This is a review and detailed measurements of the Trinnov Amplitude 8m Class D 8 channel power amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $9,500.
Please pardon the stock picture. The thing weighs 66 pounds due to use of linear power supplies. It killed my back getting it into the lab and I had nothing left to lift it again into my lightbox. The amplifier is naturally designed to pair with its companion Trinnov Altitude 16 or 13 AV processors. This is facilitated through the DB25 connection and gain level of 19 dB:
The amplifier is based on HypexNC1200 NC500 class D amplifier modules. The sum of those will exceed the US 15 amp circuit so it is good to see the AC socket allowing for 20 amp connectivity (the cable I had mated to 15 amp plug). In use, there was just a bit of rise in temperature allowing the unit to easily fit in a rack with no worry about cooling. Protection circuit was quite robust and would only shut down when driven beyond spec.
Trinnov 8m Amplifier Measurements
I limited my testing to the channel pairs of 7 and 8. There is not enough AC juice to go many more amps than this anyway. Here is our dashboard:
We have a bit of power supply noise which we don't normally see with switching supplies. Fortunately their level is quite low at near -130 dB, allowing SINAD to be set base don broadband noise to a very nice number:
It lands in the middle of top 20 amplifiers ever tested:
This is due to very low noise implementation -- something the company advertises:
Frequency response is flat and load independent:
Crosstalk is excellent although for fully independent channels, I would expect to see even better results:
The very low distortion at 5 watts is showcased in both 19+20 kHz and 32-tone intermodulation tests:
Our 4 ohm sweep shows the typical rise in distortion in this class of Hypex amplifiers:
But note that even with that performance is above average.
One benefit of linear power supply is that it has the potential to deliver more peak power and we see that here:
We are talking 1.1 kilowatts out just a pair of channels!
Our transfer function shows rising distortion at higher frequencies above a few watts:
Using my reactive loadbox, I stress tested the amplifier at 4 and 8 ohm and it passed with no effort at all:
It is not rated at 2 ohm but I tried it there anyway. It ran the first combo and produced about 33 volt but then went into protection requiring power cycle.
The amplifier is pretty quiet on power on and off, passing my 1 millivolt threshold:
Finally, no warm up is required:
Conclusions
The Trinnov 8m uses the trusted and performant Hypex NC1200 modules. Mated to linear power supply, they produce nice peak power which you need in home theater applications. The linear power supply adds considerable weight to the unit and no doubt, cost. It provides a level of differentiation.
Company makes a good point that in high-channel home theaters of today, you don't want a dozen or more speakers producing hiss all together. Emphasis on low noise is apparent in how the amplifier nicely lands in our top 20 amplifiers at 5 watts (which is noise dominated in all cases).
Yes, the price is high but remember these are sold through dealer channels so plenty of room needs to be in there. You could get yourNC-1200 NC500 amplifiers from other sources but they won't have the DB25 connector which helps a lot with wire management. And you may not get such nice noise performance.
Overall, I am going to recommend the Trinnov Altitude 8m. My only wish is that I didn't have to carry the darn thing!
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Please pardon the stock picture. The thing weighs 66 pounds due to use of linear power supplies. It killed my back getting it into the lab and I had nothing left to lift it again into my lightbox. The amplifier is naturally designed to pair with its companion Trinnov Altitude 16 or 13 AV processors. This is facilitated through the DB25 connection and gain level of 19 dB:
The amplifier is based on Hypex
Trinnov 8m Amplifier Measurements
I limited my testing to the channel pairs of 7 and 8. There is not enough AC juice to go many more amps than this anyway. Here is our dashboard:
We have a bit of power supply noise which we don't normally see with switching supplies. Fortunately their level is quite low at near -130 dB, allowing SINAD to be set base don broadband noise to a very nice number:
It lands in the middle of top 20 amplifiers ever tested:
This is due to very low noise implementation -- something the company advertises:
Frequency response is flat and load independent:
Crosstalk is excellent although for fully independent channels, I would expect to see even better results:
The very low distortion at 5 watts is showcased in both 19+20 kHz and 32-tone intermodulation tests:
Our 4 ohm sweep shows the typical rise in distortion in this class of Hypex amplifiers:
But note that even with that performance is above average.
One benefit of linear power supply is that it has the potential to deliver more peak power and we see that here:
We are talking 1.1 kilowatts out just a pair of channels!
Our transfer function shows rising distortion at higher frequencies above a few watts:
Using my reactive loadbox, I stress tested the amplifier at 4 and 8 ohm and it passed with no effort at all:
It is not rated at 2 ohm but I tried it there anyway. It ran the first combo and produced about 33 volt but then went into protection requiring power cycle.
The amplifier is pretty quiet on power on and off, passing my 1 millivolt threshold:
Finally, no warm up is required:
Conclusions
The Trinnov 8m uses the trusted and performant Hypex NC1200 modules. Mated to linear power supply, they produce nice peak power which you need in home theater applications. The linear power supply adds considerable weight to the unit and no doubt, cost. It provides a level of differentiation.
Company makes a good point that in high-channel home theaters of today, you don't want a dozen or more speakers producing hiss all together. Emphasis on low noise is apparent in how the amplifier nicely lands in our top 20 amplifiers at 5 watts (which is noise dominated in all cases).
Yes, the price is high but remember these are sold through dealer channels so plenty of room needs to be in there. You could get your
Overall, I am going to recommend the Trinnov Altitude 8m. My only wish is that I didn't have to carry the darn thing!
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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