TAD Reference loudspeakers-How good are they?

@knghifi, I wouldn't describe Vitus Signature series gear as thick and dark. I would describe the sound as natural/organic and harmonically rich, yes, but not dark. The SS-103 and SIA-025 amps are on the warm side in Class A. The Vitus RI-100 integrated however does sounds a bit dark.

Joey, $37k is $1k short of a pair of Magico S5 Mk2's which would kill the TAD's.

melbguy1: From what I learned talking to many TAD R1 owners, not unlike other speakers out there including your preferred Magicos,  the R1's performance is gated or blown out by the choice of front-end, interconnects, speaker cables, amplifier, etc....I have no doubt that the Be concentric driver whose tweeter section goes up (at least they claim measurement of) to 100 kHz will show the best and worst of whatever is driving it.  All I know is that with my gear and cables, on Day 1 when you (I) would expect the good and particularly 'the bad' to come out and hit you in the face, what i heard amazed me.  I believe I've got a good match of electronics and cables here and I've not heard any of the "harsh, harsh at bigger SPLs,..." type of of issues some have reported.  I just returned home after  5 days of holiday travels, speakers just crossed 141 hours; same deal, no harshness, no downside thus far. Very encouraging... One thing is certain from what I can see and hear with these speakers, throw sub-standard electronics and cables at the R1s and they will let you know it. Drive them with the right top-quality gear and you'll be rewarded (same as any speaker).  

I suspect that may explain what you heard.

Kudos on the Magicos; people say they that model are great speakers. Not my cup of tea in general for the Magico line as a whole,...but that's  what is great about this hobby...there are so many great choices out there!

bcgator & knghifi: Do you have systems posted here with pics?  Also, what amps do you drive the TADs with?

Pehaps I can add some perspective. I currently own the CR1’s and was a TAD dealer around 2010 (which was a dismal time in the economy). I would be happy to demo them in our large sound room here in Mahattan for anyone thinking of buying TAD’s.

I had the speakers on various amps, tube and SS (including TAD’s own). while they were excellent, it wasn’t until I paired them with the recent BHK-300 monoblocks (hybrid - tube input/mosfet out) that I heard the speaker’s real potential (I am a dealer for the PS Audio units).

I have augmented the CR1’s with Velodyne subs (in our own configuration) and super tweeter on top.

While everyone is partial to their system and the flavor of sound they have chosen, I hear very few systems that emulate live small/medium scale live music as this one. While the recent NY audio show had some great rooms (Magico/solution stood out) when coming back and hearing some of the same tracks as in the show, my augmented TAD system presented an entirely other level from what I heard at the show.

For background, i am a fan of Raidho, the Magicos (I have not heard their recent top models but intend to) and Soundlabs.

living in Manhattan and being part of a music scene, I get to hear live acoustic instruments played unamplified in home settings or very small clubs on a weekly basis. While I’m sure that there are speakers that do more in terms of hi fi attributes, (staging, depth, disappearing, etc) to my ear the tad’s (especially augmented in the manner I have done) reproduce the sound of live music better than I almost ever hear it done.

even before ore the BHK amps, I had a musician friend sing over a CRosby stills and Nash recoding (not even a great one) and it was shocking how similar her voice and the recording sounded.

i have played mainstream recordings that on other systems sounded poorly (while audiophile cuts on those systems were amazing) that the TAD revealed inner details that made these recordings into "audiophile recordings" territory.

I’m still in the process of refining the system (the Audioquest Niagara 7000 power conditoned which I sell) brought the system to another level. Currently I’m using incredibly cheap speaker cables and Mogami gold XLR IC’s so I know there is still a tremendous amount of information left to retrieve. (I had the Audioquest wel signature speaker cables on for a demo - wow).

while speakers are a personal choice and everyone has different things they listen for,
i have found the concentric driver placement with beryllium is my cup of tea.

I have heard other high end concentric designs (Blade I and 2) and a new beryllium midrange speaker from another company and none seem to do what Andrew jones was able to do with the TAD. I do like what I heard on Andrew’s concentric Elacs and have gotten some friends to buy them.
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