Tact 2.2 XP: which configuration to get?

Thanks for the replies.
Are you using the 2.2 built-in DAC for the main speakers, or do you have it connected to an outboard DAC? The configuration I envision once I'm done upgrading piecemeal would be: cd transport > 2.2 > outboard DAC > tube amp.

Your thoughts? Would I be waisting my money with the outboard DAC and additional interconnect?

As a newbee, this forum is a great learning spot. Thanks a lot!

My BAT VK-D5 has it's own DAC and a wonderful tubed output section that I don't want to bypass(perhaps because of the $600.00 spent on six CCa's for it). I input through the TacT's ADC with a pair of Kimber Select 1130's(fully differential). My BAT's digital out is BNC, so I haven't tried it that way(I'd have to have Kimber make a custom cable). For all I know: I could be missing something. I would suggest trying your transport directly into the TacT, then auditioning DACs to see if there is any audible improvement.

Should have mentioned- If I were going to input anything digitally: I'd first have the "Digital Input Board Mod" done to the TacT by Aberdeen: (http://www.mauimods.com/TacTAudio.htm) Happy listening!

By the way: If you do go digital in with a DAC, try the Kimber Illuminations Orchid for your AES/EBU(minimum of 1 meter). They are fairly inexpensive used. You won't regret it!

If you're going to be using digital sources only and don't anticipate ever using an analogue source, the purely digital version of the 2.2XP is quite a bit less expensive than the fully loaded one with analogue inputs and outputs. But, unless you use one or more of TacT's own digital power amplifiers, you'll need analogue outputs. You can specify just about any combination of digital and analogue inputs and outputs, even down to digital and analogue outputs for the main channels but digital only for the subwoofers or vice versa. All the configuration choices are displayed at TacT's website. The fully loaded version with all inputs and outputs configured for both analogue and digital is expensive ($6,800 last time I checked).

Getting it (and thus your entire system) to sound just the way you want it is no cakewalk. After six years of ownership, I'm still making occasional fine but crucial adjustments to the tonal balance. The Auto Target Curve adjustment facility has made things much easier than trying to do it by way of the 12 band parametric equaliser, which can be truly a devil's playground. Of immense assistance is the table on page 11 of the user manual for the Behringer DEQ-1024 unit (readily available online), which is a guide to the subjective effects of making changes at different frequencies.

For fine tuning of the relatively crude adjustments that can be made by way of the Auto Target Curve Adjustment facility using the parametric equaliser, my advice is to adhere religiously (with the latter) to exactly the same frequency points ~ 32Hz, 64Hz, 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz, 4000Hz, 8000Hz, 16000Hz and 20000Hz. Ignore everything else in between and select strictly a one octave spread at each frequency point. This avoids overlap. Always aim for as smooth a curve as possible. Avoid big adjustments up or down at specific frequency points. If you feel the need to make such adjustments, then you haven't got the fundamentals right.

The 2.2XP can deliver exceptionally fine results, particularly in the bass, but you need to know what you're doing to achieve an acceptable tonal balance, particularly at the top end, which can easily sound harsh and excessively 'hot'. As many reviewers have pointed out, the guidance afforded by the user manual in this respect is sorely lacking, hence the Behringer manual is such a valuable adjunct.

Alternatively, look to the Lyngdorf RP-1, which fits only between an analogue pre and power amp (or in the tape loop of an integrated amp), but it does have an adjustable electronic crossover for 2+2 system configuration. It employs Lyngdorf's proprietary RC technology (RoomPerfect) and doesn't offer anything like the same degree of fine adjustability as the TacT (just 6 factory present algorithms, though replacement alternatives can apparently be downloaded online), but some people are of the opinion that this may very well be no bad thing. The neutral setting seems to satify most users. It also offers a choice between global and hot seat correction, which the TacT doesn't. Reports elsewhere generally seem to concur that it imposes little, if any, of its own sonic signature. So if you like your system the way it is and don't want to change it beyond correcting for otherwise ineradicable untoward room interactions, the Lyngdorf RP-1 may well be a more viable alternative.

My experience of living with the Tact RCS has, I have to say, been one of love and hate, though gradually I've managed to achieve a result which is these days more generally love than hate.

One other thing ~ The TacT RCS doesn't seem at all happy powered via the PurePower 2000 mains regenerator, unless you buffer the output of the PurePower with an isolation transformer such as those made by IsoTek or Isol-8. I don't know why, but I'm pretty certain that plugging the TacT directly into the PurePower was the cause of its CPU failing a year or so back and I had to ship it from England all the way back to Albuquerque to get it fixed at no small expense. Since then, though, it's been fine.

Conclusion? Try before you buy and don't expect a quick and easy path to audio nirvana. Patience is required.