Trends TA-10.1 optnions/input

thanks larryrx7, i just upgraded mine to "mardis status," although i use the trends configured as a power amp. yes, the concensus (and my experience as well) seems to be that it is indeed sensitive to speaker cables, certainly benefitting from higher-quality. i use solid core acrotec (sadly no longer made) to very good effect.

adamj, do take the plunge and do the mods. audiomagus (no affiliation other than highly satisfied customer) offers great support, plus we on audiogon who have done them can help as well. you are correct in there being more performance "locked up in there."

Just wanted to report a rather strange experience with this amp. I at first ran with a pair of soliloquy sm 2a3 minimonitors thinking this would be an ideal match, considering the 11ohm impedence and 91 db sensitivity and the sound was very good but nothing exciting. So I decided to try it with a my spendor s5e's which are a much less sensitive speaker and a less favorable load to drive so I wasn't expecting much. But as usual in this hobby, things don't always happen as expected. In fact the sound I heard was much more detailed and coherent and I didn't hear any compression even at more than adequate volume levels. Can you figure that? I have never heard the unmodded version so I don't know if the upgrade has anything to do with this outcome.

larryrx7, i have no good explanation why an upgraded amp that gives a clean 6 wpc before distortion (at 8 ohms) shoots up can sound so good with your speakers. the upgrade gives larger tank caps but the same value input caps, albeit auricap. listening to the stock amp was serious cognitive dissonance for me. now that i've upgraded i don't question it anymore. i recall from my days in the military if an instructor couldn't answer a question as to how something worked it was written off to "PFM" (pure f*@#ing magic). my trends has some serious PFM.

I think the 6moons review mentioned successful results with 89db 8ohm JM Labs (and lab tests usually show JM Labs products to have inflated efficiency ratings). The tank caps in the Mardis amp *might* make a difference, but the specs on the Tripath website lead me to believe that you can't do much to improve the output power without switching out the chip.

Is it more likely that Spendor rate their speakers conservatively to ensure adequate amp power?... I always had them down as hard to drive too!

With the unmodded amp the difference between 90dbs and 96dbs was so striking that I personally wouldn't advise buying the TA-10.1 if you ONLY have hard load speakers... but as always, experimenting can prove magical!!

Well I have found out a very important aspect of the Trend..I just got off of the power grid and am using a 12 volt storage battery. I picked up the unit at Advance auto for 59 dollars and the difference it makes with this amp is jaw dropping. The tightness and depth of the bass increased at least 30% And the tactile sensation and presence also took a large jump. A layer or two of veiling also disappeared. So I guess the power supply quality is of prime importance with these amps. Has anybody discovered this or other tweaks with this amp?