Trinnov 8m 8 Channel Amplifier Review

[fordiebianco]

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?

sorry, what's a bed channel speaker?

 

[Sokel]

Where do you see it reviewed in ASR?

The only similar I found is a 2 channel one:

ATI AT522NC Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the ATI AT522NC Stereo power amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member. The 522NC costs US $2,195 but I see it on Amazon for US $1,995. The AT522NC is part of a series which starts with 2 channels of class D amplification and goes up to 4...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[juliangst]

sorry, what's a bed channel speaker?

All speakers on ear level so the first number in 9.1.6 for example

 

[Rick Sykora]

I just looked up the price for the ATI AT528NC—it’s $4800. Keeping in mind that the AT528NC is essentially the same amp as the Amplitude 8m minus the DB25 connector, then the “Trinnov tax” is $4700. So the Trinnov name and a DB25 connector is costing you an almost $5000 premium. Whoah!

Seems just like we have come to expect from high-end audio products.

Any idea what they charge for their DB-25 cable?

 

[FrankF]

Everything measures great but why does the frequency response start to fall off after 7k hertz?

 

[mdsimon2]

It is a confusing mess out there as far as what model is what. All I can tell you is that the amplifier matches the pictures of 8m where they show an image of an amplifier. That amplifier is NC1200: https://www.trinnov.com/en/products/amplitude8m/

You can actually read the fine print on bottom left where it says NC1200.

All evidence to me suggests that what @Fidji posted is correct, the 8M uses NC500s and the 8 uses NC1200s. I believe the photo of the NC1200 on the Trinnov page for the 8M is incorrect.

Trinnov states that the 8 uses NC1200s on their website, with the same module picture you posted. The teardown pictures of the 8 posted in this thread here -> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...8-channel-amplifier-review.46377/post-1654387 also support this. You can see the two voltage regulators extending perpendicular from the PCB that you would expect to see on a NC1200 but not on a NC500.

For the 8M some retailers explicitly state it uses NC500s, such as here -> https://www.hificorner.co.uk/trinnov-amplitude-8m-power-amplifier.html. Again, teardown pics posted in this thread here -> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...8-channel-amplifier-review.46377/post-1654314 support this (even higher resolution picture here -> https://www.avforums.com/threads/trinnov-altitude-16-32-owners-thread.2279879/page-19). You see two banks of capacitors on the top of the modules like you would expect on a NC500 but not on a NC1200.

Dimension wise the difference in modules also makes sense as the longer NC1200 module will need a taller chassis than the shorter NC500.

Michael

 

[sarumbear]

All speakers on ear level so the first number in 9.1.6 for example

Not exactly true. The term bed is used by Dolby to define the linear channels. There are eight bed channels, corresponding to Dolby Surround 7.1, which Atmos a superset of. In the 9.1.6 example, two extra front sides are created by the decoder/processor.

 

[Labjr]

Maybe they should hire someone who can spell....

View attachment 298720

It's French spelling. Not a big deal.

 

[TankTop]

So I should pair this with my unobtanium Linkwitz LX521’s?

 

[Labjr]

So I should pair this with my unobtanium Linkwitz LX521’s?

I'd like to see those speakers reviewed here.

 

[restorer-john]

It's French spelling. Not a big deal.

It makes sense too. My bad.

 

[restorer-john]

Everything measures great but why does the frequency response start to fall off after 7k hertz?

The NC-xxx modules all fall off to about -0.5dB at 20kHz. If you want wide bandwidth, ruler flat amplification, these aren't for you.

If you want ball-tearing power, low distortion, efficiency and low cost, these modules fit the bill.

Personally, starting from scratch, I'd put my audiophile pre-requisites in the trash and buy one of these things and spend the rest on cars, women and experiences.

 

[voodooless]

Personally, starting from scratch, I'd put my audiophile pre-requisites in the trash and buy one of these things and spend the rest on cars, women and experiences.

Would you replace the caps though?

 

[David_M]

I fail to see why is this amp superior to any other amplifier using Hypex NC1200 / NC500 class D amplifier modules with similar power ratings and channel count. Yes, it's pretty looking I agree.

Edit: ok, maybe its lower noise figures than most of its kin justifies the price?

 

[boXem]

I fail to see why is this amp superior to any other amplifier using Hypex NC1200 / NC500 class D amplifier modules with similar power ratings and channel count. Yes, it's pretty looking I agree.

Edit: ok, maybe its lower noise figures than most of its kin justifies the price?

In this case I guess that you also fail to see why a DAC using, in example, an ESS ES9039PRO would be superior to another DAC using the same chip.

 

[David_M]

In this case I guess that you also fail to see why a DAC using, in example, an ESS ES9039PRO would be superior to another DAC using the same chip.

DACs are different as they can provide many features (hw, sw, and otherwise) that one dac might have and the other not have. This could justify the price differences between the two. But if a vendor goes out of their way to design their dac using the top-notch but expensive ES9039PRO, you bet they are going to do a bang-up job in extracting the best design possible from that chip.

Amps mainly only do one thing...amplify sound and nothing more. Maybe one offers input triggers, and another doesn't. But if they are built with the same architecture, i.e. same power NCxxx modules, power specs, etc. there's no reason for the wild price deltas we see here.

 

[Matias]

All evidence to me suggests that what @Fidji posted is correct, the 8M uses NC500s and the 8 uses NC1200s. I believe the photo of the NC1200 on the Trinnov page for the 8M is incorrect.

Trinnov states that the 8 uses NC1200s on their website, with the same module picture you posted. The teardown pictures of the 8 posted in this thread here -> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...8-channel-amplifier-review.46377/post-1654387 also support this. You can see the two voltage regulators extending perpendicular from the PCB that you would expect to see on a NC1200 but not on a NC500.

For the 8M some retailers explicitly state it uses NC500s, such as here -> https://www.hificorner.co.uk/trinnov-amplitude-8m-power-amplifier.html. Again, teardown pics posted in this thread here -> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...8-channel-amplifier-review.46377/post-1654314 support this (even higher resolution picture here -> https://www.avforums.com/threads/trinnov-altitude-16-32-owners-thread.2279879/page-19). You see two banks of capacitors on the top of the modules like you would expect on a NC500 but not on a NC1200.

Dimension wise the difference in modules also makes sense as the longer NC1200 module will need a taller chassis than the shorter NC500.

Michael

Agreed. From the inside picture it is definitely NC500 OEM modules.

Trinnov Amplitude8m 8聲道後級評測

我在兩年前評測過Amplitude8之後，現在我依然認為它是當今音質、速度與力量表現最佳的多聲道後級之一。Amplitude8會如此強而有力、速度與音質都這麼好，關鍵因素之一是它應用了荷蘭名廠Hypex的NCore D類功率放大電路，這回Amplitude8m也是配備了NCore模組。玩家們在音響雜誌上或許常常看到Hypex的功放電路，但多半是價格便 ...

www.audionet.com.tw

Look at the single small cap between the larger ones of NC500 OEM.

Also the lack of wires entering the middle of the module like NC1200 has.

The good news for 8m owners is that they can upgrade to NCx500 OEM modules and just swap them plug n' play.

 

[Steven Holt]

Gentlemen (and Ladies), this is just one hell of an amp, and may we all be so blessed...

 

[Matias]

Also, for reference, below is the power output of the Buckeye NC502MP based 8 channel amp.

And Trinnov 8m, with its dual toroidal power supplies, has LESS power even on peak power!

So only the lower noise is better (SINAD 8m 106 x 98 Buckeye) for the 4.3x price difference (8m 9500 x 2200 Buckeye).

But if we consider 4 x Buckeye stereo NCx500 at around 4400 usd one would have better power (around 640W for a single SMPS1200) and similar SINAD 106 still for half the price.

 

[boXem]

DACs are different as they can provide many features (hw, sw, and otherwise) that one dac might have and the other not have. This could justify the price differences between the two. But if a vendor goes out of their way to design their dac using the top-notch but expensive ES9039PRO, you bet they are going to do a bang-up job in extracting the best design possible from that chip.

Amps mainly only do one thing...amplify sound and nothing more. Maybe one offers input triggers, and another doesn't. But if they are built with the same architecture, i.e. same power NCxxx modules, power specs, etc. there's no reason for the wild price deltas we see here.

I guess than the months we spend designing and testing our amps are useless then.