Best speaker in the US $ 30-45.000,00 range

Weseixas...You and I are only "sparing" now, since Frank has already made his decision and purchase - and that was really the point of this thread. That said, if you look here you too will see that no knowledgeable person would ever refer to this speaker as a "bookshelf" design.

You need to read about, understand and appreciate the technology behind their proprietary concentric driver (don't think Thiel - this is something altogether different)...TAS magazine doesn't hail just any speaker as, "...the TAD maybe the greatest stand-mounted speaker I’ve ever encountered if not one of the best speakers period..." see here

I thought they sounded extraordinary as well.

I'm just saying...!

Happy New Year to you as well!

Cheers!

_Ben

Frankpiet,

What preamp and amp setup to you plan to use?

Hello Ben,

I guess some have an issue with the term mini monitor, i would be interested in hearing what one should call the TAD1's.

Years ago, any speaker of such dimensions were classified as Bookshelf type, years later such size speakers were referred to as Mini monitors when placed on stands, coupling them to the floor, as opposed to full size monitors that were placed directly on the floor.

This was not determined just from the size of the speakers, but more specifically the tweeter height if placed on the floor.

IMO the TAD 1 are mini monitors , where the Consensus are full monitors and are floor standers, funny in the 60's my dad bought a set of KLH speakers, that were very similar in dimensions to the TAD1 and yep they were classified as bookshelf speakers..

With marketing being what it is , they (TAD) can call them anything they want, i guess ...

What about 40K Godzilla Monitors with optional stands?.... :)

Regards,

Ohh almost forgot ,

While i do read TAS, the fact that they do not do any objective testing of any kind makes there analysis very hard to swallow, when they sprout of their best of the best.

Hard data is very essential in determining good ears or good wine..

regards,

Bookshelf speakers , bigger than TAD1?

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1298727958