Trinnov ST2

audioguy

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Apr 20, 2010
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I believe Theta has announced June of this year. However, this is not just Dirac, but also on upgrade of the DSP processing engine from 48/24 to 96/24 or 192/24. The upgrade will be delivered through a field installable new board - pricing will be $4,000 for CBIII HD owners. It all strikes me as a fairly significant piece of engineering, so seeing is believing. There is a lot of excitement on the forums about this project though.

Since it was going to cost me $10,000 to get to HD and another $4,000 to get to Dirac and everything else, I passed. A year from now I may be kicking myself.
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
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Since it was going to cost me $10,000 to get to HD and another $4,000 to get to Dirac and everything else, I passed. A year from now I may be kicking myself.

Not at all. If a year from now it turns out Theta failed to deliver, you congraluate yourself on not betting on the wrong horse. If a year from now it turns out they succeeded, you can pick up a used CBIII HD with Xtreme DACs for less than $10K and get it upgraded to Dirac for a streetprice of $3K. You would still come out ahead financially and you are hedged against the risk Theta does not deliver.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Not at all. If a year from now it turns out Theta failed to deliver, you congraluate yourself on not betting on the wrong horse. If a year from now it turns out they succeeded, you can pick up a used CBIII HD with Xtreme DACs for less than $10K and get it upgraded to Dirac for a streetprice of $3K. You would still come out ahead financially and you are hedged against the risk Theta does not deliver.

And this sounds like a 'fair' (smart) plan to me. :b
 

The Bogg

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2010
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Regarding the Trinnov ST2, in a word...WOW. I'm very impressed at how well it works and what a tangible improvement it makes for the 2 channel experience in my room. I'll provide more details later but I consider this product the "gamechanger" I've been waiting for.
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
3,139
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Regarding the Trinnov ST2, in a word...WOW. I'm very impressed at how well it works and what a tangible improvement it makes for the 2 channel experience in my room. I'll provide more details later but I consider this product the "gamechanger" I've been waiting for.

Don't get me all all excited. My ST2 is currently on a Fedex truck travelling coast to coast on its way into my system. I believe we both have room correction and integration of 2 x JL F113 into a 2.2 setup as our main objective.
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
3,139
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Smyrna, GA
Regarding the Trinnov ST2, in a word...WOW. I'm very impressed at how well it works and what a tangible improvement it makes for the 2 channel experience in my room. I'll provide more details later but I consider this product the "gamechanger" I've been waiting for.

can you explain how you set up your signal path in 2.2 mode? I read you are using 2 JL 113's, but also a 2 channel preamp (just like me). However, keeping the preamp in the chain would preclude you from doing four discrete channels in 2.2 mode, because you cannot synch up the volume of subs and mains without four discrete channels of volume control. I personally use a tube preamp for mains (using a second output of the pre to feed the subs, running through an external Xover). If the Trinnov works very well the tube preamp would have to go (which would pay for the project!), and I would do digital domain volume control in the Trinnov. Only options are running the Trinnov at unity gain and running the outputs of the DACs through my Theta Six Shooter, which I may try as an alternative signal path. How did you resolve the preamp/digital volume control issue in 2.2 mode?
 

RUR

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
647
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SoCal
Regarding the Trinnov ST2, in a word...WOW. I'm very impressed at how well it works and what a tangible improvement it makes for the 2 channel experience in my room. I'll provide more details later but I consider this product the "gamechanger" I've been waiting for.
:) I heard Curt did the remote setup with you last Friday. Impressive, no? My "WOW" moment came almost 3 years ago when I inserted the TacT into my system, though it's it's clear to me that the Trinnov is another substantial improvement in AQ - and I've only begun to tweak.

The flexibility of this unit is simply staggering.
 

RUR

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
647
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SoCal
Don't get me all all excited. My ST2 is currently on a Fedex truck travelling coast to coast on its way into my system. I believe we both have room correction and integration of 2 x JL F113 into a 2.2 setup as our main objective.
My earnest advice: Pay, cajole or whatever, but do have Curt do the initial setup online with you. Incredibly, Curt spent six hours(!) in my room last Thursday, walking me through the setup and explaining as many of the features as my tiny, saturated brain could absorb. He's a terrific guy and an invaluable resource for users of this complex product.
 

RUR

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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SoCal
Hi Steve,

AFAIK, I'm the only one of the three (Bogg/edorr/me) with a TacT, and I've pulled the TacT and inserted the Trinnov. edorr's integrating with a Theta in a combo 2.2 and multi-ch arrangement. Remains to be seen how that's accomplished and how it works out.
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
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My earnest advice: Pay, cajole or whatever, but do have Curt do the initial setup online with you. Incredibly, Curt spent six hours(!) in my room last Thursday, walking me through the setup and explaining as many of the features as my tiny, saturated brain could absorb. He's a terrific guy and an invaluable resource for users of this complex product.

I plan to do an initial "proof of concept" with a very basic 2.2 setup with help from Curt - my trial period is only 1 week. If this beats or equals my current setup, I'll keep the unit and will use Curt's help extensively to get the most out of this magic box over a longer period of time.
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
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Smyrna, GA
Can you guys who are using it give us a brief overview of what it costs, how it is the same as and how it differs from TacT

For inquiries about price I defer to the seller, but it is in the same ballpart as the Tact XP. Big advantage for me is it has far more I/O configuration flexibility allowing me to do a true 4 channel setup for my MCH system (F/L/C/mono sub) system. Other than that the units are functionally comparable. I decided to go down the Trinnov path instead of Tact because all I am hearing and reading about it suggest it is simply a better mousetrap than the Tact. In fact, I started out looking at Tact and Kal suggested I look into Trinnov as well - I did not know this unit existed until a week ago. I still have a WTB add on audiogon for a Tact XP - go figure.
 

RUR

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
647
3
0
SoCal
Can you guys who are using it give us a brief overview of what it costs, how it is the same as and how it differs from TacT
Yup, Curt would need to provide any pricing info, Steve.

As far as basics, the Trinnov corrects both amplitude and phase, with each tailorable by the user. The Trinnov also "corrects" for early reflections without affecting desirable late reflections - adjustable by the user, but the "how" of this would need to be explained by Curt. Still conducting hands-on learning of the many, many Trinnov parameters, but I can tell you that they include incredibly flexible I/O, # and type (FIR, IIR or both) of filters, where applied, Xover type and characteristics, multiple position measurements and correction, and plenty of things I've yet to even review. One nifty feature is layers of correction i.e. base target curve can be overlaid by a FIR filter curve (useful for on the fly development of target curves) overlaid by a 31 band EQ (handy for on the fly finessing of EQ for a given music file). I suspect it will be months before I can really understand much of what's provided. Hence the advisability of an online, expert setup.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
My earnest advice: Pay, cajole or whatever, but do have Curt do the initial setup online with you. Incredibly, Curt spent six hours(!) in my room last Thursday, walking me through the setup and explaining as many of the features as my tiny, saturated brain could absorb. He's a terrific guy and an invaluable resource for users of this complex product.

That is so awesome what Curt did for you.

What you learned from him is of great interest to all of us in sharing his teachings so can learn too.

Best,
Bob

P.S. Ken, your post just above mine here; WoW! ...Trinnov <> TacT.
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
2,794
73
1,635
Near Atlanta, GA but not too near!
Hi Steve,

AFAIK, I'm the only one of the three (Bogg/edorr/me) with a TacT, and I've pulled the TacT and inserted the Trinnov. edorr's integrating with a Theta in a combo 2.2 and multi-ch arrangement. Remains to be seen how that's accomplished and how it works out.

I've spent some time on the phone with Curt as well and done some reading on the various papers that are floating around. While I am incredibly interested in your comments on how it compares to your TacT, my larger interest is to get the either 8 or 12 channel version and do the whole HT/2 channel thing in one box and dump my TacT, external DAC and Integra.

If the feedback I get is that this technology is the 2nd greatest thing in the known and unknown Universe (my dog being the first!), I will move ahead with a trial for the larger version.
 

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