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Process for Tri-Center

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Posted on November 1, 2015 at 23:59:32
ASExplorer
Audiophile

Posts: 102
Location: Austin, Tx
Joined: January 28, 2002
 Anyone try the Tri-Center with something other than a Bryston SP as the processor? I was originally thinking of going that route since that was the recommended unit from Wendell, but my jaw dropped at the price tag. I honestly thought it would be less than half the MSRP of close to $9.5k.

A Krell Foundation seems like a steal at 2/3 the price, which is still in my mind unbelievably expensive.
How about an NAD Masters Series M17? (Happens to be sold by my local Maggie dealer)
Anyone try a Emotiva XMC-1? Is it even in the same ballpark?

My Onkyo receiver was one of the ones that was hit by the HDMI board bug so I'm thinking of replacing it anyway (http://www.uk.onkyo.com/en/articles/customer-care-program-119261.html).

 

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RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 2, 2015 at 05:55:43
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 I have no personal experience but Wendell has tried other processors and while they worked, he found that the Bryston was better for reasons unknown.

You don't need the current Bryston, Wendell uses an SP-2. At one point, Bryston was thinking of making the SP-2 available in a Tri Center version, I don't know what happened to that, but I checked Audiogon and you can get a used SP-2 now for $1000.

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 2, 2015 at 18:45:45
sd
Audiophile

Posts: 117
Location: No Cal
Joined: April 19, 2010
 I successfully used a Lexicon MC-12BHDEQ Processor with my tri-center setup for several years before I made the switch to the Bryston SP-3. The Lexicon worked fine and was a great pre/pro for movies, but isn't in the same class for audio as the Bryston. That being said you can now get a used top of the line Lexicon for about $2,500-$3,000.
SD

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 3, 2015 at 00:01:53
ASExplorer
Audiophile

Posts: 102
Location: Austin, Tx
Joined: January 28, 2002
 Thanks for the comments. I'm familiar with Wendell's recommendation, but as he says himself, they're busy making/selling speakers so they don't have time to try everything.

I am actually in the market for a new processor for HT and not just Tri-Center-ified 2 channel audio, so the drawbacks of the SP2 seem like they'd be too much for me to take. At some point there are some space/convenience concerns too.

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 3, 2015 at 00:02:55
ASExplorer
Audiophile

Posts: 102
Location: Austin, Tx
Joined: January 28, 2002
 Thanks for the comments. I'll take that under consideration.

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 3, 2015 at 03:55:33
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 That is a problem. I assume you've searched to see if someone else has experimented with different processors? Unfortunately, I don't think most audiophiles are in a good position to do that.

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 3, 2015 at 19:33:30
ASExplorer
Audiophile

Posts: 102
Location: Austin, Tx
Joined: January 28, 2002
 "I assume you've searched to see if someone else has experimented with different processors?"

That's exactly what this thread is for.

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 4, 2015 at 04:31:49
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 Sure, but the intrepid ornithologist is more likely to find that rare bird if he goes searching for it than if he waits for it to come to him! Only a few people here have tried Tri Center. So hopefully someone with info will show up but I think your chances are better if you do a search.

I remember reading one or two posts from people asking about using their existing processors but I don't even remember if they were here or on another group. If you can find some of those posts in Google you can query the posters to see if they had success.

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 4, 2015 at 23:17:56
ASExplorer
Audiophile

Posts: 102
Location: Austin, Tx
Joined: January 28, 2002
 Appreciate the suggestion, but your analogy is flawed.
The intrepid ornithologist gets the most data not by searching the archives, but by supplementing it with his own research and polling the community for new unpublished research. ;)

Most formal publications on the system are already several years old and used a demo system provided by Magnepan which of course came with an SP2. Most posts from user-owned systems are also from posts several years old which is plenty of time for system changes. For instance, I had found sd's old posts referencing his Lexicon powered Tri-Center, but I didn't know that he's since replaced it with a Bryston SP3 until he mentioned it on this thread.

I'm also way too busy at work lately to spend time on a phone call with Wendell during business hours right now, so I'm limited to off hours research.

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 5, 2015 at 04:10:21
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 Wendell still doesn't know of anything, he doesn't have time to research it. He said he's curious as to what you come up with.

Another possibility which someone else raised in email was using a computer with a high end multichannel converter like the Exasound E28. But where's the software for it? I've done some (albeit not comprehensive) research on this and computer multichannel software seems pretty limited, so AFAIK you couldn't do the processing for Tri Center in a computer without writing e.g. a VST plugin for Jriver or Foobar.

I suppose you could use an inexpensive processor with digital ins and outs followed by a decent multichannel DAC with PCM inputs, but even there you have issues -- the processor is probably going to have an ASRC on the input and chances are the DAC will as well.

This stuff is still very raw.



 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 7, 2015 at 22:05:01
sd
Audiophile

Posts: 117
Location: No Cal
Joined: April 19, 2010
 Yeah, I figured that when Lexicon cancelled its own updated processor project and started selling a rebadged Bryston unit, it was time to make the change and I'm very glad I did (notwithstanding the expense). The only other unit I had seriously looked at was the Classe SSP (although they now have a lower priced unit that looks pretty good in its price range). There are some other really high-end units more focused on the audio/video combination (like the Trinnov) but they are yet again more expensive than the Bryston.

One thing that is very important is to be able to set the speaker distances so that you can get the relationship between the three center speakers and the front L/R just right. I found after lots of experimentation that moving the center distance forward by 6 inches (by telling the unit the center was 6 inches further away than it actually was) made for the best sound; and it put the MMC2's exactly where they should be as they are aligned just slightly forward of my CCR.
SD

 

RE: Process for Tri-Center, posted on November 8, 2015 at 22:34:38
ASExplorer
Audiophile

Posts: 102
Location: Austin, Tx
Joined: January 28, 2002
 Thanks SD, that tip sounds like a super useful time saver.

 

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