# TRU S44 review



## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

I just had the pleasure of installing this little amp in my car. I spent about 10 minutes installing this amp. I've heard about the dual power supplies being that it is supposed to provide the system with so much power and headroom that the music wouldn't miss a beat. So in my first review I plan to hook my whole system up to it and test this out. I want to make sure that this amp could back up its claims. Tomorrow I will go back and install it bridged into dual mono mode as I orignally planned. My system consists of:

Alpine CDA-9887
Tru Tech S44
Seas Lotus PS165/1 ran passively
Polk SR12

I want to describe this review as unbiased as I can without sounding like a fanboy. I'm quite gitty and enthusiastic, so I will do my best. For one, I am not a firm believer of amps improving SQ but my previous amp was a Genesis Profile Four Ultra. A little backround on the Genesis, its a fantastic amp, I have and had no regrets buying the amp. The top end is good even for a class G, the midrange is smooth and unfiltered. Honestly I couldn't ask more out of an amp, and I was fully content at that point. 

I heard about the TRU amps from 3.5max6spd and I was a little curious, however not so quick to be swayed as I already had a great amp.

I have heard his car, and I have a pretty intimate knowledge on the evolution of all his systems and how they sound. So as I stated in his review I was quite tickled when I got out and I had immediately pulled to trigger to buy a TRU amp of my own. I have owned quite a few TRU amps so I'm aware what I'm buying. I have owned the prototype only 4 made C2, T4.65, T2.100, T4.100v2, and the T03 4.150, all have been great performers. I've also owned ARC amps, PDX, PG, many many other amps. I've even gave my honest review on what many would considered to be a POS amp like the Lanzar full range class D amp a pretty good review. I am in no affiliation with TRU and I have nothing to gain from this. This is my honest opinion of my findings.

Anyhow on to the review.

Within 10 minutes I had the amp installed. Wasn't too pretty, but I didn't care at this point. I'm only after how it sounds. So the amp is rated at 65watts by 4. I have the front channels in stereo, and the rear channels bridged to the sub. I had turned up the gain to about a little over halfway to have some respectable output. I did not hear any added noise, and there was no audible distortion. I want to push this amp to the limits, in hopes that maybe it will even miss a beat or shutdown. 

First track I played is Jason Mraz, I'm yours. Its a song that I know very well and listen to quite often. Immediate findings: Jason's voice tends to sound a little nasally to begin with, but not quite so with the TRU, his voice all of a sudden has an air about it that makes it sound 3d even, but easy to locate. The stage height seems to be a little below dash level rather than just above, but to make up for it, the stage width has extended past the side windows to as far as the tips of the sideview mirrors. The top end is smooth but not quite memorable. The noise level is non-existent.

Next song, I really wanted to shut this amp down or heard its flaws. I played Akon featuring Snoop Dogg, I want to [email protected] you. The song has low extended bass, the output of the bass due to the recording is obnoxious to begin with, which is why I chose the song to test. Anyway I turned the sub all the way up. My normal sub amp is a class d full range Lanzar opti which is rated at [email protected] vs the 200 watts @ 4ohm from the TRU. The output of this song from Lanzar is absolutely ridiculous and annoying loud. The TRU amp took the signal and it has put out an articulate sound. No where near as loud as the lanzar opti, but the midbass and subbass is quite behaved, well extended, detailed, without a hiccup, missing a beat. Despite the TRU being mismatched vs the Lanzar opti in the power dept, the TRU did a fantastic job sounding linear, uncolored and without getting warm. The amp did not shut down, get warm, none of my drivers bottomed out or lose potency anyway through the song.

Next, are a few songs from Ana Caram's Rio After Dark. I can't remember the songs that I listened to, but I pretty much flipped through the cd. Anyway Ana's voice sounds three dimensional with much air. Her voice was captivating, enchanting and a pleasure to listen to no matter what you use. The recording is rather old, but I was unable to hear any backround noise or hiss as I would normally hear in almost all my previous amps. The guitar play was very rich and full sounding, as well as subtle and playful. I had a few moments where I lost track that I was actually reviewing and critiqing this amp. I was enjoying at how the music has became soothing to listen to. I take that as a good sign.

Next few songs were from Tool Lateralus. In this album I paid more attention to the dynamics of the music and how my system would replicate it. The songs that were mainly focused on were Schism, and Parabola. Both these songs are dynamic, contained many complex moments where many things are going on, quick attack, and midbass. I decided to shut my sub off to see how well the midbass played, and to what detail they could play. The system reproduced the songs with realism, during the complex moments all that was going on were not blurred together, but still were able to be picked out separately. The midbass with the sub off was authoritative, detailed, surprisingly extended, and chest pounding. Something I wasn't prepared to expect from only 65watts off a passive setup. My speakers I normally enjoyed their warmer characteristics, however the TRU amp has made them airy, playful, soothing, and very dynamic. A quite wide range of emotions I wasn't used to hearing from these speakers.

After about an hour of listening I walked out with a **** eating grin. This is just the initial setup to see how well the amp would behave, and so far I'm thrilled and rather surprised. I can't wait to hear how this amp performs bridged at 200watts to each channel. I'm not by any means a guy who believes that amps can be a huge difference maker in fact you will see my favorable reviews on the cheap Lanzar Opti full range class D amps. Anyway with just a simple switch of an amp I gained so much. I have more for tomorrow when I bridge the amp. So far my love affair with my Lotus speakers has been rekindled. Wow!


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## azngotskills (Feb 24, 2006)

Thanks for taking the time to write out the review


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

skylar112 said:


> The songs that were mainly focused on were Schism, and *Parabola*. Both these songs are dynamic, contained many complex moments where many things are going on, quick attack, and midbass.


So are you saying this TRU thing you got made you feel "alive in this holy experience?"  

How about the double kick bass scattered throughout the song, especially right before it goes into straight distortion and Danny drops out. What ya say about that? 

And surely you kept going to see how well the system snapped during "Ticks and Leeches"?


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## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

FoxPro5 said:


> So are you saying this TRU thing you got made you feel "alive in this holy experience?"
> 
> How about the double kick bass scattered throughout the song, especially right before it goes into straight distortion and Danny drops out. What ya say about that?
> 
> And surely you kept going to see how well the system snapped during "Ticks and Leeches"?


Hey John, I'm in a residential neighborhood so at almost 1am when I was doing all this I felt that I will leave a lot of the more crazier stuff for tomorrow when its day light. I would be more than happy to oblige.


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## Class ey! (Jan 24, 2008)

hey mate is this review serious, whatt??!?!?


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## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

Class ey! said:


> hey mate is this review serious, whatt??!?!?


Hey "mate" why wouldn't this review be serious?


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## low (Jun 2, 2005)

thanks sky..is it a keeper?


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## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

low said:


> thanks sky..is it a keeper?


Uhhh without a doubt. I just got back in from a demo session, and am still trying to bring my jaw from my lap back up to my mouth.The amp is still ran in stereo on the front channels, and the rears bridged to the sub. The sub is still off, I dropped the crossover from 80hz 2nd order down to 63hz at 4th order. I am super impressed at what I just witnessed. I played the sheffield drum and bass second improvisation off of the 65 watts stereo. My doors are pretty well deadened and sealed but its starting to show its flaws right now. Man I need some vertex. And I think I will have to go back and provide a proper review for the Lotus set that I own too. I don't think my review was fair. More to come


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## Nass027 (Oct 25, 2006)

Great review Skylar.I was kinda throwing around the idea of trying one of those also,in a standard cab pick-up.Definitely not a spl type install.Set of Pioneer 720's and a 10/12" sub behind seat.From your brief listening sessions do you think one of the S44's would be able to drive this system to respectable levels? I'll read with interest your further updates.Thanks again for the review.


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## invecs (Jul 30, 2005)

Any updates?


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## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

invecs said:


> Any updates?


In due time my friend. I have all positive things to say but I want to enjoy the amp some more in bridged mode before I elaborate on my findings. Lets just say I will definitely need more deadening, and I thought I was done years ago.


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## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

invecs said:


> Any updates?


I have ran my setup with the amp in dual mono mode for the last week. As stated in my review on the previous page the amp performs effortlessly and with much grace doing so. 

At first I just ran the front and rear rcas into the amp, with the left side from both outputs on the left speaker channels, and the right side outputs into the right side speaker channels. My first impressions were not as great at the 4 channel setup. I thought that going this way it was actually more harsh sounding than before. I got on the phone and spoke to someone from TRU and I was informed that I had install the preamp inputs wrong. I was supposed to use a single pair of outputs and split that output with a splitter so that all 4 necessary rca ins sees the same exact signal.

I switched the rcas in properly with a splitter this time. My results were pretty astounding. I had adjusted the gains a little to get it matched up with the hu. Even with the gain about halfway up the noise level was still relatively low. Anyway the harshness went away, everything got smoother, the midbass tightened up, the volume was definitely louder not quite as loud as say some of the amps that I had previously that were bridged to 320-400w per side, but it held its own, and performed with more grace. Overall it was a dynamic and smooth sounding amp.

I used the same tracks as I did before to test out how these amps perform and how my system overall differentiated from before. Overall the system performed relatively the same but obviously with more volume. I thought the midbass before was very stout, but apparently it reached a height on the dual mono setup. My doors are not happy right now. The one thing that really caught my attention is the midrange. I've listened to quite a few high end home setups that consists of Conrad Johnson tube amps, Linn cd players, Thiel, and higher end Magnepan speakers. Listening to that home setup from my friends father I have noticed a quality that I didn't notice so much before. I've heard many midbass and even sub bass where it was so tight and control it had a push-pull sound to it. In this home setup there is the same type of push-pull discipline in the midrange. Where it was airy, clear, smooth, and well focused. The S44 in dual mono mode I notice that type of quality in the midrange as well as the midbass. Its pretty neat to be able to notice that in my car. After owning this for over a week, the luster is still there, I am still excited to listen to my stereo. This is definitely one of the best amps I've owned and ever heard. I'm usually a skeptic of amp sonics, but I have been convinced other wise.

This review might make me sound like a fanboy, but overall I'm a fanboy of whatever product that gives me the results that I'm looking for. This amp has exceeded my expectation. Truly a bargain for what you are paying for. I have installed the SSLD6 line driver as well. And I will post an update for that integration into my system as well. Maybe even a separate review.


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## 3.5max6spd (Jun 29, 2005)

Nice to see you got the input configuration figured out! Should have read the manual   

If you have time, man i'd love a listen myself a/b the LOtus while tinkering with the SSLD6.


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## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

3.5max6spd said:


> Nice to see you got the input configuration figured out! Should have read the manual


riiighhht  





3.5max6spd said:


> If you have time, man i'd love a listen myself a/b the LOtus while tinkering with the SSLD6.


That would be something......man its just smooth, and dynamic. A true pleasure to listen to.


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## burnurass (Jun 27, 2007)

wow you got the line driver also...seems like everyone is getting it. Chu you gonna be in Central Jersey saturday? I have yet to pick mine up from manny.. (sat. I promise!)  

I've gone through 3 generations of AVN's...soon to be 4 and I've had a slight noise floor and everything I have tried has not worked. I'm stoked that Manny got great results with his and finally eliminated his noise. DEF. looking forward to auditioning it on saturday. Definately excited as I have the same car as Manny and hope to expect similar results. I've always wanted to get just a little bit more sound outta the dyn's with my DLS amp...I think this will be the solution. We'll see this weekend.


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## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

burnurass said:


> Chu you gonna be in Central Jersey saturday?


Could be possible, I might be up in that area.


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## burnurass (Jun 27, 2007)

skylar112 said:


> Could be possible, I might be up in that area.


oh yeah? niiiice. Well hopefully see you around.


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## drocpsu (May 3, 2005)

Good Review Chu. I'd love to hear your new setup. I like using Jason Mraz' I'm Yours for tuning as well. The simplicity of the song makes it great for playing with imaging and dialing down harshness in vocals.


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