Page 62 - 2022-08-01 Sound & Vision

test report

TRINNOV AMPLITUDE16 16-CHANNEL POWER AMPLIFIER

RATING

PERFORMANCE

FEATURES
Sweet Sixteen ERGONOMICS

VALUE
By David Vaughn

LAST YEAR I had the good fortune of
reviewing Trinnov’s Altitude16 surround
processor and loved it so much it
became a permanent fixture in my A/V
system. At the time, I raved about its
performance and, a er more than a year
of daily use, I can honestly say that this
16-channel pre-pro is one of the best
upgrades I’ve ever done in my theater.
So you can imagine how thrilled I was
to have the opportunity to mate this fine
specimen with Trinnov’s Amplitude16,
a striking 16-channel power amplifier
the company describes as a “perfect
companion” to the Altitude16—a match ICEPower class-D modules, which have relatively light, but there are still 16 of ’em
made in heaven, aesthetically and come a long way since Karsten Neilson in there.
electrically. The components share an invented the technology behind them The front panel of the amplifier is
almost identical brushed aluminum front back in 1999. clean and simple with only a power
panel and, as Trinnov points out on the The virtues of the design are bu on in the bo om le corner and
product page, the amplifier’s input sensi- embodied in the ICEPower label, a spacious LED display to the right of
tivity has been matched with the pre- which stands for Intelligent, Compact, center. The Trinnov icon at the bo om of
pro’s output level to “maximize dynamic Efficient, and Power(ful). Though the display changes color to indicate the
range and signal-to-noise ratio.” the details of how class-D amplifier state of the amplifier: red is off, waving
Designed in partnership with technology works is beyond the scope green means the unit is booting up, and
Denmark’s ICEpower, the Amplitude16 of this article, suffice it to say class-D white means the amp is powered up and
manages to squeeze two custom power is way more efficient than traditional ready to rock. Above, there are 16 LEDs
supplies and 16 class-D modules in class-A, -B, and -AB amplifier designs arranged in two rows of eight that show
a rack-mountable chassis about 5 in addition to running cooler and being the current state of each channel: white
inches tall. In my case, this one box can much smaller and lighter, all of which is normal operation, red indicates clip-
replace the two ATI amps (also class-D explains how Trinnov was able to fit so ping, and blinking red means the amp’s
but of the Hypex Ncore variety) I use many amp channels into a relatively protection circuits have kicked in.
to power nine of the 12 channels in my compact package. Even so, when the The Amplitude16 The rear of the amp is simple—and
7.1.4 Dolby Atmos setup. In case you’re Amplitude16 arrived, I was surprised the squeezes 16 class-D unique. First off, there are two AC
wondering (as I was) how they can fit 16 box weighed less than 50 pounds—I power modules into power inlets, both of which are required
channels in a more or less standard size expected it to be at least 100 pounds. a standard-size whether you’re running a single amp
component, the credit goes to those Sure, class-D amps are small and component. channel or all 16 of them. Second, there
are no RCA or XLR inputs. Instead,
Trinnov provides two multipin DB-25
connectors (a.k.a. Tascam pinouts),
which makes wiring the amp a breeze
(more on that in a moment). Then you
have the 16 speaker outputs, organized
in eight odd/even channel pairs that
run across the entire width of the back
panel, a 12-volt trigger input/output
and an LED switch to turn off the front
display. Finally, there’s a removable plate
covering the slot for an audio-over-IP

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62 August September 2022 soundandvision.com