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TACT RCS 2.0 Users Group

I've recently purchased the TACT RCS 2.0 unit. As I've been wrestling with getting the optimum performance out of it, I keep thinking there must be other owners out there that have ideas to share, as well as those who could benefit from what I've learned.

I was hoping this thread would provide a forum to introduce us to each other.

Anyone interested in sharing what you've learned?

I for one have found the unit difficult to get a true grasp of how to optimise, but once learned, it has produced the best sound of any component I've ever added to my system. My system currently consists of a Sony SCD1 to the TACT 2.0 RCS with internal DAC and D/A converter. Signal is then fed from the TACT in analog format to my Art Audio Jota and then to the Avantgarde Duo Hornspeakers.
I'll start by stating I've found the suggestions in the TACT documentation for speaker placement to be contra to good sound. I've gotten the best results by using George Cardas's Near Field logic and using the TACT Nearfield target curve as the beginning point to custom build my personal target curves.

This resulted in a sound stage this is awesome and the clarity of the frequencies is without compare in my experience.

However, it took over 100 hours of experimentation to reach this result - a lot of lessons learned. At this point, I feel I know just enough to be dangerous!
tao
lotuss4
32 posts
 
I am really interested in any response to the use of this unit. I have heard that the A/D and D/A section of this unit is not good, and it adds coloration/ hurt the sound. I have read reviews which were favorable, but feel that they may be biased. please enter your personal experience and list of you system. thanks.
pls1
432 posts
 
I am a big believer in DSP correction. I had the Tact unit in my system for a week comparing it to the Sigtech. I believe that one of the greatest short comings of the Tact unit is insufficient instrumentation power built into the unit to effectively set it up without hours of trial and error. To start with, several of the Tact correction curves have ridiculous bass boosts below 30HZ. But more importantly when I measured the in room response with independent professional real time analysis equipment, what the Tact displayed as the correction curve did not track the measured frequency response. The Sigtech did. By fiddling around and iteratively using the real time equipment to take frequent measurements, I did get a decent correction curve from the Tact although I strongly prefer the Sigtech. However, set up for the Sigtech was accomplished in 2 hours using the supplied Sigtech instrumentation. I’m afraid that most Tact users will not be able to get the optimum performance out of their units due to the challenges of set-up. I believe that Tact should offer additional set-up processing power or a service as does Sigtech. The speakers I use are Dunlavy SC-V’s
audioguy123
40 posts
 
I agree completely with PLS1. If Tact would add the ability to run an impulse signal (like the SigTech does) through the filter to see if you get the actual corrected measurements you think you should have, it would allow the user to actually get closer to a desired target through an interative process. Since I have a SigTech as well, I can use it for that purpose but most folks are not going to have that luxury (there is some third party software that can be run from a PC that could serve the purpose)

I also agree that it is nowhere near the SigTech in sound quality. The SigTech does a MUCH BETTER job of presenting an even spectral balance and does a much better job of correcting high frequency anamolies. It just sounds much more like live music through the SigTech. To be fair, however, the Tact cost a lot less. For $3000 for the basic unit, you do get a digital preamp and room correction. If the SigTech did not exist, I could be happy with the Tact because it sure beats not having any room correction at all.

I used to think the SigTech user interface for setup was ugly. However, after playng with the Tact (which won't work on my laptop as I can't see the whole screen and there are no scroll bars !!!)I have decided that the SigTech is not so bad after all. It appears to me that the Tact user interface was designed by engineers for engineers and there is a lot of "gobbledygook" that does not need to be there. Maybe the next release of the software will address some of these issues.
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