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Further thoughts...Tact
Audio
It was a quite a nice surprise to see Tact
Audio back in the Alexis Park high-end habitat
and away from the convention center. Tact's
chief designer Radomir Bozovich (back right)
takes time out to pose for a photo with
devoted Tact users John Hsu (right) and Key
Kim (behind me). This was indeed a special
occasion for it was the unveiling of Tact's
all new "Boz" reference line of
multi-channel digital amplifiers shown below (price TBA).
 
This very well laid out, dual-chassis design,
boasts separate 110/220 V
module with its own line conditioning; a
totally new design based on LVDS (low voltage balanced signal technology).
Sporting the latest Texas Instrument floating
point DSPs for computer-less crossover design
this new statement in digital design purports frequency resolution at the equivalent of 1
Hz and internal crossover versatility from 10
Hz and 24 KHz. This sophisticated crossover
filter package offers low-pass, high-pass and
band-pass design with filter slopes of 6 to 60
dB/octave. Band-pass filters can be designed
with different slopes at the low and high
cutoff frequency.
Upgradeability of up to 16-channels of
sophisticated digital amplification, rated at
200/watts, has finally arrived (ever heard of
11.5 surround sound? Neither have I, but if it
does show up, Tact will be ready). Other
features include external clock sync
capability (Big Ben owners rejoice) and
one-touch-channel identification in case
the "Boz" sees duty in a multi-channel,
multi-driver setup you can immediately
identify where each amp is connected through
the touch of a button located on the front
panel. Though slender in size the weight of
each module is about 75 lbs due to separate
specially wound, heavy duty torodial
transformers for each channel.
I sat in the room and heard briefly what I
thought was a decent sounding setup using the
Tact Audio MH1 loudspeakers made by DALI. Tact
subwoofers are loaded into each corner of the
room and work quite well in that position when
room corrected. Decent sound may be
good to some folks but based on what I have learned
and know, Tact audio can sound world-class. I
find it truly a statement grade product when
properly setup.
I think the room promoted more of what Tact
does as a room correction device rather than
as a music-reproduction product.
On my soapbox..
I look forward to the day when Tact Audio will be shown
alongside well established companies that make
high-efficiency loudspeakers. Avantgarde
loudspeakers come to mind or how about a nice
pair Rethm loudspeakers? I sat at length in
the Rethm/Art Audio/Stealth Audio room at
Alexis Park and was captivated by the
musicality of these lowther-driven
loudspeakers. Designed more for the musical
than the visceral, these little sweethearts
had me wondering aloud "why on earth isn't
Tact using loudspeakers like these?" I say
this because most folks that don't own Tact,
or listen to all the hearsay, feel this is
just another typical digital [read: lacking
musicality] amplifier. That's not true. The
Tact, like many horn and lowther based
designs, are built around their purity
rather than their power rating. 150 watts per
channel is not really a lot of power in the
digital scheme of things. Especially when you
consider the 350 to 1000 watts-per channel
ratings of some other designs claim. This is
why I say in the world of digital amplifiers
the Tact is the S/E equivalent. As a matter of
fact, the trend of switching from S/E tube
based amplification to Tact digital has
actually begun in France. Want proof? Okay...
On my recent trip to Paris back in the fall of
'04, Franck Tchang, designer of the Acoustic
Resonators asked Key Kim and I if we
were interested in listening to a system that
was truly "price no object" and of course you
know what the answer to that question
was...Hell Yeah!
 First
off, my experience in listening to a wide
variety of systems has grown considerably over
the years with all the traveling I've done and
setups I've personally helped install or
simply sat and evaluated. From Sea Cliff, NY
(the home of Harry Pearson) to the seashore in
Aarhus, Denmark (home of Peter Lyndorf of Tact
Europe) to Osaka, Japan to hear the Zanden
Audio/Tutankhaman loudspeaker combination
(photo right). It doesn't hurt to have a dozen
or so writers, friends and audiophiles that
live nearby who seem always in dire need of a
second opinion.
That said, nothing could have prepared me for
what I heard in the south of France at the
home of Jean-Yves Kerbrat.
 
The loudspeakers were custom made and the
first I've seen or heard that uses five-way
high-efficiency drivers and horns exclusively.
Each driver, made by a company called Goto and
probably the most expensive in the world, were
mounted on a custom made rack designed by
Jean-Yves himself. Both design and build
quality was impeccable. Most imposing was the
ALE Bass Horn, ALE 160D driver (weight 100
kg). These monsters are rated to go down to 20
Hz easily and are the biggest subwoofers I
have seen. They literally went all the way up
to Jean-Yves' ceiling.
Five Tact 2150 amplifiers were used to drive
each pair of Goto drivers independently using
digital crossover slopes selected from the
Tact 2.2x preamplifier/room correction device.
All cabling was ribbon stranded and
all
A/C power cords used were Shunyata Research Anaconda
Vx. A number of Shunyata Hydras graced the room while
in a separate building housed more A/C products from
Accuphase. Granted, there was a great deal of
modifications that were done to both the Tact 2.2x's
as well as the amplifier's power supply, digital input
receiver along with swapping out certain capacitors
for better Blackgate types. However, from what I was
told, in stock form the Tact proved their worth and
ended up replacing a super expensive set of monoblock
amplifiers (4 pair!). In terms of digital
front ends, this was probably the most sophisticated
I've ever had the pleasure of seeing together linked
to one system.
 
This
is the first time I've seen or heard the Esoteric P0s.
As good as it is said to be, it was slaved to a
Timelord Chronos external clock built by dCS for their
pro series. There was also an audiophile grade dCS 995
Upsampler sending pure unadulterated 96 kHz signal to
the modified 2.2x. In terms of setup, attention to
detail and overall impression, I was left dumbfounded
before the first song came on. There was simply
nothing left to question...except that is how it
sounded.
Never
in my audiophile experiences have I seen a setup of
such proportions. As an aside, very seldom, if ever,
can you hear an excellent sounding audio system in a
wealthy person's home. Usually when you're this
successful there's little time to sit and listen to
your stereo much less tweak. It's too easy to drop a
nice piece of change on something super expensive and
expect it do what exactly what a reviewer said. Fine
tune? Tweak? You've got to be kidding. Not here.
From the first
track Jean-Yves played I knew I was listening to
something uniquely special. This wasn't some rich guy
experiment gone awry. I was sitting before something
grand indeed. Something that I could not immediately
identify. There was an exquisite sense of beauty to
the music that I could instantly identify with but
will admit have never duplicated in my, or anyone
else's space. There was a rightness to the sound, a
freedom of colorations all box speakers emit, that
through some classical songs sounded like the
instruments were really in the room. To such a
degree that for the first time in my audiophile career
I felt sick in my stomach. Can't describe it but there
is such a thing as something so good, so magnificent,
so beyond what you thought was physically possible,
that you can actually have a physical reaction. I had
this reaction only once before and it was the first
time I heard a high-end system. That experience so
changed my life that I literally went home and
unplugged my Bose 901's, Carver preamp and Phase
Linear amplifier, put them in their original cartons
and sold them immediately at a store that was
recommended. I didn't go home after my trip and throw
a fit. I realized that my system is pretty well along
and couldn't possibly sound like what I heard in the
south of France. It was just physically impossible.
More
importantly, I heard a all digital setup that was the
best sound I had ever heard. I realized right then and
there that digital is the future and I was delighted
to be a part of it.
Off
the soap box.
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