I got one some 6 months ago. A fantastic product which made my whole system sound much, much better. I have the fully loaded version with both digital and analog inputs/outputs, and besite the room correction feature, I am using the device as my main preamp. Remote control is a nice feature, it's so nice to change the volume level from the chair :)

Pity it does not have a possibility for phono input! Otherwise no real weaknesses.

Good value, considering what it can do. There is no other piece of equipment or upgrade that wil match the benefits of istalling an RCS

None

This really is a revolutionary piece of equipment. Immediate effect is to vastly increase soundstage size, but without making individual instruments or voices bigger. In fact they appeared slightly smaller to begin with. Sounds are more precisely located in space. Vocals may appear slightly less prominent because the rest of the instruments are so clearly reproduced. This can make the music sound louder and more complex, but actually sounds a lot better because absolutely everything is intelligable. The effect is most obvious with complex orchestral music where individual instruments and sections of the orchestra can be picked out very easily, but there is no sense of confusion or information overload; the music is all there. Bass can appear reduced because there is no room-boom, but this is easily corrected by applying a bass lift to the correction. The almost complete lack of room colouration has some other effects that are impossible to imagine without hearing them. Firstly you can very clearly hear the acoustic in recordings. If the engineer applies reverb then you can hear it with absolute accuracy. This makes the whole musical experience more beautiful...unless the recordig is bad. It is not that bad recordings sound nasty...just that they may make you laugh a bit! Next strange effect is on tranients; they sound very precise, starting and stopping more accurately so that the rhythmic element of music is better. No overhang on bass notes. A couple of warnings though. Don't go for a flat response because it wil sound very bright and harsh for most recordings. They simply weren't engineered to be listened to like this. Also, don't turn your subwoofer up to max and hope the RCS correct it and reduce load on your amp...yes it will try to do this but you may be left with nasty effects like port chuffing on the sub, or exageration of very low frequency thuds and pops in a recording. Much better to set up your system as well as you can and then allow the RCS to do the rest. At least this means that you can do a proper comparison when the RCS is bypassed. If you have a system costing $10-20,000 don't waste any money on upgrading speakers, sources or amplifiers until you have installed an RCS. It will produce such significant improvements that all these other changes [as well as power conditioniers and better cables] will appear irrelevant. For those with more expensive systems an RCS would still be worth having, but only if you have a good DAC to use in place of the one in the RCS. I have found no disadvantages to using the RCS in my system, apart from the amount of time that is needed to get the correction 'just right'. I have only just started experimenting and although I am happy with what I have done so far, I can see that I will end up experimenting with the RCS for a long time before I get the absolute optimum result.

The TacT RCS 2.0 is really a breakthrough high end component ( has been The "high end product of the year 2001 " in The Absolute Sound, and the " component of the year 2001 "in Stereophile ). Before using the TacT I was quite happy with the sound in my listening room, ( system: Bryston 4B ST ( now replaced by the latest SST version, a real killer amp you should try ), Sony SCD 1 and B&W Nautilus 802 loudspeakers ) and I was using various roomtreatment items like sound absorbers,-defusers etc. and painstakingly positioned the speakers in a way they can breathe freely ( almost 2 meters from the back wall. Then I tried the Tact system,using the supplied microphone and software to measure the combined room/speaker response ( not only the amplitude, but more importantly the time related decay characteristics ) followed by performung the corrections. The improvement I got is very very dramatic: a wider and deeper soundstage, much more openness due to the corrections in the time domain, more transparancy, more dynamics, faster, tighter bass, better focus. Everything became much much better, not only on the listening spot ( as many people believe ), but in a broad listening area!!!As dramatic as the improvements are in my system, I can see how the effect would be even greater in other systems because I have the luxury of being able to position my speakers where they perform at their best. Now I removed all the mechanical roomtreatment devices for these are not longer of any advantage, in contrary, Tact advises to remove these items.

It is the future of audio

Just came back from the hifi show in New York, and one of the most impressive rooms by far was the TacT room. What I heard was nothing short of unbelievable and corroborates totally with what the other reviewers here have said.

The TacT folks were using very good DALI speakers in one room and B&W 802s in the other. One problem with these shows is the small rooms most exhibitors are stuck with. This made it the perfect showcase for what this technology can do. They were doing A/B comparisons with room correction turned on and off, and the result was similar to what the others below have said. The sound immediately became more balanced, and each individual instrument or voice was better able to stand on its own. This is an understatement, but after hearing the room correction you really didn't want to listen without it. In fact, I think if every preamp in every room of the show were replaced by a TacT preamp they would have sounded significantly better.

This is absolutely the future of audio folks. I agree with the others that the cost of this technology will come down, but it may take a while and TacT has done its howework to execute this technology correctly. If not done correctly this technology could do more harm than good, so we'll have to see how it gets implemented going forward. I've heard Perpetual Technologies is about to offer room correction in their P1A and it will undoubtedly be more cost effective than buying a whole new preamp, but again, will it work as well as the elaborate TacT system? If I'm altering the sound I've worked so hard to get to this point I want it done right, and it's worth paying up for.

I can't speak to the quality of the preamp itself, but the dramatic improvement offered by the room correction is so overwhelming that it's hard to imagine it not overriding all but the most severe quality differences in basic preamp operation. My bet is once you try this in your system you won't take it out.

Tim

Despite the large amount of money spent on my system, this is the best spent money (and cheapest too)

Only if it offers state of the art A/D and D/A boards

Where shall I begin?
When I started out, my intention was not to become an audiophile. But I guess over the years, I have become one. And it's been a journey with lots of mistakes, money wrongly spent, and wasted way too much time. All that to find a well balanced system, a sound that I can make myself enjoy music of Mahler, Bruckner, Beethoven etc in my very own room.
I did get 'closer' to a point where I am 'happier', but close is never good enough.
I have asked for advice here many times before on how to make my system with more 'weight' but the result was still not satisfactory. My system seems to have a lack of energy in the 200 to 500Hz region makes music sound rather thin.
This is where the TACT RCS 2.0 comes in. As a 'purist', I never wanted to 'mess' with the signal. That's why I have never considered the TACT for so long. But I am out of options! I wanted to stop tweaking my system and just enjoy it.
My system consists of a Sony SCD-1, ML 360s, (soon to be a Linn CD12), CJ ART II, ML 33H, and Sonus Faber Amati. TACT, while not a cheap device, is the cheapest device in my system, by far. But yet, after messing around with the unit last night for a few hours, I am now closer to my 'ideal' then ever before.
According to the analysis of the RCS of my room, I was right. There is a HUGE lack of energy 100Hz to about 500Hz. A 'drop' of about 10db. And another dip in the 1kHz region of also about 10db.
So I let TACT does its job. After 3 minutes or so, the system is like a brand new system. Voices are fuller, mid strings can now be heard. The sound is so much fuller. Trumpet has 'body'.
And this only with one of the standard 'target curves' the TACT comes with.
It will take me a long time to find the right curve for my speakers and my taste.
Besides the more balanced inroom-frequency response (actually nearly flat), soundstage is also improved. The spatial enhancement is stunning. I think the enhanced spatial relationship and the balanced freq response makes the soundstage so much more convincing.
For the sake of testing, I got my USD1k Monitor Audio speakers setup besides my Amati and run the the TACT RC process. TACT does NOT make all speakers/setup sound the 'same' even though you use the same target curve. The charateristics of a speaker are still maintaned even though the in-room freq response can be similar.
TACT does not and cannot transform a poor system to a great one, but it can bring the best of your system to your ROOM.
I have been stubrron, doing it the 'purist' way. I think most audiophiles underestimate the importance of the room. No, I am not talking about putting spikes to reduce vibrations, or shunmook to absorb 'unwanted energies'. These tweaks, if any effect, will probably be inmeasurable. Room/Speakers interaction can throw your speakers off (no matter how carefully you place them, and yes, I tried all possible locations with my speakers) by 10db in any given frequency range. Digital Room Correction can so effectively correct any abnormalities your speakers might have in your room. I urge ALL of you to try this. I don't know how much I have spent on my system, but this is the best 4k I have spent.

(www.lam.ws)

It widens the soundstage, over the actual size of the room. The sound is much more detailed and the listening is fatigue free. It's truly fantastic.

none

The Tact RCS 2.0 is the best hi-end component I have ever bought. I have a very small listening room (12 sq.meters, and I suffered from reflections and poor sound. With the Tact RCS the sound has improved enormously. I recomed it to everyone. I am listening to my old cd's as for the first time. It is incredible.

It's like being _there_

Reality hurts

It was another hot & humid day in Singapore when my friend told me about the "Millenium Hifi Show" (argghh..I'm getting VERY sick of all these "millenium" crap). So, I went along (with my wife who enjoys good music),hoping to savour some really high fidelity sounds for S$5 (entrance fee) and I certainly got my money's worth!

I was in TacT's demo room, just in time to listen to Mr Peter Lyngdorf (MD, TacT Audio)who was there personally to present the Tact Millennium MKII and RCS 2.0.

The first thing that struck me was how "untreated" the demo room was! Half of the side wall was about 10ft run of floor-to-ceiling glass window, and the speakers are placed very near to the corners (isn't that a complete audiophile no-no?) Apparently they were trying to create a "worst-case" scenario of a typical home. They were even using very cheap looking cables.

When Lyngdorf turned up the volume by sliding the huge disc on the Millennium, I was going "gee..that's cool!" But what really impressed me was how good the sound was (despite the bare windows!) and I thought the harmonics were been reflected like crazy! At that point in time, the RCS was not activated.

Lyngdorf then toggled the RCS..and it was... complete relevation. I felt like I was "beamed" to a jazz bar with a live band playing. It was complete magic! I was at a loss for words. He then went on to do a few more correction-on and offs, and my jaws just remained..dropped.

After the demo, Lyngdorf explained how RCS calibrates the room accoustics with the supplied microphone placed at the listening position. The DSP chips in the RCS will then do the job of correcting the frequency aspects of the combined room-loudspeaker response and the time domain problems associated with delayed reflections and direct sound. Basically the PC is just used to run the RCS data acquisition software. It looks very user-friendly and it runs on Windows 95/98. (Hmm..wondering if it works on Windows NT/2000?)

There were many unanswered questions as Lyngdorf had to rush off to make a phone call back to Denmark. But I was pretty convinced enough to add that to my Christmas wish-list. But, I guess I'd have to wait for at least one year before I can fork out the S$6000+ for the RCS.

The best thing I like about the RCS ? No more unaesthetic room treatments and this piece of hardware will definitely score top marks on the WAF (wife acceptance factor)!!

I'm giving it only 3 stars for "Value Rating" as it seems like paying alot of money for a "preamp"..but it's really an awesome piece of audio engineering (hence the 5-star overall rating)!

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complete control over room response

programming software powerful but a little hard to use

I've used the RCS for about a month. It's been an educational experience - for the first time, I've been able to get my powered subwoofers adjusted correctly, position my speakers correctly, and throw away all my room treatment devices.

How's this work? Let's start with the room treatment (ASC Tube Traps). TacT recommends that all treatment be removed before applying the RCS. I initially declined to do so, since I wanted to compare the effect of equalization on the room that I'd already spent 7 years setting up. With the tube traps in place, switching in the Tact made a dramatic increase in soundstage size. Without equalization the soundstage collapsed to the width of the speakers, and the performers were all jumbled on top of each other. So, I take out the Tube Traps, and suddenly the soundstage size quits changing as much. With equalization is still clearly superior, as demonstrated by the Chesky recording of Earl Wilde playing Medner. With equalization, you could determine which row of the auditorium you were in, how far you were from the piano, etc. Without equalization it was a muddy mess, which is why I hadn't been able to play it all the way through before.

Next, the subwoofers. The RCS, with its associated PC software, measures the in-room response of your speaker system. This makes it pretty easy to set the subwoofer level and crossover frequency for "flattest" response, which was really +/- 15db in my room. My main speakers were running full-range,so I decided I wanted to cross them over earlier.
This is easily accomplished with the RCS - just turn up the
subwoofer level and set the crossover frequency whereever you want. Equalize for flat bass response and presto - electronic crossover. The Tact reduces the bass feed to make up for the increase subwoofer level, resulting in less bass to the main speakers and a reduced load on the amplifier.

The speaker positioning was pretty cool too. The RCS makes up for differences in distance to the speakers by adding delay in addition to equalization. It also shows what the delay is for the closest speaker. I was able to adjust the speakers for exactly the same delay by moving one speaker back 1 inch. This movement produced noticibly better sound,
even after re-equalizing for the same placement.

None of this would have been possible without the RCS. I consider it to be much more than just an equalizer. Taken to its full potential, it will replace your room treatment, preamp, digital processor, D/A converter, and upgrade all your cables, amps, and speakers to be perfectly flat.

Drawbacks are its cost, which almost seems reasonable in light of all it does, and the fact that you still have to correct for the source end of the reproduction chain. You get a total of 9 custom response curves, and since it takes the computer 30 seconds or so to reprogram a curve, it isn't really feasible to make corrections in real time. The best you can do is to make general curves - bass up/treble down, bass up/treble up, etc.

I keep thinking if only people had listened in the 60's when Richard Heyser proposed the "Audio Rosetta stone", we'd have it made. His proposal was that every recording begin with a calibrated sound (like a standardized toy "cricket"). If producers had agreed to do this one simple thing, the RCS could be calibrated all the way through the recording chain instead of just after the microphone input.

Results? It makes every recording sound better. Bad recordings still sound bad, but not as bad. It's easier to follow individual instruments. Placement is more exact. Good recordings sound really good.

It does produce one dilemma, however. There's always been the debate about "are the performers in your room" (which only works for small ensembles) vs. "are you at the performance". The RCS effectively removes your room, so the answer is the latter. However, it also has the effect of reproducing the exact sound the microphones heard. This means that for a symphony recording, when you're sitting 6 feet from your speakers, the sound is the same as if you were sitting six feet from the microphones making the recording. It's a little disconcerting to have a symphony orchestra in your lap, so to speak.

One last observation - the technology in the RCS will likely be rapidly price reduced. It is likely that there will be products that accomplish the same effect for considerably less money in a few years - including possibly built into mid-line A/V receivers. There is nothing significant to criticize about the execution of the RCS, hence 5 stars overall rating.

The value rating is more difficult. The RCS is significantly cheaper and more capable than most of its competitors. However, I can anticipate that in a year or two, equipment having the same functionality will cost half as much, or even less. Therefore, I'm giving it 4 stars for value because there will be better values in the future, but it's by far the best value available now.

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