Any way to mod the TAD-803's ?

first off (and no offense), but i'd remove the main drivers just to make sure they're the wide range version without a crossover. i've been fooling with this speaker for a time while i'm in financially lean times (and my attorney is not). this speaker sorely needs cabinet reinforcement/damping/mass imho. i've done some other tweaks to it, but haven't gotten to the cabinet yet. take a look at the GR research website to see how they dealt with the flimsy insignia cabinets with their mods. this is pretty much what i intend to try once i get around to it. i can only imagine that this would allow the speaker to better handle "heavier" music, but i guess i'll find out once i'm done :-)

Rob,

You can't expect a 17" tall single driver bookshelf speaker to "rock out" at extreme volume levels. The Jolida 202 was designed with small bass shy low damping output transformers - to make the larger 302 & 502 better models. For rock or extreme bass heavy play the 202 is not recommended by Jolida. The 202 is the ideal weekend opera listener amplifer - not designed for teenagers.

the amp may be a consideration here, especially when pushed harder. (thanks reg for pointing that out) i'm using a 50wpc updated vintage solid state amp, but in stock form (which it ain't) it has a damping factor of >200 and ~200wpc dynamic reserve. even before i get to the cabinet mods i can rock out at moderate volumes (taking physics into account as reg also points out). you can't expect too much from any bookshelf speaker, but an iron-fisted grip on the main driver sure helps.

First, thanks for the responses.

Cabinets- I agree, the cabinets seem overly light. I mean extremely so. I haven't taken out the drivers yet, so I honestly can't be 100% on whether there's no crossover. I'll try some of those mods.

to Reg- Unfortunately, I can't help but be a tad bit offended by your post. I don't expect the 803's to be tower speakers, and I'm not referencing volume nor did I ever in my post. The issue is that on more complicated pieces the 803s start to sound muddied, especially in the soundstage department. Now, if bookshelf speakers can't produce full orchestra pieces with any level of believability...then the audio world has some progress to make. But I'm not sure that's the case. I've owned several pairs of bookshelf speakers and even tested a pair of Athena bookshelves with the amp in question and had a more "even" experience across all genres.

As far as the amplifier is concerned...to imply that this amplifier is incapable of portraying any heavier pieces (be it symphonic, or metal) seems rather ignorant. And your implication about the design seems to state that the 202 is made for an opera audience while the higher priced amps are better for "teenagers". I understand that higher priced products from a company generally perform better than lower priced products. But an amplifier is an amplifier. It's not like comparing a violin to a snare drum. The bass response is adequate enough at 70hz plus (a subwoofer takes over here). ("Bandwidth: 17Hz to 140KHz + 3dB; 0dB = 40 W 1KHz") And the damping factor is most likely above 10 which many consider to be the "definitely good enough point".

To further extract the amplifier from the situation- In the beginning of my post I stated that I originally used a 135 wpc SS amp known for having strong bass/midbass performance. Yet I witnessed the same problem among genres using this amp. Acoustic/jazz sounded acceptable through the 803's - anything heavier slowly sounded worse and worse.

Conclusion-
I may just be being too picky. I'm not saying that busier/heavier music sounds terrible. I simply mean that in comparison to the almost beautiful portrayal of simple guitar music or light classical / jazz pieces heavier music just sounds slightly more lifeless.

Rob,

Just my .02 cents here, but have you contacted Paul Grzybek yet? Since he's the speaker designer perhaps he might be the person to talk to about your issues with your TAD-803 and which mods to make that would "heavier" music less jumbled.