Schnerzinger Protectors, cables, power ladders, etc. are found in some of the most impressive ultra-high-end audio systems and are at home in numerous German audiophile and music enthusiast systems.
Schnerzinger is not exactly a newcomer to the high-end audio market. The company has been around longer than most people realize, but they are very careful about their exposure and curate their presentations through their exclusive partner Michael Schwab, CEO and co-owner of Zellaton. Much like this fascinating German speaker manufacturer with its impressive heritage and patented speaker drivers that date back to 1931, Schnerzinger takes a different approach than the usual marketing strategies. They prefer their products to speak for themselves.
It is not unreasonable to approach anything esoteric/exotic or outside the norm with a pragmatic, but not closed mind. That said...
My unbridled enthusiasm and curiosity, the driving forces behind my daily activities at Mono & Stereo, are not only crucial to keeping the audio flame alive. They have led me to unexpected discoveries of numerous high-end audio products that would otherwise go under the radar, resulting in a significant lack of knowledge and hands-on experience/products that can lead to further, more intimate explorations of the endless universe of music.
As you will discover throughout the review, Schnerzinger's products are diametrically different from what would be considered ordinary high-end audio accessories, and neither Grid Protector nor EMI Protector were conceptualised an designed to be esoteric or exotic (for the sake of it), but to help the listener delve deeper into the heart of the matter.
Schnerzinger PROTECTORS
Like all Schnerzinger Protectors, EMI Protector uses the company's proprietary GIGA Canceling technology, which focuses (at its core) on the performance of the immediate environment and effectively protects it from loss of sound quality due to high-frequency interference fields.
By default, they are suitable for use at critical points in the listening room, such as between speakers, near audio components, or even at the listening position (1.20 - 1.70 m height).
The GIGA Canceling technology of the GRID Protector penetrates and cleans the entire domestic power grid of sound-damaging interference fields caused by electrical devices in the house (computer, refrigerator, LED lighting, switching power supplies, cooktop, router, etc.) and can also positively influence the current phase and protective conductor interference, thus extending the gains into the listening room.
Operational
The basic setup initially works without a 12-volt power supply, with the antenna connected in the upright position and all three switches (vertically) in the base position O (zero) and with LED off.
It is advisable to listen first in the basic setting and then switch to Bandwidth positions I and II, and preserve the best setting.
The next step is clocking, again switchable between positions I and II. When the right combination is found, the knobs need to be kept in this position.
If all the above combinations are not audible or do not produce a notable impact, the next step (which then becomes mandatory) is to permanently connect the 12 V power supply to the mains for best results. Again positions I and II are to be experimented with.
With each of these settings, the interference field spectrum is optimized and when the equilibrium is reached the Protectors are ready for daily use.
If the power supply is used, it is recommended to connect the protectors to a circuit separate from the audio system, ideally even to a different power phase.
All variants of switch positions in all combinations are allowed, and the device will not be damaged when trying all possibilities.
If one wants to experience the performance of the dedicated audio system without a GRID Protector after a certain period, one needs to consider the buffer effect. If the Grid Protector is only turned off for a short time, it will still be effective due to the buffering of the power supply and must be disconnected from the mains together with the power supply when in use, with the antenna removed and placed away from the components.
Upon recommissioning Protector back into operation, the interfering fields are quickly cleared and eliminated.
To maintain its performance, the GRID Protector should be connected to the 12 V mains for about 15 minutes once a year.
Although Schnerzinger Grid and EMI Protector work excellently together, it is not mandatory to experience the impact of Schnerzinger technology.
Many Schnerzinger customers start with a single Grid Protector and then move up to the ladder as budget or physical positioning allows.
Abstract
The one-million-dollar question is how to measure, evaluate, and objectively document what seems to be utterly-subjective yet tangible and effective results, such as those discovered by Schnerzinger, by not being felicitous.
I have invested an enormous amount of time and funds in getting my electricity right from the start. This includes a direct line from the substation, a separate line for the audio electronics, metal plates in the walls to repel RFI, a star ground in the 45 cm concrete floor covered with a special acoustic layer, a separate ground with copper rods, audio grade circuit breaker for the audio area, etc.
Yes, you can say that I did my homework thoroughly. However, there are interferences of all kinds, including electrosmog, RFI, magnetic smog, etc., that still enters the power line and the ether.
In the last decade, all kinds of high-frequency noise have increased significantly due to LTE, 5G, nearby Wi-Fi signals from domestic or public Wi-Fi points, etc. It is really amazing and bewildering how much we are surrounded by all kinds of noise and interference.
Because of the ever-expanding technological advancements, this is not often talked about or critiqued. This directly points to how much our quality of life has changed, and in this regard, the listening environment and all electrical paraphernalia are also consequently affected.
The logical approach of subjective objectiveness reminds me of my involvement with the study of philosophy. The fundamental facts and personal discovery at that time was the importance of logic, which, perhaps not so well known, is not only the cornerstone of Western society but also science.
Practically any branch of science began and operates on the foundations of logic, where a repetitive, documented result forms the common basis for an accepted value; a pattern recognition that lays the foundation for a certain plane at which operational laws are fixed and accepted by, and this applies to all branches of industry.
For this reason, science is not fixated, but it is constantly adjusted in its crux.
The rapidly advancing 20th century, and even more so the 21st century, has completely challenged the strongly fixed beliefs, norms, approaches, and implementations of various findings that not so long ago were called fringe science.
A great concept backed by theory separates good arguments from bad. Still, the assertions do not make sense until they are put into practice.
Simply formulating equations is no guarantee of actual results. Here the proof is in practice, in practical experience that makes them objective in the real world, in field experiments where sufficient reasoning begins to form objective structures and they finally start to make sense and can be accepted as models.
To make it more complicated, and this is no different in audio, axioms define the value structure, where some hypotheses may vary or are variable, but the relational structure that blends these with more fixated axioms materializes the foundations of applicable standards.
And once the three-dimensional listening matrix - couples the nodes to a location, the language of logic is applied, and with it, the facticity, of actual mathematics is taken into the equation and virtually applied.
From the little that is known about Schnerzinger's very secretive background, it appears that the technology comes from military apparatus and was adopted from there.
With all the possible options, there is no plug-and-play setting for Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector. Every high-end audio system and room is specific and it takes some experimentation to find the sweet spot.
This is the case with any high-end audio accessory, but with Schnerzinger's devices, it is even more worthwhile to dig deeper, because once you find the effective sweet spot, the music experience is a completely different one, as you will discover in the next section of the review.
It's not exactly the same, but in practice, perhaps the consequence of a room ionizer comes closest to explaining what the Schnerzinger Protectors deliver, which is the phenomenon, the feeling of zen-like tranquility and atmospheric room balance that makes for music enjoyment of the highest order.
The Music
"We shape clay into a pot, But it is the emptiness inside That holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, But it is the inner space That makes it liveable. We work with being, But non-being is what we use." - Lao Tzu
The virtual void of the sonic sphere of the listening room can be filled with any kind of occupants.
This is where the Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector come in to facilitate the music by clearing and fending the holographic sphere from interference and connecting all the dots that allow interactivity, emotional connection, and realism.
There is something different about the interactive emotional exchange that takes place with the Grid Protector and the EMI Protector. Here the focus is on the music and Schnerzinger has managed to bypass the logical gatekeepers by allowing the developments to puncture the heart and mind.
As has been shown across all genres, both Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector did not put sound above the music, and that's a rare feat from a high-end audio tweak, regardless of price. But that's where the magic happens and where the heart and mind become engrossed in the music.
With both Schnerzinger devices, writing the listening notes was not marginalia!
"Going To Try" by Ten Years After from the album Stonedhenge eery intro immediately stepped out of the ordinary and became remarkable with Schnerzingers. It was quite amazing how the already great "Going To Try" unfolded with a much easier-to-recognize vocal presence, charisma, and the factor of being there. But not only that. The positive uplift included more realistic sheer presence of the voice and grip of the guitars, better sense of holographic space, clearer focus, the better-snapped attacks of the drums, and the livelier presentation.
Both the Schnerzinger Grid Protector and the EMI Protector immediately demonstrate their subordination to the music by removing the graininess that can accumulate in the vertical and horizontal expanse. What's more, Grid Protector and EMI Protector offer a fascinating juxtaposition of fluidity and solidity. Not even remotely what I expected.
This emotional excitement was further cemented with "Brand New '64 Dodge" from the album The Poet Game by Greg Brown.
It was thrilling to experience the plasticity of Brown's rusty vocals coming through with a saw-like rawness in the listening room, not overdone, rather palpable, and with a wider and deeper soundstage. Acoustic points were denser, chiseled into a series of horizontal and vertical nodes.
There was a sense that there were simply more acoustic cues with a newfound density. The reduced fuzziness also allowed for an intoxicating technicolor-like natural vibrancy that cut through the sonic canvas with captivating force, like the light that emanates from oil paintings with a shimmer of natural vibrancy and, in the absence of watercolor, washed-out sheen.
I was also more than surprised by Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector's ability to interleave Anette Askvik Liberty's unusual beauty with a more structured narrative, noticeably prolonging clarity, bringing nature's decay closer, and refining detail.
I was speechless as I observed my enchantment with the music with a heightened emotional sublimity and grandeur that never overrode the narrative.
A notably, not exactly subtle increased mapping of details accumulated a different elevation that disregarded the usual audiophile pin-point laser-like scanning.
Scherzinger's conscientious handling of the musical narrative made it stand out impressively fathoming the sheer power of the music and making it sound more real, soulful, and tangible.
With both on their solitary stand or joined, Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector further revealed their carefully crafted modus operandi and raison d'être with "The Vision" by Victor Wooten from the album A Show of Hands 15.
Plucked energy cut through the face of complexity and gave "The Vision" more facets of reality, more sensory reality, making the interaction with Wooten more holistic and integral, revealing the golden triangle of timbre, tone, and color in a much more natural way.
In addition, the harmonics overtones and reverberation tails expanded more freely into the room and disappeared much more into the Vanta black background depths.
Even more surprisingly, the lower octaves, already magnificently adorned with harmonics, reached a newfound level of harmonic synchronicity (most likely through the proper implementation of psychoacoustics) that allowed for deeper submarine depths.
The surreal beauty of Antill: Corroboree - Ginastera: Panambi London Symphony OrchestraSir Eugene Goossens became even more haunting, more captivating, with better, eerier realism.
Corroboree's bewildering, kaleidoscope-like, the palpitated narrative has so much going for it that it's hard to grasp. Many high-end audio accessories can cause exponential shrinkage of the massive Corroboree sphere and crux. Yet... Scherzinger devices have produced an even more extraordinary sense of space and heart connection, especially evident in "Corroboree - Suite from the Ballet: II. Dance to the Evening Star," where mechanical music box-like shimmering mesmerizing connections with sudden orchestral loud tuttis and dynamic passages are a most challenging task for any high-end audio system alone.
Nevertheless, Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector once again demonstrated their unique strengths by mapping the aural topography in a more defined and real way, allowing the Corroboree to flood the room with emotional immediacy deciphered via startling simplicity.
The album Rothko Chapel by Morton Feldman may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it touches my inner heart with a gloriously ravishing sonic scenery that creates an atmosphere that would easily fit into a horror movie.
With the Schnerzinger Grid Protector and the EMI Protector, the communal ambiance and atmosphere, and notes were no longer rendered peripatetically, but with a wondrous perspective, a soothing notion, and an illustrative eerie atmosphere that impresses with its tremendous development.
It was amazing to observe how much more density and atmospheric data was revealed with Rothko Chapel especially evident at about 7:10 in the song when the crescendo hit it. There were no adverse effects, as can be the case with many devices regardless of price.
The Schnerzinger Protectors once again demonstrated why and how they can propagate a more fluid serenade to the music, not cyanotype but a true echo of the recorded music, making them enviable options.
With the Schnerzinger Grid Protector and the EMI Protector, the portal to the music goes beyond the usual markings and expectations, and the newfound reproduction is imbued with a sense of calm and serenity, unlike any similar device I have tried over the years.
The Conclusion
With the increasing number of electronic devices being introduced every day, there is a great chance that the appliances will interfere with each other in one way or another.
There is a lot of research being done on EMI and how it affects everything around us, what causes it, and to what extent.
Electromagnetic waves or EM waves are caused by oscillations between a magnetic field and an electric field, which are composed of oscillation of both.
Within this complex matrix of electron vortices, there is no self-stabilizing effect. Interference signals emanating from different sources, such as continuous EMI, cause interference, as the name implies, which is emitted continuously from different sources.
All interference can be handled in different ways, but is usually divided into three types and handled accordingly, being handled at the source, at the receiver, or the position in between.
Impulse noise, for example, is closely associated with LED ceiling lighting, switching systems, and similar sources.
They all contribute to impulse noise, which can cause a disturbance in the voltage or current balance of nearby connected systems.
Among various effects, industries beyond audio directly and documented deal with reduced intelligibility, distortions. In digital domain especially with bit error data, signal reflections, etc.
RFI, EMI magnetic fields, or un-pure electric fields cause distortions in grid structures that distort timbre, phase, and timing.
The amount of signal pollution we live in is truly staggering. Especially with the advent of LTE and now 5G and the coming 6G technologies and other types of noise.
While 5G and earlier technologies use frequencies below 100 GHz, 6G will move beyond that into the currently unused terahertz (THz) spectrum. The consequences of this are still being researched.
I intentionally do not use wi-fi in my reference room. As with switching power supplies (ceiling and ambient LED lighting), Wi-Fi, etc. pollute everything considerably and especially the network and the sound sphere.
Occasionally I turn on the Wi-Fi router for testing to evaluate a particular product or when some adjustments are needed that can only be done over Wi-Fi, but I prefer the Ethernet connection and especially with the new Apple silicon-based computers where many of the native iOS applications can be run directly on my iMac or MacBook Pro or most apps via the web browser.
In a well-treated and designed listening room, the listener is surrounded by a virtually infinite sonic space, and the amount of vibrating air (not the air itself) is the basis for the potential sonic expanse.
The room, component placement, and level of transparency have everything to do with a high-end audio system.
The listening space represents a localized, physical, interactive process in which what appears to be subjective becomes a facticity with shapes and textures, and where enormous nodal points and dense acoustic points can be swallowed by the immensity of EMI that permeates them.
My reference listening room has a noise level of 27db, which ensures that the Vanta Black sidewall acts like a background from which the music is coming, showing critically what is happening in real-time.
Both Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector deal with all types of EMI, RFI as well as common mode electromagnetic interference reduction.
The Schnerzinger EMI Protector is an adaptive system that interacts with the atmosphere of the listening room, seemingly with the way particles interact simultaneously with their position and momentum.
The lower dimensional spatial systems can remain undetected by the gross senses, but the fundamental substance can be felt and provides objective reality, i.e. positive existence in what it might appear as unstructured matter.
Nevertheless, the illusion of replicated reality is very complicated and any kind of tinkering with it can change the orbital motion, an angular momentum change of phase. But the reality is very harmonious and coherent by default.
Reality obeys the rules of intentional and unintentional activities and everything that functions in three-dimensional spatial systems has functional objectivity.
Think of the sound sphere as a virtual space where thousands of micro reactors occupy time and space at every moment.
Real attributes have a volumetric existence in a three-dimensional spatial system and their blurring can lead to sonic disorientation.
That is why we are so sensitive and our multiple senses react immediately to such an effective field.
Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector elucidate and expose layers of hidden nodes, induce more vivid soundscapes that mix and confound with the general mass. The changes are finite-dimensional and operate in the realm of physical covariance.
Schnerzinger acts as a link between the ear and the brain, being a linchpin, mapping this difference and discharging the strictly rigid principles and fragments from the appearing tiny quanta of matter that strive to confine their existence to a one-dimensional spatial system.
Both the Schnerzinger EMI lattice and unattenuated operation are applied to mechanics in three-dimensional aural space, with a firmer emission of cues.
The Schnerzinger duo leapfrogs the usual level of operation by not up-mixing the sound content but allowing further access to more spatial information that is more immersive and brings out the music better.
They provide invisible sonic support with a beguiling effect, map the details better in space, provide detailed sound source location, greater extension, and the far more coherent aural disposition.
The importance and effect of true high-end audio accessories can not be separated from the effect of the rest of the system. Of course, if the system already is balanced by default.
Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector introduce a paradigm shift, but it is perhaps more accurate to say that they pack a lot of immensely potent paradigms.
Interestingly, Grid Protector and EMI Protector do not act in quasi-domain of a narrow frequency band or specific frequency range but take over the entire spectrum, causing the high-end audio system to act as a universal medium that is not strictly tied to any particular element of the gear.
By avoiding to ingress of all electromagnetic smog into the room, EMI Protector acts as a conduit for the spectral composition, which does not adversely affect the spatial data, but helps in the propagation, creating a deeper holographic soundstage and driving the subjective, yet tangible quality of music reproduction.
Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector are armed against fuzziness and blur, provide better glade, more tangible music reproduction, have a positive effect on micro-timing when a sound source arrives, and make the concept of complexity less difficult to decipher.
Twist any high-end audio accessory too much and the sonic result can change radically, and this is where the Schnerzinger devices come in with their undisputed equilibrium.
Both Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector allow for much better music reproduction at low-level volumes, better fidelity, and work with the seemingly immutable laws that govern the potency of music.
Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector are both commencements of something completely different, namely a fatigue-free effect that has not been available from many high-end audio accessories until now.
Perhaps the quote from Steve Jobs perfectly sums up the raison d'être of the Schnerzinger Grid Protector and EMI Protector and analogous devices, which are too often pushed aside to push the mind out of the comfort zone.
“Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.” •
Matej Isak
Pricing
- GRID Protector: RRP 5.490,00 US$ / Unit
- EMI Protector: RRP 5.490,00 US$ / Unit
Technical Specifications
GRID Protector
Package Contents
- GRID Protector
- 12V Power Supply (cable length 1,5m)
- Antenna
Dimensions and weight
- 116.3 cm
- W 16.3 cm
- h 7.7 cm
- 2.6 kg
- 11 cm antenna
EMI Protector
- 12V Power Supply
- (cable length 1,5m)
- Antenna (small and big version)
Dimensions and weight
- 1 16.3 cm
- W 16.3 cm
- h 7.7 cm
- 2.6 kg
- The small antenna is 11 cm long, the big 39 cm.
Contact
SCHNERZINGER DISTRIBUTION (ZELLATON):
ZELLATON GmbH
Michael Schwab
Am Moosfeld 17
81829 München
Germany
SCHNERZINGER HEADQUARTERS:
Schnerzinger GmbH & Co KG
Heinrich-Sträter Str. 15
44229 Dortmund