Tact Pre Amps 2.2XP

Did everyone buy their unit new or on Audiogon? What retailer did you buy from if bought new?

One thing that's steered me away from digital room correction is that it's only going to be correct for one spot. Isn't this more or less true?

I have a room that is essentially completely open (open-concept house) with a high, sloping ceiling. No room modes at all, really. NOW, I know this doesn't mean I don't have freq. response abberations from room reflections. However, over all, it's a very nice sounding room - untreated.

Are there those who feel that these devices are still a major boon in such a situation?

The buzz around Tact has always sounded a little too much to me as hype, furthermore. If it were so revolutionary wouldn't you see more manufacturers using them at shows and recommending them? Or is that a naive question?

Actually I suppose you could program the TacT's various curves for different seating positions. I would imagine that if other manufacturers used TacT, it might steer them towards TacT's other products, which packaged or seperately, includes line level pre's, DAC's, ADC's, EQ's, HT processors, amplifiers, as well as TacT's parent companies speakers.

You can also program the system to correct for an average of several seating locations.

The better your present speaker/room interaction, the less effect the TacT will have.

I think some speaker manufacturers could benefit greatly by using TacT systems in their show demo rooms. But you can see why an amp manufacurer might not want to do it.

If I were a manufacturer showing my wares, I don't think I'd use a TacT. The main reason is that you'd be showing a "corrected" sound which wouldn't be duplicated in a listener's home, unless they also used a TacT.

Some might say that the room is a giant equalizer and if ever there was a room needing equalization, that would be a show-room. This is true. However, sound shows are sales jobs and the showgoers, i.e. clientele should be suspicious of a "black box" processing the sound they hear.

The TacT does correct room response at one listening position. This does not mean it sounds bad at other locations, quite the contrary. I am very happy to listen to my system at all locations in the listening room. Is it "locked in" like at the prime spot? No, but neither is any system. To my ears, the sound everywhere in the room is better than uncorrected.

There are some systems out there that attempt to correct at multiple positions, I believe the Lyngdorf model does this. This is appealing at first, but my hesitation is that if frequency response is tailored to multiple positions, doesn't that mean response at the prime listening position is compromised? I can't see it any other way.

According to Boz, the idea of crosstalk cancellation is not new but the execution has never been satisfactory. They're working on perfecting it now. I had the same question about the sweet spot, he said the sound will definitely suffer outside the sweetspot and one probably would not engage the feature for social listening sessions.

If one's room is perfect, there may be no need for a TacT. Controlling bass modes is one of its primary features, but it does a lot of other stuff too. Digititis? Try dropping the treble response a few db. If you're using high efficiency speakers that can get shouty in the presence band, use the parametric EQ to tame that band. Sub/mains integration issues? ANY combination can be optimized. Too soft on top, bump it up there. The point is that even if your room is "perfect", you may prefer a little assistance here and there to satisfy your own personal preferences.

Remember, the goal isn't "flat" response. You can do that, but within 30 seconds, you'll be looking to one of the optimized curves, all of which can be tweaked and saved.

Cable junkies would be wise to try one of these. Most of them would probably stop cable swapping after trying one.

The downsides are primarily a steepish learning curve, a pervasive doubt that you have Completely Optimized the system, and the DACs. Lots of people like them but I don't. It is possible some 16-bit DACs may not like the XP, my Altmann didn't and an Ack! 2.0 I tried also did not.

I bought my unit directly through TacT. They've always been prompt and courteous with service and seem like a really good company.