TACT & Lyngdorf user satisfaction?

And more. Some have described the TacT RCS as great hi-fi but have questioned its musicality. Once you've finally ironed out all the things about its performance that you don't like (the first and biggest challenge), the next step is to fine tune it still further so it'll let the music through. One might say that stage one is the objective part of the process but then you have to move on to further fine tuning for a satisfying subjective performance.

In my previous piece, I described the methodology I've used for stage one. This is stage two. I still wasn't happy with the high treble but, for a long time, I couldn't work out what needed to be done to fix it. It was either too hot and sibilant or too shut in, lacking air and sparkle. Then it suddenly occurred to me that 20Kz is less than half an octave above 16KHz, so a full octave spread at 20KHz isn't appropriate ~ adjustments at 20KHz were overlapping with whatever settings I was making at 16KHz (always to be avoided). So I narrowed the spread at 20KHz to 0.4 of an octave and things got a lot better, though after some careful listening I broadened it to 0.5 of an octave. Now I've managed to achieve the air and sparkle at the top but without that fatiguing "hotness" and sibilance. Good.

The next area for attention was the bass. Various reports have suggested the need for just a little lift at 64Hz (or thereabouts) to add body and warmth to the midrange. I ended up with lift of 1.1Db. I added as well just 0.5Db lift at 32 and 125Hz, each with a one octave spread. But, overall, the result was that the system still sounded a bit too pushy and hi-fi, whereas by this stage I wanted naturalness.

So out went the lifts at 32 and 125 Hz and instead I widened the spread at 64Hz to 2 octaves, subsequently narrowed to 1.5 octaves. This is noticeably better, more open, less pushy, less "hi-fi" and more natural.

So that's where I'm at after six years of ownership. The TacT RCS continues to amaze me on various fronts, partly by what it's possible to get out of it (and thus your entire system) and partly by what an almost unbelievably slow and painstaking process is involved with getting to do what you want it to. It's hard (for me anyway) to imagine a product that presents a more demanding path to achieving its full potential. Am I there yet? I really don't know, but for now I seem to have reached another plateau higher than the last.

More will follow if, as and when I reach the next plateau.

And more. Some have described the TacT RCS as great hi-fi but have questioned its musicality. Once you've finally ironed out all the things about its performance that you don't like (the first and biggest challenge), the next step is to fine tune it still further so it'll let the music through. One might say that stage one is the objective part of the process but then you have to move on to further fine tuning for a satisfying subjective performance.

In my previous piece, I described the methodology I've used for stage one. This is stage two. I still wasn't happy with the high treble but, for a long time, I couldn't work out what needed to be done to fix it. It was either too hot and sibilant or too shut in, lacking air and sparkle. Then it suddenly occurred to me that 20Kz is less than half an octave above 16KHz, so a full octave spread at 20KHz isn't appropriate ~ adjustments at 20KHz were overlapping with whatever settings I was making at 16KHz (always to be avoided). So I narrowed the spread at 20KHz to 0.4 of an octave and things got a lot better, though after some careful listening I broadened it to 0.5 of an octave. Now I've managed to achieve the air and sparkle at the top but without that fatiguing "hotness" and sibilance. Good.

The next area for attention was the bass. Various reports have suggested the need for just a little lift at 64Hz (or thereabouts) to add body and warmth to the midrange. I ended up with lift of 1.1Db. I added as well just 0.5Db lift at 32 and 125Hz, each with a one octave spread. But, overall, the result was that the system still sounded a bit too pushy and hi-fi, whereas by this stage I wanted naturalness.

So out went the lifts at 32 and 125 Hz and instead I widened the spread at 64Hz to 2 octaves, subsequently narrowed to 1.5 octaves. This is noticeably better, more open, less pushy, less "hi-fi" and more natural.

So that's where I'm at after six years of ownership. The TacT RCS continues to amaze me on various fronts, partly by what it's possible to get out of it (and thus your entire system) and partly by what an almost unbelievably slow and painstaking process is involved with getting to do what you want it to. It's hard (for me anyway) to imagine a product that presents a more demanding path to achieving its full potential. Am I there yet? I really don't know, but for now I seem to have reached another plateau higher than the last.

More will follow if, as and when I reach the next plateau.

My take:
I've used a Tact 2.2x for 7 years with regular amps (Gamut, Bel Canto, Aloia, etc.) and also with stock and (most recently) modded Tact 2150s, with and without subs.
I'm very happy with them but also recognize some trade-offs. Definitely not for the SET or single driver crowd. A little on the clean and clinical side of things--less so with the mods.

A lot depend on your room and speaker. If you have a good room-speaker interaction, the weaknesses of the Tact may outweigh the strengths. If you don't, you may never want to be without it. My room is 23x16x10, which looks good on paper but still the bass cleanliness and resultant opening of the mids has been a worthwhile improvement.

I haven't found the challenge as intense as some of the other posters, though I've fiddled a lot and use all my own curves, replacing the stock presets. I like tight clean bass. Tact provides this. Some will find it too lean until they adjust to it. I find the greatest advantage of the Tact equipment to be the subwoofer integration. Put two good subs in the front corners and you can have full range sound without the bass muddying everything up. Your speakers still sound like your speakers, but extended all the way down. There's a realism with full range bass that is quite addictive.

I've used subs from VBT/ TBI, Linkwitz, RBH and Lyngdorf and they have all worked well, though the dipoles are harder to get the measurements right. Main speakers have been Talon, Selah, Piega. The Aberdeen mods are worthwhile, both in the amps (since they're really just powerful DACS) and especially the PS upgrade in the 2.2x. And they definitely benefit from power conditioning and cords--at least with my power.

The amps are a steal in today's marketplace, even without room correction. They can replace a DAC, preamp and amp for the price of a good preamp. The preamp function is very clean, as its adjust digitally without losing any bits, by adjusting the voltage. Same thing when you use the amp with the preamp.