This article is all about the unique technology inside Trinnov home theater processors and how they are totally different than every other home theater processor on the market.

Company History

Trinnov started as a company devoted to research in immersive sound back in 2000, just as home theater was becoming popular and long before things like Dolby Atmos had been created. The key here is the word research. Since the very beginning, they have been more like a university research facility than an audio company. They have never been about taking readily available off-the-shelf chips and assembling them into a piece of gear but more about innovating to produce something that provides powerful and unique benefits. Even their name reflects this focus. It derives from “Tri” and “Innovation” – hence, “Trinnov Audio” has always meant “Innovation in 3D Sound.”

What Sets Trinnov Apart

Before we dive into all their great tech, you should know upfront that Trinnov processors, being the best of the best, are not for everyone. Their prices start above where most other brands peak out, but if you are serious about your home theater, Trinnov is by far your best option. They have a software-based platform with a proven history of allowing for technology upgrades. In fact, they have always offered free software updates to their customers as they have developed new 3D audio software. And finally, once you experience the sound for yourself, you will hear why nothing even comes close.

They are also different from other products in that the setup and calibration options and flexibility are far more comprehensive than the alternatives. This is actually a good thing: it allows you to address problems in your room and offers an unmatched fine-tuning capability. You can optimize your system so much better than with any other processor.

After reading this, if you decide to consider a Trinnov for your system, we highly recommend contacting your local Trinnov dealer. If you are lucky enough to have one nearby, they will be invaluable in helping you get the most from your investment. Trust us: the difference in performance between a properly calibrated Trinnov and one done by someone with some experience can be night and day.

Should you not have a dealer nearby, Audio Advice has done lots of systems with Trinnov processors, including some with very high channel counts. Our premier theater in our Raleigh showroom has one, and one of our testing labs with a 32-channel speaker system also has a Trinnov. We have learned many tricks that allow us to extract the very best performance from a Trinnov-based system. At Audio Advice, we are hard-core home theater geeks who have spent hundreds of hours testing different settings, configurations, and calibration methods to figure out what really works. We have installed Trinnov-based systems nationwide and are happy to work with you if you do not have a good local Trinnov dealer.

Features & Technology

Now, let's explore what makes the Trinnov Altitude models so great. To us, it all begins with their platform.

Trinnov decided years ago they didn’t want to be at the mercy of chip manufacturers to get the best sound. You may not know this, but the implementation of immersive surround formats like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X Pro takes a few steps. First, Dolby or DTS will develop their system and send what is called the “golden code” out to chip manufacturers like Texas Instruments. The chip company, which only makes money when they sell a LOT of chips, then has to “simplify” that “golden code” so it can run on an inexpensive DSP chip that everyone can afford. After all, they have to make these chips work with all kinds of different price ranges of components. The home theater receiver and processor manufacturers then design their electronics around these decoding chips.

Trinnov is entirely different. Their processors use a powerful Linux-based platform—quite like the ones used by companies like Dolby when they create things like Atmos. They implement that same “golden code” unchanged into their software, which means you are not limited by a watered-down chip.

But the really cool part about their platform is that upgrades are a snap. You probably had to sell your old Dolby receiver when you wanted to get Dolby Atmos. Well, with Trinnov, when new formats come out, it is simply a free software upgrade! No more forced (or planned?) obsolescence!

Having such a powerful processor also allows Trinnov to do several things that are impossible with any other home theater processor. It all starts with their unique 3D microphone. Unlike other microphones you’ve seen with home theater processors or receivers, there is more than one. This microphone can determine the exact location of each and every speaker in your listening room and create a three-dimensional map of their placement. Other microphones and systems are limited to calculating the distance the speaker is from the microphone position. (Some don’t even do that much and ask you to get out your tape measure.) Trinnov discovers that distance, along with the height and angle of your speakers, creating that 3D map. As you can see from these screenshots of their interface, you get a perfect map of all your speakers.

Now, to capture this as accurately as possible, the microphone must be perfectly level and centered in your primary listening position. We’ve learned a couple of tricks about this process that help us totally nail it down so it gets completely accurate measurements to work with.

Once the Trinnov system has a 3D map of your room, it can apply some really cool tech. The first is their patented Remapping technology. We just love how this one works. Remapping looks at where the director intended audio objects to be located and compares that to where your speakers are actually located in the room. It then uses two or three of the nearest speakers to make the audio object sound like it is coming from the intended location. You can actually see where these objects are supposed to be on the Trinnov interface. The small yellow balls are audio objects, and you can see how they fly around the room. By placing them exactly where they were intended in a 3-dimensional space, the surround effect is at a whole other level than anything you have heard. We can tell you from personal experience that once you hear the improvement this makes in creating an immersive experience, you’ll get why we love Trinnov. And what is even cooler is Dolby, DTS, and Auro 3D all want to see the speakers in slightly different locations. Of course, this is not physically possible. But with Remapping, the Trinnov can place any sound where it belongs, regardless of the format. It truly is 3D immersive audio with intelligence!

Another major advantage of Trinnov is its Speaker/Room Optimizer. While almost all current home theater receivers and processors have some form of room correction, none of them can do what Trinnov can. They started researching 3-dimensional audio back in 2000. They discovered that the only way to get an accurate reproduction of 3-dimensional sound is when the sound coming from all of your speakers is perfectly matched both in the amplitude and the time domain. This means the speakers in your system should not only sound the same but also deliver all aspects of the sound at exactly the right time. In any home theater room, several factors are fighting against this. Even if you have identical speakers everywhere, their placement in your room greatly affects their sound. And should you not have all identical speakers, they will all behave somewhat differently.

Various room correction systems try to get this right, but they just don’t have all the data or processing power to pull it off. Trinnov is the only system that knows exactly where each speaker is from a three-dimensional standpoint. Trinnov has the processing power with the Linux platform to do what we feel is by far the best room optimization. The seamless, immersive “bubble” you get once this is calibrated is incredible.

Another advantage is how their Speaker/Room Optimizer blends your subwoofers with the other speakers. It’s the best subwoofer blending we have ever heard. If you have a lot of subs in your room, you can even assign which speakers should be paired with the nearest subwoofer, and their Optimizer will do the rest.

Once you run the Optimizer, it will set up your speakers to have as close to a perfectly flat frequency response as possible. The human ear, however, prefers something different, with a slightly boosted bottom end and some roll-off on the extreme high end to allow for what rooms naturally do to sound. This is where target curves come in. Using a graphical interface, you can set up the target curve you like and easily play around to hear the changes. Floyd Toole, when he was with Harman, did extensive research on what the human ear prefers, and the Harman target curve was developed. We typically use a modified version of this curve for most rooms.

We have also never seen a processor that allowed for so much flexibility in different types of speakers. Some of you may have played around with active speakers using external crossovers and discovered that using an electronic crossover is a big advantage over the normal passive type. Well, the Trinnov system can handle up to four-way active crossovers with complete control over slopes, frequency, and more.

You also have an extremely flexible pre-EQ section if you want to fine-tune things in front of the Optimizer.

Another really neat aspect of the Trinnov is its wealth of presets. Some home theater receivers and processors only give you one setting for your system, while some higher-end ones might give you four. This can come in handy if you want one setting for pure stereo with just the left and right speakers playing and another for full surround. Well, imagine having 29 presets! Think about one for that particular streaming service that needs more lip sync delay, one for when you want to boost the dialog, or one with less bass for late-night listening.

With special effects objects moving all over your room, we have found you will get a much better sense of immersion with more surround speakers. Most of us think that a 7.1.4 system is pretty maxed out, and these do a great job. But until you have heard a higher channel-count system like 9.1.6 and beyond, you really don’t know what you are missing. Systems with more speakers are especially effective in larger rooms where you would otherwise have larger gaps between speakers.

This is why the Trinnov processors start out with 16 fully discrete channels and go up from there all the way to 64 channels.

The first processor in the Trinnov line is called the Altitude 16. It initially supported 16 channels of decoding with 8 HDMI inputs, 2 outs, plenty of both audio and digital inputs, and 16 balanced audio outs, plus two stereo digital output channels. Trinnov recently upgraded its platform to support HDMI 2.1, and unlike just about everything else out there, you don’t have to start over to get HDMI 2.1. If you already own an Altitude, you just swap out the HDMI card. This has a hardware upgrade cost, but if you want to go to 2.1, you can keep your unit and get the latest for less.

One very cool feature they implemented with the Altitude was a software update that allowed the four digital output channels to be available for a total of 20 channels – for free! This lets you do a 9.4.6 system with just the addition of a couple of small DACs. For many home theaters, the Altitude 16 will be the ultimate processor, but for larger rooms, they have 24-channel, 32-channel, and 48-channel versions. You can expand even further with another 16 more channels that can be used for sophisticated bass management or lots of active crossover, for a total of 64 total outputs.

And speaking of more channels, Trinnov recently introduced a new technology called WaveForming™. This, like all of their tech, comes from intensive R&D, and in this case, it's all about getting perfectly even bass response for all seats in a theater room and controlling the decay time of bass in the room. They use multiple subs on the front and rear walls of the room to virtually eliminate any standing wave problems. This has been unheard of until now, and is mind-boggling to hear how much improved the bass is and how even it is no matter where you are sitting. Waveforming does work best with 4 to 8 subs or more, depending on the size of the room. This is where their higher channel count units really shine in larger rooms. And like all of their past software upgrades, even though this is a true breakthrough tech, the software upgrade is free to Trinnov owners.

As you can see, there is really nothing like Trinnov in the home theater world. They have proven tech that has been around for over 20 years and is not only used in the world's finest home theaters but also in recording studios, broadcast monitoring facilities, commercial theaters, and more. The unique platform allows you to keep up with the latest immersive surround sound with free upgrades; in most cases, even hardware changes can be upgraded for a minimal cost. Top it off with what is by far the best sound for home theater. The only question comes down to which unit is right for you.

If you are considering a Trinnov and have a local dealer, you should work with them to plot out the best speaker layout for your room, which will then help you decide how many channels you need in your Trinnov. For those of you without a local supporting dealer, our team of experts can help with the design of your room, and our design service can even provide 3D renderings. And we can then travel to your location to perform setup and calibration.

We hope this overview of Trinnov processors has given you some insight as to why you will always see Trinnov in the best home theaters. Purchasing a Trinnov is a larger investment than your typical home theater processor, but if you look at its cost over its life span with free software upgrades to access the latest in decoder technology and room correction, and affordable hardware upgrades when new chips are required, it is very appealing. But the real reason is the sound. We have never had a customer who upgraded to a Trinnov not be completely blown away with the improvement, even when they did not add any more speakers. The way it presents immersive audio is simply second to none!

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