Trinity PREAMP User manual

PREAMP
MANUAL

THANK YOU
for purchasing a product from TRINITY Electronic Design.
The TRINITY PREAMP sets ne standards so that discerning music aficionados can finally enjoy their most
beautiful recordings as if it ere the true to life original.
The PREAMP supports 4 balanced inputs, Polarity s itch and a discrete fully balanced volume control ith 64 1dB steps.
The gain is 6dB.
Enjoy pure sound reproduction ith our product.
Sincerely Yours
TRINITY Team

CONTENTS
Safety Instructions ................................................................................................. 5
Scope of Supply .........................................................................................................................................6
Transportation and Cleaning .......................................................................................................................6
Selecting the Po er Voltage .......................................................................................................................7
Connecting and Starting ..............................................................................................................................7
Wiring Up.....................................................................................................................................................8
Technical descriptions ............................................................................................................................... .9
THE FINAL MEASUREMENTS.............................................................................................................. .20
Warranty...................................................................................................................................................... 27
Support.........................................................................................................................................................28

SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
1. Please read this operating manual carefully and observe all the instructions affixed to the appliance or ritten in this
manual.
2. Install this product on a stable surface and make sure that nobody can trip over the cables.
3. This product should only be connected to a po er source indicated on the product. If you are unsure hat po er source
you have in your region, please contact your local po er utility.
4. Never operate this product near ater or ith et hands. If the product comes in contact ith liquids, immediately
disconnect it from the po er source.
5. To exclude the risk of an electric shock, please never expose the product to the rain or other source of liquid.
6. In thunderstorms, do not install the product or put it into operation.
7. Never attempt to open the appliance or repair it yourself. If you open or remove the enclosure, you may expose parts that
are subjected to dangerous levels of voltage. Any unauthorized opening of the appliance ill cause the arranty claim to
become null and void.
8. Do not allo children to play ith electrical appliances ithout adult supervision. Children do not al ays recognize the
possible risks and consequences.

SCOPE OF SUPPLY
The scope of supply comprises:
•TRINITY PREAMP (440mm x 50mm x 300mm plus 15mm stainless steel feet, eight 8kg)
•TRINITY Remote Control ( ith USB charging cable)
•TRINITY XLR cable (optional)
•Cotton gloves
•Cleaning cloth
•1 x Flight Case, eight: 13.5kg, dimension: 55cm, 46cm, 24cm
TRANSPORTATION AND CLEANING
Please only transport the parts listed in the scope of supply in the supplied flight case and use the supplied cotton gloves
hen unpacking and installing the appliances to avoid scratching the enclosures.
Clean the surfaces using the supplied microfiber cloth: immerse the cloth in luke arm ater containing no detergents and
then carefully ipe the surface hen the cloth is almost dry.
Never use chemical or a ressive deter ents.

SELECTING THE POWER VOLTAGE
The implemented ide-range s itched mode po er supply modules allo an operation from 100Vac to 240Vac. The t o
fuses on the primary side are placed inside of these modules.
CONNECTING AND STARTING
To install the PREAMP, select a stable, level surface directly next to the turn table so that the connecting cable to the tone
arm is as short as possible. Avoid placing the appliance in direct sunlight and never place the modules directly next to
radiators or fan heaters.
Protect all supplied parts from humidity and moisture.
Only ire up the components hen the device is s itched off.

WIRING UP
1. Disconnect the PREAMP from the po er source. Never disconnect any ires unless the device is s itched off.
2. Connect the PREAMP to the sources like DAC, PHONO and so on.
3. Connect the PREAMP to the POWER AMP.
4. Charge the Li-Pol battery of the remote control ith the enclosed USB-DC cable, if necessary.

THE LOW NOISE INPUT STAGE
The TRINITY PREAMP is based on the same architecture of the TRINITY PHONO. It uses the same extraordinary gain stage,
hich is based on 12 ultra-linear fully differential gain stages.
The PREAMP is fully balanced from the input to the output.
The TRINITY PREAMP uses 12 gain stages in parallel to reduce the input noise voltage by a factor of
12 3.5 10.8dB= ≡
The Gain can be set during the assembling. The regular gain is 6dB, other gain can be realized on request.
Another advantage of using 12 gain stages is that the load of the volume control is split to 12 gain stages. That means each
gain stage has only to deliver 1/12 of the necessary current and therefore stays in a Class A mode for all possible signal levels.
The DC servo allo s single ended adapter on each input connector.

THE VOLUME CONTROL
The main emphasis is then placed on the volume control, and its key parameter is to maintain sound quality.
Of course, for our premier product, there as no question of using a cheap integrated volume control.
Although customary potentiometers, e.g. equipment by Alps, Noble, or Penny & Giles, have a slightly better sound than an
integrated attenuator, only s itched resistance splitters produce a genuinely excellent result.
The quality of the volume control, of course, depends on the quality of the resistors and relays. As a result, the TRINITY
PREAMP uses special, application-specific, precision thin-film resistors, hich have a tolerance of < 0.1%. In addition, they
have very lo inherent noise and a very lo temperature coefficient.
Contrary to conventional volume controls based on rotary s itches or potentiometers hich have impedances ranging
from100kOhms to 500kOhms, the TRINITY PREAMP volume control has an impedance of only 600 ohms.
Such a lo figure is only achievable by the architecture of the volume control that comprises a number of cascaded, balanced
π-sections. A π-section of this type needs a source and a load termination. For this reason, this type of circuit configuration is
used primarily for high-frequency circuits. Since all impedances are matched, the driving source sees al ays the same load of
600Ohm independently hich volume is selected. It is essential that the POWER AMP also sees al ays the same source
resistance of 600Ohm. Therefore the sound does not change ith the volume setting.

Fig. 2 A π-section is a net ork that generates a kno n loss hen it is located bet een t o matched impedances Z1 and Z2.
Z1 represents the source impedance and Z2 the load impedance. The loss is regarded as the ratio of po ers and is
independent on direction. In the TRINITY PREAMP, Z1=Z2=600 Ohms.

Summarize – Volume Control:
The π - ladder attenuator implemented in the TRINITY-PREAMP has a special design hich has several basic advantages:
1. The input and output impedances are al ays constant, independent of the volume setting.
2. Identical, very precise steps are very simple to reproduce.
3. The band idth is in the Megahertz range.
4. The lo -resistance configuration guarantees extremely lo resistance noise.
5. The used hermetic sealed relays produce no mechanical s itching noise and have a long life time of 250.000.000
operations.
The 600-Ohmversion of the volume control also places special demands on the driver amplifier:
1. An additional gain of 6 dB is required.
2. The amplifier output stage must supply sufficient current since impedance is very small compared to traditional designs.

THE MEASUREMENT RESULTS
All TRINITY devices are shipped ith a complete measurement protocol and not ith some “typical” value published on the
eb page or in the data sheet.
What you see (in the measurement results) is hat you get.
PREAMP SN-007_GS
Left Channel Right Channel
FFT 1kHz

Frequency Response

Intermodulation Distortion

Total Harmonic Distortion vs. Input Voltage

Signal to Noise Ratio (no filters)

Volume Control 64 1dB steps (ideal logarithmic response)

WARRANTY
The arranty period of the Trinity PREAMP is 2 years.
•Within the arranty period, any material and production defects ill be rectified according to the follo ing conditions:
•The arranty period begins ith the purchase of the product and only applies to first buyers.
•A arranty claim is only valid if defects originating from material or manufacturing defects occur, but not as the result of
natural ear and tear. In case of justified claims that occur during the arranty time, e ill either repair the affected
component free of charge or replace it at our discretion. In so doing, e are entitled to also supply a successor model in
the interests of technical progress. Any further claims, in particular compensation damage of any nature, are excluded.
•The arranty period is not extended by any ork performed during the arranty period, neither for replaced nor repaired
components.
•Any improper handling or interventions by persons not authorized by TRINIT Electronic Design GmbH ill render the
arranty claim null and void. This also applies to damage arising from improper connection or use.
•The arranty excludes transportation damage that must be claimed immediately from the for arding agency (rail ay,
post, carrier). Any scratches on the enclosure or other visible defects must be reported to the dealer ithin 3 days.
•The provisions of the German product liability la and comparable foreign regulations remain unaffected, provided they
are inalienable. We retain the right to make technical changes in the interests of technical progress