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Any way to mod the TAD-803's ?

Hi guys, this is my first post here.

I've recently (3 months ago) purchased a pair of TAD-803's at a low cost. I'm assuming they're the crossover-less design as they are certainly not the "new" model.

I originally had the 803's hooked up to an Onkyo solid state. I was in between amplifiers at the time and that is all I had on hand. As you can imagine, they sounded terrible...I mean really bad. There was absolutely no oomph, any musical complexity seemed to utterly confuse the drivers and as such I had a hard time listening to them, which caused me to develop a sense of buyer's remorse.

However, before my mid line class A amp got back from California (recall because of a faulty transformer), I ended up purchasing a completely modified Jolida 202a. I mean the V-caps, new resistors, cardas recabled, new (old) tubes, wbt posts, 50 watt model.

To be honest, this really made them sing. I've never heard acoustic guitar so visceral and real. Snares and cymbals have a presence that I couldn't imagine. Both male and female vocals carry an emotion so believable that I immediately dismissed my buyers remorse in favor of absolute satisfaction.

But they still have their shortcomings...

When switching over from jazz, light classical, and acoustic pieces to full orchestras, death metal, and rock...I am immediately disappointed again.

High energy orchestral pieces like Mahler tend to get... jumbled. The sound stage shrinks and the instruments lose their individual voices. The same is true for any heavier rock music, the sound just seems to get very compressed.

The issue is somewhat remedied by cutting out 110 hz and below (completely) and sending that to a sub...but there's still a bit to be desired.

My question to anyone willing is - Can I modify the 803's in any way so that heavier music is less jumbled? I've seen these "moon rocks" for sale, but do they really help? And would they resolve my specific issue? Other than that, is there any other solution? Perhaps one I can try out at home?

I love these speakers for acoustic and jazz, but I can't deal with shortcomings in the "rocking out" department.

Thanks for any response,

Rob
robxmccarthy
robxmccarthy OP
10 posts
 
After putty-ing the inside with special attention to the corners, weather stripping the basket ring, and filling each with 10 lbs of gravel... I can say that there's a decent difference in sound.

First off, contrary to what I thought would happen the bass was extended deeper... Now I can't attribute this to the gravel as more should have rolled off the bass but fixed the hump. Before the bass began to roll off at 70-75 hz.. now it begins to fall at 50 hz... This may be due to added weight, mechanically decoupling the driver a little with the weatherstripping, sealing off all extraneous air holes, or decreasing energy lost to the cabinet using the putty.

Secondly, the speakers can play a bit louder before breaking up. Not too much more, but it's still noticeable.

Thirdly, there's something different about the sound.. almost like it's a little thicker or richer, a bit less airy than before. This is the change that I don't welcome quite as much. It's not a big difference though, and I may grow to love this new sound, who knows.

Finally, heavier pieces have been cleared up a bit, most likely just due to the solidifying of the entire design, and possibly due to the hump at 90hz getting fixed (which tended to muddle the mid-range.)

I'll give it some more listening tomorrow once the putty has completely dried.
htrookie
12 posts
 
Rob,

Thanks for posting this; I just got a pair of the 07 version; just couldn't resist to try them at that price :)

Looking forward to your impressions after listening a bit more.
htrookie
12 posts
 
I've had mine for a week or so and they have broken in nicely; fq. range does not reach too low, but I am impressed with the accuracy and details in mids/highs. For strings, piano, and percussion instruments, this speaker is amazingly real. With a nicely blended subwoofer these things will sound as good as speakers costing much, much more.
The 2007 version is internally covered with some kind of foam. No moon or mars rocks added yet; I'll give it a try with gravel and see if the lows can be extended as Rob says.
hifisoundguy
630 posts
 
Put plast-i-clay modeling compound inside the speaker cabinets and on the speaker driver's frames.... http://www.avahifi.com/root/audio_basics/ab_index_complete.htm
musicdoc
320 posts
 
in addition to mass-loading the cabinet, damping the driver basket and improving the wiring, replacing the cheap and overly padded wanna-be nautilus tweeter with a hi-vi tn-28 gives those missing highs back. use a first-order crossover at ~9kHz, padded to your taste (probably between 2-4 ohms, as opposed to the ~150 ohms needed to make the stock tweeter "acceptable")
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