That TAD ME1 price drop was brought to my attention last night. The recommendation in the past was try the Harbeth SHL5+ and if price is not a concern then the TAD ME1 is the way to go (a better Harbeth). That was when the TAD was $15K with stands today it is $10K with stands.
I just got off the phone with Mike Major at GIK and we went over the placement details. As I mentioned in some posts above I did not know what I was doing last night (but still got great sound) but he set me straight on what to do. The only thing remaining for me to do is the placement of the side panels using the "Mirror Technique". I will do that later in the evening once my wife gets home. I will also move my CD rack to the another area of the house and clean up that left side wall so I have more flexibility in left side wall panel placement.
Mirror Technique - Sit on the listening chair facing speakers. Have someone with a mirror place the mirror on the side wall and have her move toward you along the wall. When you, siting on the listening chair, see the left speaker, via the left side wall mirror, you mark that sport as a reflection point. That is where the panels for the side wall reflection needs to be placed. Then apply same technique for the right speaker.
So my thoughts a few weeks ago were to wait for the GIK treatments and listen to the room with my existing components. Well last night I can see that even with less than correct GIK setup the room sounded the best it ever has. The system sounded so much bigger and sounded like a fatigue free good system. That was one of the points of this thread to get fatigue free bigger sound. I will listen to this GIK treated room for a little while and think it over as to what to do next.
I can see now that for a stand mount I will not need DSP to get great sound. For the floor standers that I am considering (including the Yamaha NS 5000) I will likely need DSP and maybe more treatments. The ceiling and my closet are the prime candidates. Added treatments to the ceiling is a no go, for aesthetics and house reasons.
So other than the Magico A3 all speaker options I have listed in the past are on the table. The TAD ME1 is something to consider at the new price and considering the sound I am getting with the similar sized LS50’s. One advantage of the TAD ME1 is the ability to use one of those new relatively low priced, high quality integrated amps that are being released. I mentioned a few earlier. With a bigger speaker I am looking at a good DSP capable preamp connected to a good amp. I mentioned 3 preamps above. Both are attractive options in there own way.
My son is sick at the moment and I may not play music today while he sleeps to test the system. Though, I will post photos of the GIK optimal setup and descriptions of the GIK suggestions later tonight. GIK have more suggestions for the room but they told me to not buy everything at once and do it one step at a time. I maybe done with the panels since it already sounds good.
