the original company went back into production as Synergy Royal. I have used the original, the new Sozo and the Synergy Royal in Plexi builds. They all work good and I don’t know that I could differentiate between them and many other brands I’ve used. I now use the ERO Vishay and the MKT1813 with good results. There was also some CDE WMF film caps I have that are good. I’ll have to dig them up

[R.G.]

This is a near-perfect illustration of the ideas that on component performance, what matters is
(1) the types and quality of materials they're made of
(2) the details of the manufacturing process and quality control
and what matters much, much less is the text and logo that is put on the outside of the finished part.

Just from reading this thread, it appears that whomever owns the "Sozo" trademark did a classical MBA (Master of Business Administration degree) marketing move.

The "Sozo" brand established a reputation for quality, which is worth actual money in the business world. They then sold the "Sozo" brand for actual money. The buyer then proceeded to try to get their money back - and a profit as well - by lowering the cost of the goods they make, and applying the "Sozo" label to the lower cost-of-manufacture goods. It takes a while for the buyers to catch on to the now perhaps-lower-quality parts that they think are still the "good stuff" at a slightly lower price; some buyers never catch on.

In this example, it looks like some of the people who built up the "Sozo" brand may be starting over and making a new high-quality-reputation brand by using the original quality materials and processes. And the cycle starts over.

I suspect that there is an MBA textbook that explains this cycle of investing money in a brand-name and logo to get a reputation for quality, then harvesting the money out of the brand-name by cost reducing the goods on which the label is put. In the business world, brands are very much a shell game that is played to entice buyers.

Bottom line - a brand name can indicate quality and performance. But that can change at any moment when the business guys decide to juggle things to make more money.