Tidal Speakers owners

Bvdiman, personally I think the shorting wires rob the realism that caused me to buy the Tidals. I must say also that I use a Zu Method super fast subwoofer with my system along with a Synergistic Research Base Station in front of it as well as the two Contrivas. This made the bass the best I have ever heard, at least in my large room.

I know full well that these adjustments are provided to adjust to individual rooms and that personal experiences cannot really be shared.

I went to audit Marten Coltrane today, my friend is right, Coltrane and Contriva are two completely different animals even they use similar Accuton units and diamond tweeter. And they are in same price range. Physically, Coltrane is much smaller than Contriva, about 2/3 the size.

My friend use ASR Emitter I integrated amp for Coltrane, I heard Emitter once with other speakers, I don't know how much the electronics affect the sound, what I heard base on the combination, Coltrane is vivd, airy, EXCELLENT image. Contriva has been discuss enough in this thread, high density, a bit conservative in treble, yet all details are there, in its own understated way to interpret musician / singers' elaborations. Maybe sacrifice a bit of pinpointing capability.

If you asked me which one I would choose, haha , you know the answer, Coltrane is an amazing speaker, but it lacks some qualities I considered the most important -- involvement, maybe ASR is not a proper match to Coltrane, or maybe wires are not right, violin sounds awful and piano sounds artificial to me. The vocal and soundstage are defiantly in very high class category, but something is missing,,,..intimacy, yes, it is the word I want to use.

Quanmer, the diamond tweeters are supposed to be wonderfully extended with glorious air and decay. Try attaching the tweeter shorting wires, it will give you back the -2dB taken when un-installed. The highs of Contriva is not what I would describe as conservative, and in doing so, will also help image specificity. See how you go. Good luck.

Bvdiman, I attached them, but I felt the same way as Tbg, I prefer unattached sound better.

Quanmer, Tbg, in what ways do you guys find them better? Strange.. Could be the different crossover units used in our speakers. With mine, it's definitely better attached. Much improved extension in most smooth and refined manners.