retrodrive

I finally decided to go bling with my trunk and that is a lot easier to do if the equipment is very high end. I think I have mentioned TRU Technology a while back after I have first seen them at CES. The company is fairly new and they have already made it to pages of various magazines with 2 of their amps. The philosophy is basically to make most power and keep the specs on the amps top notch. To realize that in real world almost every component in the amp has to step up in ratings (triples the cost at best) to hang the same good specs with new output.
These amps are really not for everybody. They look as good as they perform; but they cost a lot too. I finally fulfilled my wet dream on amps. Now if I can can get the Alpine F1 headunit and processor I'll be completely satisfied with my equipment

The first 3 pictures is TRU Technology C7. The coolest things about these amps are solid 1-piece copper heatsink and BurrBrown chips and banana plugs speaker connectors. Also there are no crossovers and no fuse to keep signal/power pass as clean as humanely possible at that power.
http://www.cureline.net/lex/gfx/other/tru1.JPG
http://www.cureline.net/lex/gfx/other/tru2.JPG
http://www.cureline.net/lex/gfx/other/tru3.JPG

The other amps that I am running for subs are TRU Technology T03. These things are pretty cool on your midbass and subs. The first thing you notice is the impact that these amps provide. It may be due to power output but it definitely had a great effect on a few systems we tried that amp on. My amps also have a custom BurrBrown upgrade on them if I decide to use them on my midrange for some reason. I also liked the efficiency on those. My voltage stays higher on some heavy low passes.
Here are the pics of the amps:
http://www.cureline.net/lex/gfx/other/tru5.jpg
http://www.cureline.net/lex/gfx/other/tru4.jpg

Now the Hammer series is pure SPL. This weekend I witnessed my friend hitting 151.9 with 1x12 and Sledgehammer amp. His voltage went from 14.1 to 12.8 during his loudest burp which tells a lot about the efficiency of the amp. Besides the dude got ranked #1 in CA in IDBL. Check the pictures of the Hammer on the web site in the bottom of this post.

www.trutechnology.com



Specs on those babies:

CLOSING THE GAP OF PERFECTION
- Broad range 2 & 4 CH Class AB Amplifiers
- Power section uses discrete circuitry throughout audio path
- Dual Differential Pairs of complimentary input Transistors
- Hand Built by our In-House Engineer
- Burr Brown® Integrated Circuits in Preamp section
- Preamp section uses Low Noise Input Metal Devices
- 1% tolerance Non-Inductive Metal film Resistors
- Custom wound Power Resistors
- Tantalum Shunt Capacitors
- Polypropylene coupling Capacitors
- Matched components (Hand-picked by our Engineer)
- Proprietary High Frequency RF grounding techniques used for Improved Reliability and HF noise rejection
- Heat generating components mounted symmetrically on either side of heatsink
- Dual Variable-speed Fans to cool heatsink (C-7 Only)
- I.R.® HEXFET® Power Inverter devices for Efficiency
- Dual Hand wound Power Transformers
- Dual sets of Large cased High-speed rectifier diodes
- 40,000mf Capacitors on Rails
- Four individual Input Gain controls

Model: C-7
Channels: 4 CH
Frequency Response: 5Hz ~ 60KHz ±1dB
Rated Power: 14.4 Volts DC
T.H.D.: < 0.025%
4 Ohm RMS: 125W x 4
2 Ohm RMS: 250W x 4
4 Ohm Bridged: 500W x 2
2 Ohm Bridged: 550W x 2
S/N Ratio: > 105dB
CH Separation: > 70dB
Input Sensitivity: 1 ~ 10 Volts
Damping Factor: > 650
Efficiency: 66.00%
Fuse Requirement: 120 Amp
Power Supply: 11 ~ 16 Volts DC
Remote Bass ****: No
Bass Boost: No
Dimensions (L x W x H): 21 5/8" x 10 13/32" x 2 1/16"
Weight: 18 lbs.
---------------------------------

TRU Technology T03
EXCESSIVE POWER, SOUND, & DYNAMIC HEADROOM
- Broad range High CUrrent 2 & 4 CH Class AB Amplifiers
- Power section uses discrete circuitry throughout audio path
- Dual differential pairs of complimentary input transistors
- 1% tolerance Non-Inductive Metal film Resistors
- Matched Components
- Polypropylene coupling Capacitors
- Tantalum shunt Capacitors
- Ferrite beads remove noise from Input and stabilizes inverters
- TO-3 Metal case audio output devices (16 total)
- Heat generating components mounted symmetrically on either side of extrusion
- Proprietary High Frequency RF grounding techniques used for Improves Reliability and HF noise rejection
- I.R.® HEXFET® Power Inverters (16 devices) for Efficiency
- Dual Power Transformers
- Dual sets of High-Speed Rectifier Diodes
- 40,000mf Capacitors on Rails
- 18dB Hi/Low pass filter (50Hz ~ 500Hz)
- Variable Low Frequency boost circuit (TO3-2.250 Only)
- Remote Bass **** (TO3-2.250 Only)

Model: TO3-2.250
Channels: 2 CH
Frequency Response: 10Hz ~ 60KHz ±1dB
Rated Power: 14.4 Volts DC
T.H.D.: < 0.05%
4 Ohm RMS: 250W x 2
2 Ohm RMS: 500W x 2
4 Ohm Bridged: 1000W x 1
S/N Ratio: > 100dB
CH Separation: > 70dB
Input Sensitivity: 0.16 ~ 4 Volts
Damping Factor: > 700
Efficiency: 65.70%
Fuse Requirement: 120 Amp
Power Supply: 11 ~ 16 Volts DC
High Pass @ 18dB / oct: 50Hz ~ 500Hz
Low Pass @ 18dB / oct: 50Hz ~ 500Hz
Remote Bass ****: Yes
Bass Boost: Yes
Dimensions (L x W x H): 21 5/8" x 10 11/32" x 2 11/32"
Weight: 19.75 lbs.
---------------------------------

DriftGirl

iTrader: (6)

TRU is a good company with good people running it.

LS400

Good stuff retro. Tru Technology makes really great amplifiers (I mostly know more about the Hammer and Sledgehammer series - knowning me). It's true that they may cost a bit higher, but hey, you gotta pay to play!

retrodrive

Cool Em; I take it that you know 2 Johns?

Ever considered those Elim?

DriftGirl

iTrader: (6)

Via Email, John Yi

Yup, They are pieces of (Audio) Art Work

LS400

Pete, for the upcoming system, I'm looking at either two Hammers or one Sledgehammer. The subwoofers of choice would be Digital Designs (back to the greatness of SPL) or Treo Engineering (they're not shabby either ).

retrodrive

Sledge is about to get discontinued so choose wisely

LOTC

All you Audionerds hehe

Percy

Retro,

Do they specify WHICH Burr Brown part numbers? There's quite a difference in the lineup....

Side connectors for the speakers - the only other thing they could have done is use WBT connectors, the Topline series. Looks awesome though!

Caps - MultiCap RTX, Hovland and BlackGate comes to mine - these are extremely high end components. Maybe I could have them build a VERY custom amp for me?

Percy

Hypermagic

Retro, Nice stuff you have there.......

How did you do on the IASCA last week?

retrodrive

Percy, I can find out what kind of BurrBrowns go there. Better yet if you want something custom done or you need some info, call them direct and speak to John Yu. Tell him that Pete, the Russian dude, reffered you and he will help you out. His head engineer John Fairchild is very knoledgible in all of the amplifier internals and he likes to talk about them with people who can hang. Just don't start any conversations about aliens with that guy...he will mess with your head...lol

Hypermagic, I was on the show but I did not finish my system in time. Instead of parking outside I decided to park in SQ judging lanes and do some amp promotion:
http://www.cureline.net/lex/gfx/other/ampdisplay2.JPG

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

well, every other moderator is in this thread... when in rome

Looks great bro. I actually don't have any experience with those, but they seem impressive. I am trying to find an old Rodek right now for a project i am working on. Good luck with the system

amlin423

Retro,
Couple of questions for ya.
-Where can you buy these?
-Ball park costs?
-Could the 4 channel amps be configured into 3 channel? (2channel for fronts, the other 2 bridged for sub)
-You were a big fan of ARC, how do you compare these two brands? I'm looking to get the 5150 ...but these amps look pretty darn cool my eyes are starting to wander... unfortunately I'm looking at getting just one amp to power the mids and sub (i have a tiny tiny trunk) so I have a very narrow selection

thanks in advance
Andrew

retrodrive

I am still a big fan of ARC. Their build quality, service and design are very top end. However, they are not in the same category as well as most amps on the market right now. Brax and McIntoch would be a better comparison to TRU amps in price and quality.
The retail on copper series is $2500. T03 (which can be upgraded with BurrBrowns) is $1600 (or $1800). TRU is a very new company on the market but they have taken it by storm. You can buy those amps directly from John, the owner of the company; or a few authorised dealers (there are very few of them right now).

Percy

Retro,

Just spoke with John Fairchild - very knowledgable guy! He says that they're using Burr Brown 2604's, which is what McIntosh and Clarion use in their head units. The 2604's are known for their smooth sound, not like the NE5534's which come as "standard issue" with most equipment. I asked him why they don't use the OPA627 (12 bucks EACH) and he mentions that they were trying to to keep costs constrained and that they were trying to use a "industry standard" pinout for the op amps. In other words, dual op amps per package, rather than a single op amp channel per package. If you look inside of the amp, you should see two of the BB2604's near the preamp section. If they went the way of the OPA627, then there would be FOUR of them. That would already tag an extra 48 dollars to the cost of the amp.

I mentioned to John that McIntosh was the only company to measure at BELOW rated power for their distortion levels, and that they're power levels that they put out are quite conservative. John mentions that most companies will give the power rating at the 10% clipping level, just to make the numbers look good. TRU however, measures them at the 1% clipping level, at 100hz, 1khz and 10khz. For Mc, the measurement of BELOW rated power level for distortion is MUCH more critical and shows the actual REAL WORLD numbers. There's more grunge at the "below rated power level" than at the 1% or 10% clipping levels and Mc still keeps it at 0.005%!

John mentions that he's experimenting with the 7xx series from Analog for the input buffer. He's asked my opinion on this and he's incorporating some ideas of the chip numbers I threw at him. "Could you hear the difference?" he asks. I told him "definitely, especially with Dynaudio components". He was VERY enthusiastic when I mentioned Dyn, especially the ESOTAR series - John is a huge Dynaudio fan.

Nice to know that there's an engineer who will listen to the ideas rather than brush them off or not comment at all. (Alpine F#1 Status anybody? )

Percy