Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer (Off Topic)
Hi Bert and Everyone Else,
I have read very good reports about Tact Audio digital amplifiers in general even as used with very high sensitivity high end horn systems. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about this combination?
My 2a3 SET amps have given me great pleasure with the Oris 150/AER MD3 combinations, and while I no longer hear live music on a daily or near daily basis as I did most of my life I hear it often enough to feel qualified to judge that the SET is sometimes just a bit too sweet and romantic to sound real. At the same time there are other recordings when I think of what some guy said upon hearing a paticular moving coil cartridge. He said, "If live music doesn't sound like this then it damn well should."
Bye,
Don Reid
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Dear Don Reid,
I have used a TacT amp on Oris 150/MD3's with great success. Note that the amp I was using was not the true digital amps, but only the cheapest SD2175 semi-digital power amp. To me this amp is a bargain. The sound is very fast, clear, and detailed and with a lot of air between the musicians. I have heard that some find the amp a bit "cold" sounding. I do not think this is true, but the TacT amp did sound a bit brighter than the eAR amps I am using now (also simi digital). Another good thing about the TacT amp is that it is very well build. Last, but not least, it is dead silent! Actually, I have never heard a 200W amp this silent before
(A funny thing about the amp is that TacT recommends it for bass - but I actually think it is more suited for midrange and treble!)
All the best
Peter
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Hi Peter and Everyone Else,
(A funny thing about the amp is that TacT recommends it for bass - but I
actually think it is more suited for midrange and treble!)
After enjoying good 16 Hz to 20+ kHz response from various speaker systems I designed and built for myself for twenty years or so I really miss the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. While keeping the ability to revert to the tubes, Klipschorn bass folded corner horns and Oris 150s/AER MD3s I'm presently enjoying I'm going to set up a four way system.
Good suwoofers driven by vintage 18" woofers I designed back in 1984 (I spent numerous hours inside the cabinets, working.)will be powered by a conventional ss amplifier. The Klipschorn bass bins will serve as lower bass upper bass couplers. The Oris 150/AERMD3s will play a range of over five octaves and Fostex T900A horn Supertweeters will sing high soprano. Crossover slopes will all be high order, and nominal crossover points will be 60 Hz, 160 Hz and 7001 Hz. Fostex reccomends a crossover point above 7000 Hz. The digital amplification, crossovers, time and phase alignment, room correction, etc. of A Tact RCS2.2 XP preamplifier and three Tact S2150 XDM digital Amplifiers will hopefully allow me to coax these drivers varied in location and character to sing as one harmonious mellifluous choir. With entirely digital recordings the signal will never leave the digital domain after the microphone until it reaches the voice coil of the speaker. If you do not like digital manipulation of your music then why are you messing around with CDs instead of listening only to pure analog which was invented century before last by Edison or Berliner one or the other?
If the expense of the Tact purchases leads one to wonder if I am a rich man the son of a rich man, I am not. My wife and I are both from very modest backgrounds. We worked our way through university, kept good jobs, and for fifteen year lived and reared our children on my salary and invested hers in well chosen common stock mutual funds. It is a not very glamorous plan, but one I reccomend to younger people.
Also, I'm a bit eccentric. I drive a rusty worn out twenty-three year old pick-up truck, wear raggedy ass clothes and eat nothing but peas and corn bread. That part is optional.
Bye,
Don Reid
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
by Rooze 
, Wisc USA, Saturday, October 14, 2006, 17:21 (6404 days ago) @ Don Reid
Hi again Don,
Say, excuse my jumping in here again, I'm trying to understand your methodology so I can hopefully make the right choices when I upgrade my system. I'm wondering why you would go with the S2150XDM and not just take advantage of the special deal on the old S2150 for $1600. Since you're buying the RCS2.2 I would think that you'll be using it for room correction and XO functions, so wouldn't really need the added functionality of the more expensive S2150XDM?
Sorry for prying, the whole system architecture using Tact gear has me a little confused at times. I did use the RCS2.0 for a while, and I'm anxious to get back into the technology when funds permit.
Regards
Rooze
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Also, I'm a bit eccentric. I drive a rusty worn out twenty-three year old
pick-up truck, wear raggedy ass clothes and eat nothing but peas and corn
bread. That part is optional.
Actually, I wouldn't call you eccentric but normal from where I come from. You'd fit right in with my family, except of course for the Oris/AER setup..... now that's eccentric 
Jim D.
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Hi Don
How you keeping?
On paper the Tact 2.2 preamp seems an ideal match to our types of system.
Aside from the room correction aspects ("makes the Behringer seem like a toy") there are a number of other advantages, with it having tunable independent outputs to both the main drivers and subs.
Firstly there is the ability to select the position and slope of the crossovers.
Secondly it relieves the full rangers (in my case DX4s) of the need to handle the low frequencies, which with my current system is not possible.
Thirdly you can stick, if you wish, with amplifiers in current use.
The vexing question is how will it sound. I would be setting aside an S&B transformer volume control to accommodate it. One would hope it was one step back and two forward.
Cheers Chris
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Hi Chris,
How you keeping?<<
Remarkably well, thank you. I was in England again in July for my daughter's wedding to a fine Englishman in Kent. There will be a ceremonial repetition here in Georgia soon for the friends and relatives unwilling or unable to do the horrible transatlantic airplane ride. Also, since the lovely afternoon of music wine and conversation at your home with your charming wife, you and your nephew and friend audiophiles I have lost twenty-seven pounds (12.27 KG).
On paper the Tact 2.2 preamp seems an ideal match to our types of system.<<
I truly agree. By the way, the model I intend to buy early next week is the Tact RCS2.2 XP, a much more advanced and sophisticated version of the original 2.2 which in comparison to the 2.2 XP is now two generations obselete.
The vexing question is how will it sound. I would be setting aside an S&B transformer volume control to accommodate it. One would hope it was one step back and two forward.<<
Woe be it unto me to ever disagree with anyone about anything, but is my fervent prayer that it will be a simple 2 to 2.5 steps forward.
I'm Outa' Here,
Don
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Hi Don
Thats a hectic social calender, you did remarkably well to loose all that weight with all those celebrations - the healthy option
>
[quote]the model I intend to buy early next week is
the Tact RCS2.2 XP, a much more advanced and sophisticated version of the
original 2.2 which in comparison to the 2.2 XP is now two generations
obselete.
[/quote]
Yep looks very interesting, particularly the ability to adjust slopes in real time and the automatic adjustment of frequencies to suit different volumes.
I am being a little less ambitious with (perhaps) a purchase of a second hand 2.2x. This is partly driven by the wife's ambition to introduce more soft furnishings (dining table and six full leather chairs) into the listening room:wink: :wink:
The configurations are such that I can continue to use my Counterpoint Ultra Analogue DAC or use the internal DAC on the Tact. Reviews would suggest it outperforms many very expensive Dacs - we shall see.
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
by Rooze , Wisc USA, Thursday, October 12, 2006, 16:09 (6406 days ago) @ Don Reid
Hello all,
I'm new to this forum, having found it only yesterday.
I would add that the new Lyngdorf might be an alternative to Tact. Most know perhaps that Peter Lyngdorf was behind much of the technical development at Tact and split over a year ago to form his own company, taking existing Tact technology with him. Anyway, he has an interesting product that is basically a fully digital integrated amplifier. (The TDA2200 is the model) It has an optional 'RoomPerfect' module that supposedly builds on the technology in the RCS2.2x and takes it to a higher level. So all that is needed is a transport into the TDA2200. The inbuilt 200 watt amp (into 8ohm) drives the bass unit and via the analog output card to the SET amps for the horns. Then with the optional RoomPerfect module you have full control over bass and horns from the single unit. It's expensive though at over $6000 - but does include amplification which the RCS2.2 does not. I hear also that the amp quality is outstanding and many are opting to use the inbuilt amp for the main horns, outputting to something like the Tact S2150 for the bass.
Anyway, I hope I don't sound like a sales rep (which I am NOT)...it's just that I've been considering this for my own Oris 150 / 2A3 system in the last few weeks.
Cheers
Rooze
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Hi Rooze,
Thank you for your informative and helpful post. I was of course familiar with the name of Peter Lyngdorf from all the reading I've done about, Tact Sigtech, DEQX, etc. over the last six or seven years, but I wasn't aware Lyngdorf had established his own company until I read your post. I believe the new Tact RCS 2.2XP incorporates many if not all the advances of the Lyngdorff preamp.
Also, I told a Tact dealer a couple dealer a couple of days ago that unless I find a very substtially better deal on the four Tact components I desired I would buy them from him next Monday or Tuesday.
Rooze, thanks again for your post.
I'm outa' of here,
Don
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
hi don
will u sell your deqx ? there is a Tact RCS 2.2X on ebay. is there a big difference between this and the new xp model ?
regards angelo
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Hi Angelo and Anyone Else Who Might Be Interested,
will u sell your deqx ? there is a Tact RCS 2.2X on ebay. is there a big
difference between this and the new xp model ?
After writing about my big plans for the Tact coponents I have decided to not buy them because of a health problem I have. For two months or so I have had a problem with my hearing. I made myself believe it was a result of sinus allergy problems I have had at the same time from sawing teak and brass in my workshop and sanding and polishing them. A visit to a doctor who specializes in hearing revealed that the problem was an hereditary disease causing a progressive degeneration of the nerves in my inner ear. This was no great surprise. My father and three of my six older brothers have had this problem. Using the progression of their hearing loss as a guide I expect to continue enjoying music for six or seven more years but with decreasing high frequency hearing and appreciation of details and fine nuances. Que sera sera.
The Tact 2.2X is an excellent component. I am a big fan of high order time and phase correct digital crossovers. Properly calibrated and programmed digital room correction can amaze. The 2.2 XP with its greater computing power offers additional advantages of more refinement, the ability to program many functions without a PC being needed and the ability to change important functions such as crossover settings while music is playing. Considering my hearing impairmment I suppose it best if I leave it up to you guys to decide if the transparency of components such as the Tact or DEQX is good enough to add them to your system.
I'm outa' of here (for now)
Don
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Blimey Don, you have more than your fair share of problems. Keep your pecker up mate.
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
Blimey Don, you have more than your fair share of problems. Keep your
pecker up mate.
Hey Chris,
I'm Ok. Its a real pisser, but when I consider that it is a genetic thing I still wouldn't want to swap my genes out for anyone else's. Many of my older relatives live active lives into their eighties or nineties and my favorite aunt made to it 106. My older brother, William, who was an audiophile by the late 1950s when audiophiles were as rare as honest politicians continued enjoying drum music on his stereo for years after he had lost his ability to hear pitch differences. I'm considering buying or building myself a big ass pair of modified (for my vintage JBL 18" woofers) Jensen Imperial folded horn bass enclosures which are famous for their ability to pressurize the room with bass so that even years from now when the hearing has faded badly I can play something such as the long drum part from Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida", and I can still rock and roll.
Bye,
Don
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
by PeterSt. , Netherlands, Friday, October 27, 2006, 10:06 (6391 days ago) @ Don Reid
so that even years from now
when the hearing has faded badly I can play something such as the long drum
part from Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida", and I can still rock and
roll.Bye,
Don
tigga tigga dung dung, dung dung
tigga tigga dung dung, dung dung
ting dung, dung dung
ting dung, dung dung
Hmm ... most difficult in another language.
Well, I sure feel with you Don;
I have been completely deaf for 1,5 years, and while nobody could tell what was happening I always had the trust it would go away by itself. And it did ...
All took 2,5 years to get normalized again (came back - went away - etc.), but still once in a while it bothers me.
Anyway an ever not nice prospectus for an audiophile.
But there's more things in life !
So you now slowly start your wife getting used to the spl level ?
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
by Bert , Monday, October 23, 2006, 19:40 (6395 days ago) @ Don Reid
Hi Don,
Sorry to have learned about your hearing problem, I hope it will return back to normal in the near future to be able to fully enjoy music again.
Ciao,
Bert
--
BD-Design - Only the Best!
Tact Digital Amplifiers For Oris/Aer
by p314 , Tuesday, October 17, 2006, 23:45 (6400 days ago) @ Don Reid
Hi Bert and Everyone Else,
I have read very good reports about Tact Audio digital amplifiers in
general even as used with very high sensitivity high end horn systems.
Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about this combination?My 2a3 SET amps have given me great pleasure with the Oris 150/AER MD3
combinations, and while I no longer hear live music on a daily or near
daily basis as I did most of my life I hear it often enough to feel
qualified to judge that the SET is sometimes just a bit too sweet and
romantic to sound real. At the same time there are other recordings when
I think of what some guy said upon hearing a paticular moving coil
cartridge. He said, "If live music doesn't sound like this then it damn
well should."Bye,
Don Reid
Hi Don,
I do not have an ORIS horn (yet?) but I do own a pair of Lowther Audiovector and a TACT RCS2.0
First, please let me remark that my experience with the TACT still is limited. If you want to gain a deep insight into the unit, you should join the yahoo tact user group.
Then, you should note that the TACT is not the needle to sew a silk purse from a pigs ear. It definitely is not a cure-all and you caNot and should not attempt to correct for certain deficiencies.
Take for example the typical Lowther shout stemming from an irregular frequency response. You can put the Lowther in a tractrix horn that will take care of some of the frequency irregularities AND increase efficiency AND reduce doppler distortion AND improve the emission pattern by making sure that you have a high directivity OR you can TACT it.
However, when doing so, some problems arise. You do not GAIN efficiency but reduce overall headroom because the "shouting" frequencies can only be attenuated digitally instead of lifting the efficiency of missing low/mid frequencies as per a tractrix. This might be a problem with low-wattage amps (I am using 4pieces of V73 Telefunken rated at 4W each and yes, I do note a significant decrease with maximum spl). For this reason, you should not attempt to brutally force your speakers to e.g. extend their lowfrequency response. Also, you do not reduce Doppler distortion.
So, you should still make sure your system is ok per se, set up in the correct manner etc.
THEN:
Despite these remarks: it is a HUGE improvement to switch the TACT from non-corrected BYPASS mode to a corrected mode. Soundstage is improved, tonal balance is improved asf. (just name the usual suspects of audiophile hype and TACT does adress them). I do consider it very well worth the investment.
Regards,
Peter