[shep]

shipping costs? what else? Maybe you all should wait till I get them and report. I think shipping costs would push them in another price bracket where the competition is lurking and they might be outmatched.
I personally was in no position to be hunting all over for new speakers. I live in the boondocks. I originally wanted the Epiphany's from Odyssey, but they have a silly mark up over here, 800 euros. I chanced upon this Dutch site when I was trolling for info on T-amps. I thought it a nice serendipity that the speakers are made and sold by the only guy who sells Trend in Holland (officially). He was very encouraging
(read good salesman). The Dutch are serious hi-fie freaks... Humble Homemade Hifi etc. so I felt comfortable. The french are stiff-assed, clannish, snobby and just plain weird in the audio realm. I've lived here 25 years so I'm not making this up. Moral of story; I bought Dutch speakers fed with wire from Singapore, from a Hawaiian t-amp, from an English CDP, thru American ic's! Can't get more worldly than that!

[JLM]

I had a Clari-T (modded SI with battery power) from Red Wine Audio (their first product and well respected) for about a year.  Note that my speakers are 88 dB/w/m, 8 ohm, 30 -20,000 Hz single driver design and so not the ideal match power-wise.  The pairing made for polite dinner guests, but very little imaging/soundstaging.  Also took it to an gathering of audio friends and briefly tried it out with a variety of more efficient speakers where power-wise it kicked SET butt, but still couldn't image.

For the same money I switched to used Channel Island Audio VMB-1 40 watt chip amp monoblocks.  These are much better built, image like champs, and when paired to the above speakers make for hardhitting football players in tuxedos.  Note that my speakers were being used in 12 ft x 8 ft x 20 ft rooms.  I'm middle aged and like full bass, but am no headbanger (listen mostly to chamber music and small ensemble jazz).

As said above for the price they can't be beat, but you must be realistic about the efficiency of the speakers you pair them with.  To solve the imaging issues, I'd try using two as monoblocks.  Still would be cheap (cheaper than a replacement pair of 300B's).  I may still pick up the Super T or TA-10 and sit a Squeeze Box on top to make for the heart of a very nice/small second system.

[shep]

Now I'm the one who's nervous! I like good imaging...oh well. This chip can't be bridged but the T-1O is made so that the pot can easily be disconnected. Two would allow bi-wiring, bi-amping. That would be about 20 watts available. Could be a killer. I've not run into a discussion of this but on  Diyaudio forum there are pages and pages of chip amp stuff. I guess the moral of the story is there's no free lunch.

[panomaniac]

Hello guys,
 I'm the guilty party here.  My site is where the TA-10 mods are.  I guess I had the 1st one in the US and published the 1st mods.
This is a nice little T-Amp, I've seen and built plenty of T-Amps.  The TA-10 is not the highest quality build, the S.I. PCBs are actually better, but the TA-10 sounds good and is very easy to modify. In fact, it was designed to be modified.  I've had a few conversations with the amp designer and he did design the amp with the DIY community in mind.  He is also very interested in anything that could make the amp better.  We've discussed a few changes.

Out of the box the amp is very nice, sounds much better than the Sonic Impact ever did, as good or better than the Super-T.  The thru hole parts make it easy to work on, if you want to.  Not a lot of room in the case, tho. 

I will certainly agree with the post above that says not all amps are created equal.  Just because an amp is based on Tripath, or Class-A or 300B or something else is no guarantee of how it will sound.  It may be an indication, that's all.  I've head SET amps that were more aggressive, dynamic and "in your face" than solid state amps.  It all depends on how the thing is put together.  Tripath based amps tend to sound a lot alike, of course, but power supplies and other external components can really change the nature of the amp.

The T-Amps are great value for money, no doubt.  Some of the T-amps I've build have replaced very high end SET amps. That's high praise indeed.  For little money and some effort you can have a wonderful amp that will rival the best tube gear- some will even say it betters it.  Take the plunge - it won't hurt!  Some guys spend more on speaker cables. 

[robert1325]

Hi panomaniac,

Thanks for giving us some confidence     My trend is being shipped right now!

A question:  is it possible to Bi-amp with these ?     And do you have experience  using a tubed pre with a T-amp as power amp?

I might contact you again in the future for some mods on the trend....

Thanks,

Robert

[Songforyou]

Hi All,

Question about the Trends amp: can you run a subwoofer using the speaker terminals on the Trends to the speaker-level inputs on a sub amp?

I have read that this is a no-no with most tripath amps (e.g. Sonic Impact, RWA amps) because the speaker outputs (L and R) are not tied together.

Does the Trends suffer from this limitation as well?  If it does, can it be modified so that the speaker terminals can connect to the speaker ins of a sub?

Thanks!



 

[panomaniac]

Aloha Guys,
 OK, I'll try to answer the questions above.

Tube pre:  I have not tried it, but many users have and are happy with it.

Bi-Amp.  Can be done, I've built a few for that purpose. Obviously you'll need 2 amps and an extrenal volume control, such as a preamp.  Just be sure that the Hi & Lo sections of the speaker do not share a common ground.  More on that below.

Powered Sub:  The small T-Amps (TA-10, Sonic, Super-T, Charlize, AMP6, AMP3, etc.) have floating speaker outputs.  So neither side can be tied to ground. Very important!  The amp will overload and shut down if any speaker terminal is tied to ground.  It is also not a good idea to tie the negative outputs together.
Most sub plate amps do tie the negatives together, so it won't work with these amps. Best solution is to use a preamp and run the sub from line level.

Help that sheds some light on the subject.

[Songforyou]

Thanks Panomanic.  I was afraid that would be your answer regarding the sub.  Now what the world needs is a $99 tube pre that can keep pace with the T-amps!

Cheers!

[panomaniac]

  Now what the world needs is a $99 tube pre that can keep pace with the T-amps!

For sure, for sure! 
I'd love to see one based on the 6SN7.  The trouble is the power supply.  Would it be kosher to use a switch mode supply running 6V & 300V for a tube preamp?  Could it be done for the price?

That's the great thing about these little T-amps. They run on a single low voltage supply.

[doorman]

http://www.transcendentsound.com.
 Their (tubed) GG pre is very nice. Affordable too.
                                                          Don