TacT Users -who are you?

marty

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
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There appear to be a number of TacT users out there. Could you tell us a little bit about your application and why you felt the TacT was a good solution for your particular system?
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Near Atlanta, GA but not too near!
I was an early user of DRC with a now defunct company and as I have stated many times, 90% of all rooms (IMO) could benefit from this technology. The Tact represents for me the best of the available solutions given that I now own speakers that require a sub to be full range. Since the sub won't be co-located with the mains, the Tact provides: sub/main time alignment; sub/main crossover settings and whole system room response correction and the ability to accept digital inputs to eliminate unnecessary conversions.. Furthermore, the ability to adjust Target curves real-time on-the-fly and instantly hear the effect makes it all the more valuable.

As you know, I'm in total agreement with your philosophy on this subject.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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Seattle, WA
I bought my Tact Theater product years ago when I saw a "10/10" review in one of the magazines (Stereophile?). I had pretty low expectations when I got it. But was simply amazed at the difference it made in my test setup. It was even more amazing when I took a pair of $1 computer speakers, put them on a table next to a monitor and ran them through tact. You would not believe the imaging and fidelity of these speakers after correction! It was quite uncanny.

I say test setup because I was trying to see if it made sense to put room correction in next version of Windows and no one at the time knew what I was talking about. The above demo to my signal processing team convinced them all that we should work on it. Fast forward 3-4 years later and Windows Vista shipped with room correction built-in! If you need a free way to try room correction, you may want to play with that feature.

What I didn't like about my TacT v1 was that it would not lock on all sources. I was told there was an upgrade. I sent it in with a $6K check (on top of $10K for the original unit). Machine came back but by then, I had the Anthem D2 in the theater so I didn't plug it in until about a year ago. Unfortunately, the rear channels were completely busted and not operational. Communicated with Boz via email and found them not helpful at all. His message was the device is obsolete. I pushed and asked if that meant he won't service it. He said he would but that I would have to pay a lot of money for it. I asked for any help to troubleshoot the problem and he was not sympathetic other than reseting the device. I opened the box and swapped the DSP module between the extra surrounds and rears and got the unit working. At least for a while. Now it starts to crackle once in a way just sitting there so I had to pull it out of my system as to not risk damaging my speakers or people in the room.

All in all, I am on a mission to see if there is something better. Haven't found it yet but the above experience, and the poor usability of the software makes me wanting more.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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Seattle, WA
I am sure Boz thinks it is perfect :). Seriously, maybe he thinks this is sold through dealers who set it up for their customers. If you used the software all the time, it is really not bad at all. But for us users who go back to it once every few months, remembering the quirk it has becomes problematic.
 

muralman1

New Member
Jul 7, 2010
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Sacramento Ca
I never have used TacT. A close neighborhood spent three years working with an all TacT system. He is an audio reviewer, and was concentrating on matching TacT preamp, and amps to cables. Every time I went to his place, he had a new this or that from the TacT people. He was particularly proud of a rebuild of the power supply, an all Black Gate affair.

Suffice to say, he finally gave up on TacT fulfilling his desires, and bought a Spectron amp. Now he is reviewing and trying out preamps, sources and cables. That reminds me of what I did not like about TacT. Their claim to fame is their keeping the digital signal all the way to the DACs built into their amps. I did not like the sound of their DAC.
 

Gadgety

Well-Known Member
Feb 10, 2012
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906
I did not like the sound of their DAC.

I've been using Tact equipment since 1999. My set up is based on the RCS 2.2x with the 2150 amps. Of course if you have never gotten "used to Tact" then you may not know with the help of a Tact RCS you can tailor the sound of the power DAC "amp." Cable matching seems a rather wasteful effort. Instead use the Tact equipment to tailor the sound you want. I've heard a four channel, 4.1 Tact setup and it's amazing how you can tailor the sound, specially with life concert material, so that you can decide which row you're seated in a the concert. Tact's, or rather Boz', mistake was breaking up with Peter Lyngdorf who was the marketing guy and understood customer care. Boz is the tech wiz. Then to stay current there's a need to launch "new and revolutionary" products regularly. Otherwise you're not seen in the media. Marketing is Boz' weakness.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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Seattle, WA
Thanks for the comments. I would still use by TacT if it hadn't bricked itself. Just yesterday I was looking at it sitting collecting dust that it would be good if it worked....
 

rblnr

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 3, 2010
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291
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NYC/NJ
I'll probably use my TacT Mini, which fronts some ATC 20-2 active speakers and an REL sub, until it dies. Perfect piece for a room I can't treat, has mostly hard surfaces, has speakers in less than ideal locations (see pic) and is open to much of the house. Compared the Mini some years ago to a bunch of other conventional preamps -- RC proved to definitely be the way to go for this system. I think it's invaluable in difficult rooms.

ATC.jpg
 
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ekovalsky

New Member
Aug 19, 2015
8
0
0
Scottsdale, AZ
I'm still using a TacT RCS 2.2X and four S2150 amps in my system. Each piece was fully modified by Aberdeen/MauiMods. The RCS is relegated to master volume control, digital signal switching/distribution, and measurement hub. All the processing (crossover, room/driver correction, and target curve adjustment) as well as gain matching and time delay is done in the amplifiers; each units is programmed with a filter designed using TACS software specific to its directly attached driver group in an active quad amp setup.

It is really unfortunate that TacT is no longer around. I consider Boz to be one of the great minds in audio and his products were way ahead of their time. Sadly his business skills were not so good. He is still at the same site in New Mexico but is now producing commercial LED lighting products - what a waste! I know he had designs for products never released, including an RCS4, and almost re-emerged in 2013; maybe he will jump back in someday.

To this day, there is really nothing else that compares... Other products have a subset of RCS/2150 features like Lyngdorf digital integrated amps, the Trinnov Amethyst (which seems to be an excellent preamp-type unit, likely superior to the RCS), and the Devialet amps, which can implement a somewhat limited set of DSP crossovers. And of course there are software based solutions like Dirac and Acourate that work at the source. But I'm not aware of any other system that can do what TacT does in my setup - take PCM from standard FLAC or other digital files and play them on the fly with an active multi-amp setup with room/driver correction, target curve to taste, time and gain alignment using a lossless volume control.



I posted details of the system along with other photos at this thread:
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?18054-Some-Members-Discuss-Their-Nola-Speakers&p=334762&viewfull=1#post334762
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Now that TacT is dead :( Is there an alternative? Aside from Lyngdorf?
 

ekovalsky

New Member
Aug 19, 2015
8
0
0
Scottsdale, AZ
Now that TacT is dead :( Is there an alternative? Aside from Lyngdorf?

Well there are some options, but none of them really do what TacT does.

The Trinnov Amethyst is supposed to be a fantastic unit, it is somewhat analogous in function to the RCS 2.2X. It is very costly, perhaps that is why software-based DSP at the source using Dirac or Acourate seems to be more popular.

Besides Lyngdorf, there are some other full digital amps out there from the likes of N.A.D. (not sure their higher end ones are still in production though) and Devialet. The latter can be configured with DSP crossovers too, although limited to 24dB/octave, and likely have the capability to do target curve adjustment, room correction, etc should they provide the software to do it. Which despite some rumors, I don't expect to happen. It would be interesting to directly compare the Devialet to Equibit amps; while I suspect the Devialet would be better, the Equibit amps are capable of very impressive performance even stock with very significant improvements from the modifications many of us owners had performed.

DEQX and Behringer are also still around, I think. Behringer is definitely a lower end solution. I am not very familiar with the capabilities of DEQX but know some manfacturers use it for active multi-amping.

If I had to replace my TacT setup today, I'd probably try to audition the Trinnov Amethyst and Devialet amplifiers, a very expensive combination for a multi-amped system.
 

ekovalsky

New Member
Aug 19, 2015
8
0
0
Scottsdale, AZ
Well I did find one very similar system to mine... the Steinway-Lyngdorf model LS

With the two piece per side (dipole line source and subs) loudspeakers and electronics it runs about $250,000. Next one down (model D) is about $150,000, it has dynamic driver loudspeakers. There are also lower cost bookshelf-type setups. These systems are apparently sold as professionally setup and installed, which given how much time and effort it took me to get an optimum result, is probably wise. There is a dealer/installer in my area, maybe I arrange audition if they have sold one locally. Obviously it is very expensive but maybe not so unreasonable considering it is a complete system; the latest Nola Grand Reference Gold VI is about $300,000 for only the loudspeakers; I paid just over 1/10th of that for mine used. It was an older version but other than swapping the (4) 8" sealed for (8) ported 4.5" woofers on the main channels and more organized driver wiring, and ongoing tweaks/improvements to the crossovers - which I don't use - the actual speakers themselves are not so different.

Best I can tell, the processing in the Steinway-Lyngdorf systems is done much like my setup in that custom filters are generated and programmed into each amplifier, in an active multi-way all digital setup, with PCM-PWM conversion at the speaker terminals. The electronics are basically plain 'black boxes' with no user controls or interface; the setup is done on a remote app that the dealer/installer is provided. I assume there is a stripped down remote control or owner app that only allows basic functionality i.e. source selection and volume. The room correction is of course Lyngdorf's Roomperfect, which is I believe they developed when Boz departed and presumably took his TacT intellectual property with him; I'm not sure how they compare, other than Roomperfect uses more spacially-averaged measurements, so probably does less correction to cover a more broad area, rather than more correction to a more narrow area. As to which is better I don't know, I guess it depends on how large a 'sweet spot' is needed/wanted... my correction filters work phenomenally well where I sit, but the sound elsewhere in the room can be very bad/bizarre at some locations. Of course there is no way to ideally correct an entire room; the bass modes and nulls fluctuate quite a bit depending on where in the room the microphone is placed.

Here is the product page if anyone is curious

https://steinwaylyngdorf.com/products/model-ls-concert
 
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marty

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
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United States
Does anyone know of a TacT 2.2 owner is Southern California? There's a fellow there who needs some assistance setting up his TacT unit and would really appreciate some help. PM me please
 

George Gerhold

New Member
Aug 28, 2016
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0
I have a Tact Preamp and amp which I wish to drive from a PC based music server (probably using J.Rivers). I need info on best way(s) to hook up for playback. I have a TEAC recorder with Big Ben clock which I use to play CDs which could be part of the answer. Any hints would appreciated.
 

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