• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Trinnov 8m 8 Channel Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 2 0.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 13 5.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 98 40.3%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 130 53.5%

  • Total voters
    243

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
45,861
Likes
256,152
Location
Seattle Area
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.
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Review.jpg

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:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced back panel Review.jpg

The amplifier is based on Hypex NC1200 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:

Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Measurement.png


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:
best multichannel review 2023.png


It lands in the middle of top 20 amplifiers ever tested:
Top multichannel amplifier review.png

This is due to very low noise implementation -- something the company advertises:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced SNR Measurement.png


Frequency response is flat and load independent:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Frequency Response Measurement.png


Crosstalk is excellent although for fully independent channels, I would expect to see even better results:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Crosstalk Measurement.png


The very low distortion at 5 watts is showcased in both 19+20 kHz and 32-tone intermodulation tests:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced 19 20 khz intermodulation Mea...png


Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Multitone Measurement.png


Our 4 ohm sweep shows the typical rise in distortion in this class of Hypex amplifiers:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Power 4 ohm Measurement.png

But note that even with that performance is above average.
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Power 8 ohm Measurement.png


One benefit of linear power supply is that it has the potential to deliver more peak power and we see that here:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced max and peak Power 4 ohm Meas...png

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:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Power vs Frequency Measurement.png


Using my reactive loadbox, I stress tested the amplifier at 4 and 8 ohm and it passed with no effort at all:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Reactive Power Measurement.png


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:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier balanced Power On Off Pop Measurement.png


Finally, no warm up is required:
Trinnov Altitude 8m Multichannel Home Theater Amplifier Warm up Measurement.png


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 NC-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/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My inner scrooge optimizer wishes for this, from another company (e.g. the one starting with T and with the same number of letters in its name), sleek and light with switching PS, and last but not least for 1/3 of this price :cool:
Or, even better, a complete AVR built around said concept.
Slim chance, I know...
 
My inner scrooge optimizer wishes for this, from another company (e.g. the one starting with T and with the same number of letters in its name), sleek and light with switching PS, and last but not least for 1/3 of this price :cool:
Or, even better, a complete AVR built around said concept.
Slim chance, I know...
Considering that a budget 3 channel NC1200 in a nice case starts from 3.890 euros the 1/3 price for 8 channels is a little optimistic.
 
And that's why I don't use linear power supply any more - I never had an amp on my table which didn't show at least some remains from the mains frequencies. When listening with HiFi Speakers in 3m Distance that's no Problem - but I often do high sensitivity designs or close distance listening and there it shows.
Nothing more embarrassing as getting left overs of 50/60Hz harmonics in your 3" Beryllium midrange dome ...
 
And that's why I don't use linear power supply any more - I never had an amp on my table which didn't show at least some remains from the mains frequencies. When listening with HiFi Speakers in 3m Distance that's no Problem - but I often do high sensitivity designs or close distance listening and there it shows.
Nothing more embarrassing as getting left overs of 50/60Hz harmonics in your 3" Beryllium midrange dome ...
How on earth a sound down to -132db can be heard,and specially by a 3" mid which will never reproduce such a frequency?
Even the leftovers are ridiculously low.
 
Thank you. Comparing FFT and Power vs distortion charts for this amp vs my NAD m28 I am still happy with having the latter. and it costs just ~ half as much with just 1 channel less and it looks nicer and it has RCA inputs to connect to my Denon AVR
 
Overall, I am going to recommend the Trinnov Altitude 8m.
Very nice job Trinnov.
All too often we see very expensive products that don't "measure up" ;)
This one seems to get the job done with room to spare.
 
How on earth a sound down to -132db can be heard,and specially by a 3" mid which will never reproduce such a frequency?
Even the leftovers are ridiculously low.
Take a closer look.
First - -132dBofWHAT?
You hear the HARMONICS (as I wrote)- -125dB(whatever) and they summ (300, 420, 540 ff).

My Hypex DSP modules have -116dB(A) S/N with digital input - and I can hear a little noise + higher frequency humm in 1m distance with chassis like the M74B. (Yes, my room is VERY silent. You won't in your living room)
But that's just a 3" midrange dome - not a BMS 4592 on a nice Horn.
 
Take a closer look.
First - -132dBofWHAT?
You hear the HARMONICS (as I wrote)- -125dB(whatever) and they summ (300, 420, 540 ff).

My Hypex DSP modules have -116dB(A) S/N with digital input - and I can hear a little noise + higher frequency humm in 1m distance with chassis like the M74B. (Yes, my room is VERY silent. You won't in your living room)
But that's just a 3" midrange dome - not a BMS 4592 on a nice Horn.
If you just talk about the noise the measurement you want is this (posted it along with Amir's comment) :

Noise.PNG


So...
 
Let’s stay on topic shall we? This is a Review Thread and we desire to keep the first 20 or so pages to be about this product and the measurement data produced/provided by Amir.

Please and thank you for your cooperation and understanding. ;)
 
3 channels of such power for the front trio is understandable, but all that power for surround channels?? Overkill...
 
I have the bigger brother, which I believe based on ICE modules and use a switching PSU. It is also dead silent. The TASCAM DB-25 system make cabling a breeze. There is a feature AES67 (Audio-Over-IP) board planned, which will make cabling dead-simple, just one CAT-5 to the processor!
trinnov_audio_amplitude_16_inside.jpg

 
3 channels of such power for the front trio is understandable, but all that power for surround channels?? Overkill...
I run 9 bed channels that are all full sized Tower 4 ohm load speakers. So, not necessarily overkill for some setups. I run 12 channels of NC502MP or 500 watts per. Having lots of headroom is vital for hugely dynamic movie soundtracks. I suspect that if you are spending Trinnov level money you probably have big power hungry bed channel speakers. I just saw a home theater that had a crazy high number of ML Electrostatic bed speakers at 11.7.12 configuration. Crazy level agreed. But that is the segment Trinnov is targeting right?
 
Thank you Amir for the review!

Nice to see a product deliver a HiFi performance as promised.
 
Back
Top Bottom