Trinaural Processor Review (RM/X Update)
Note: If you have
not already read my original Trinaural Procesor Review (details
setup and
performance with RM40, LRC, and 626R), Click
Here
I must say that I now have a better
understanding of what professional reviewers go through. How do
you describe something that few people have ever heard? How do
you provide the whole truth without people trying to read between
the lines and making the product sound better or worse than you
intended, or quoting you on things that you neither said or meant?
How do you make comparisons between things without offending someone
that owns (or aspires to own) a product that is far below the
level of another product? I can’t say that I know the answers
to these questions, but I will it my best shot.
Audio
Benchmark and Clarifying Terms
Let me begin by setting a benchmark.
My benchmark is a live band playing music in a private recording
studio. For hearing inner detail in live music, this is as good
as it gets. There may be more emotion hearing your favorite band
at the local bar or stadium, but you are hearing only half (or
less) of the detail that is actually being played. When I listen
to music, I enjoy hearing the resonance of wood on an upright
bass or being able to hear the subtle differences in one violin
versus another. These are things that are difficult to hear in
all but the most intimate of settings.
Now to clarify a few terms. These
may not be technically the right definitions, but this is my definition
which is all that matter for the sake of this review ;-)
Pinpoint imaging: For this, I
mean that there is a point in space smaller than a golf ball that
I can say the singers voice is coming from exactly right there.
Period. The image has to be exact with no grey area. On this item,
I am extremely picky. What most people would refer to as pinpoint
imaging on a reasonably good system (Onix Rocket, B&W, etc.),
I personally would refer to as imaging the size of a basketball.
Getting pinpoint imaging requires both a good system (especially
room treatment) and VERY careful placement.
The Speakers Disappear: Another
highly overused term. In any good system, it should be hard to
close your eyes and be able to point directly at the speakers.
In my definition, if I can look directly at the speaker and still
tell that there is sound coming from it, then it does not meet
my criteria for disappearing.
Soundstage/Width/Depth: This one
is a little tougher to define. While not a technically correct
definition, I use the word soundstage I mean the ability to close
my eyes and be able to visualize where everyone is located in
relation to each other (what some people may call width/depth).
On a good system, you can tell the bass guitar is somewhere between
the lead singer and the drummer. On a great system, you can tell
that the bass guitar is 4 feet to the right and 2 feet behind
the lead singer. Of course, this is all mixing magic since the
bass player probably was in a different room from the singer when
the CD/SACD was recorded.
For the hard-core techies, our
demo room is 14'x19'x10' (Louden’s best ratio), has an RT60 time
of approximately .5 seconds at all frequencies, has nearly 70dB
of attenuation across the walls, the entire ceiling is a pseudo
helmholtz resonator, and a 6'x10' throw-rug covers a 4'x8' sheet
of sonex on the floor between me and the speakers. All speakers
are positioned to within 1/8 inch tolerance using a tape measure
and laser level. Components consist of Pioneer Elite DV-47 SACD
player, Marsh P2000B pre-amp, ScorpionWire balanced and unbalanced
interconnects, ScorpionWire Bi-wire speaker cables, Trinaural
Processor, VMPS RM/X (w/ Auricap) for center channel, VMPS RM40s
(w/ Auricap and FST) for side chanels, and four Ampzilla 2000
monobloc amps (the RM/X is bi-amped).
Review
Having listened to the absolutely
incredible RM/Xs for the last month, I was excited to finally
see if the Trinaural Processor could make them even better. My
description of the RM/Xs is Better Than Live since they produced
more subtle detail, provided better imaging, and even more soundstage
than any live band I have ever heard on stage or in a studio.
When set up properly, the RM/X was the first speaker that I have
heard that I have actually asked myself is better sound even possible?
Of course, the logical answer is yes since there are several items
in my chain that are not quite to the quality of the RM/X (i.e.
Pioneer Elite SACD player) but there was absolutely nothing I
could think of that needed to be better.
I finally found an opening in
my schedule so I re-arranged my demo room for the Trinaural. Even
though it has been a month or so since I last heard the Trinaural,
the ear/brain break-in period did not really apply this time.
Instead of the 20+ hours of listening it took last time, it took
less than an hour for the sound to click into place and create
a seamless wall of music in front of me. What I heard was truly
astonishing. The soundstage was like nothing I had ever experienced.
On most high-end systems (VMPS
RM40, Wilson Watt/Puppy, Revel Salon, etc.) the average soundstage
to me seems to be maybe 6 feet behind the speaker, 2 or so feet
in front of the speaker, and maybe a foot or so outside the speaker
(Important note: I have a MUCH more stringent standard than most.
On the exact same system, most people would probably call the
soundstage as 15 feet behind, 6 feet in front, and 4 feet to the
side). With the stereo RM/Xs, the sound was 20 feet behind the
speakers, as close as 2 feet in front of me (something I have
NEVER experienced with any speaker), and 2 or 3 feet to the outside.
With the Trinaural hooked up to
the RM/X, my thought was Did I leave the rear channels on?!!!!
Of course, there were no rear channel speakers even in the room
at the time. On the live recorded portion of the Gianluigi Trovesi
Round about a midsummer dream CD, I would just about swear the
people clapping were sitting on the sofa right next to me. At
first I thought that I was getting some type of reflection from
the sidewalls that caused this effect. After a little experimenting,
I found that there were no noticeable reflections and that this
audible illusion was a function of the Trinaural Processor itself.
Unlike all of the cheesy 2-channel simulated surround sound digital
processors I have heard, this effect sounded natural and totally
real.
I have yet to figure out why I
did not get this same effect previously when I was using the RM40/626R
setup. The only theory I can come up with is that it has to do
with how line source arrays interact. Since the RMX/RM40 are much
closer in output and line-source design, I can only theorize some
type of inter-modulation was taking place (which is exactly what
the Trinaural is supposed to do). Since the RM40 was much bigger
than the 626Rs, I am guessing that it partly overpowered the 626Rs
so the effect was not nearly as pronounced. Based upon this, 3
equal size speakers seem to be better than the big center, smaller
sides design that I previously liked.
This audible illusion then made
me turn my attention to trying to find out where specific sound
(such as the person clapping next to me) was coming from (the
left speaker, right speaker, etc.). This led to the next big discovery.
I absolutely could NOT tell where the sound was originating. Looking
directly at the Left speaker, as hard as I tried, I could not
force myself to actually hear sound coming from that speaker.
The sound was originating from a point that was at least 4 feet
in front of and maybe 6 feet to the outside of the speaker. Even
in world-class stereo systems (RM/X, Wilson Grand Slam, NA Pipedreams,
Genesis 1.1, etc.), I have always been able to pinpoint the location
of the speakers if I tried. This was just not possible with the
Trinaural in the mix.
The imaging of the Trinaural is
of course excellent since the center image is actually coming
from the center speaker. However, when it comes to pinpoint center
imaging, I think I have to give the nod to the stereo RM/X setup.
The stereo RM/X setup gave a true pinpoint center image the size
of a golf ball. The image using the Trinaural was more like the
size of a baseball which corresponds roughly to the width of the
NEO panels in the RM/X. It is strictly a matter of physics at
that point. For imaging between the speakers, I think both set-ups
were pretty close.
When it comes to musical clarity,
I have a tough time comparing the Trinaural to the stereo RM/X
setup. They were definitely two very different animals. With stereo
RM/Xs, every single note was perfectly clear and was exactly in
its place within the defined soundstage. With the Trinaural, the
soundstage was so huge end enveloping that picking out a specific
note or melody was sometimes a little difficult. As I stated in
my previous RM40/626R review, the Trinaural also brings forward
more of the background harmony which means that there is more
music to actually hear. It was almost like being in a music hall
that is just a little too live. In the end, it is strictly a matter
of personal taste. People that like dipole speakers will go absolutely
nuts over this aspect of the Trinaural but the monopole crowd
may get a little distracted by it.
Final
Thoughts
So how does the Trinaural live
up to my live studio performance benchmark? Maybe too well. The
stereo RM/X setup provides true realism to reasonably recorded
CDs and SACDs: each instrument/singer/etc is presented exactly
where I expect them to be on a typical concert hall or back-room
stage. The Trinaural transports the band from the 10’x15’ back-room
stage to Wimbley stadium. For classical concert pieces (Mahler’s
6th on SACD), the Trinaural takes you from the patron
seats and puts you directly on the podium with the director
(not exactly normal but is way cool nonetheless). With additional
listening, I am reasonably sure that I would get used to it and
would view normal stereo as overly flat/2-dimensional.
So I guess the bottom line is:
Would I rather have the stereo RM/X or the RMx/RM40 Trinaural
setup in my listening area? Luckily for me, that is not a decision
I have to make. As a dealer, I have to give demos and the Trinaural
is not something that can be demo’d easily or effectively. The
only way to really appreciate the Trinaural is to listen to it
yourself for a week or two (thus the reason I have two loaner
Trinaurals available for in-home evaluation). If you are in the
Austin, Texas area, let me know and I will come out to your home
and help you hook it up. If you are in most other areas within
Texas, I will likely be there in the next few weeks and will bring
the Trinaural with me. I will help you set it up and you can mail
it (or a check ;-) back to me when you are done. For other areas
of the country, send me an e-mail and we will see if we can work
something out.
For additional information on this product, please
feel free to contact us at Julian@sedonaskysound.com
or at 512-332-2907. Happy listening.
Julian Turner
