Any experience with TAD speakers ?

@Lewinskih01,

TAD's prosound division is pretty much a separate entity from their home audio division, and the latter doesn't sell drivers directly to the public.

Andrew Jones of KEF went to work for the TAD home audio division and brought his concentric driver topology with him. He now works for Elac.

You might need to look at other companies such as Faital Pro for high output 6" cone mids.

BTW, in the years since my posts from way back in 2003, I did indeed become a speaker manufacturer and used the TL-1102 woofer in several of my models. The internal geometry of their compression drivers is not a good match for the type of horns (waveguides) that I use.

Duke

I've owned a pair of TAD 2402's for 10 years. I don't know of a better 2-way horn system. When you realize 2-way is as good as it gets (as you will inevitably do when you become a snotty pants speaker junkie), you know the x-over point needs to be set as far outside the mid-range band as possible, on either end of the spectrum. IMHO, IMHO... yadda yadda. I find that I will keep these for ever as long as I have a pair of Prodigy Martin Logans to remind me that they kick ass on the TADs with an x-over down at 250 hz. If I sold either pair, I'd simply lose my mind trying to find a replacement. My 5 YO prefers the TADS. My 18 YO Princeton kid prefers the MLs. They're both smarter than me.

@audiokinesis --

Just curious - were the 2401's sitting on the floor? If so, were you aware of the sound source being below ear level? Subjectively, how was the top end extension? Did they seem to have a reasonably wide sweet spot? Did the tonal balance change significantly as you moved off-axis?

Curiously, these were among the core aspects other I sought addressed when I decided for my current speakers. The speakers I used previously, Simon Mears Audio Uccello's (wonderful speakers, despite some caveats), could feel to emit a slightly "low ceiling" presentation due to the way they're physically designed, and moreover one needed to be centered quite precisely in front of them for the sonic image to snap into place. Once there however and sitting fairly low in the seating position, they soared.

My current, actively driven speakers have a higher acoustic center (when seated my ears are level with the point between the upper edge of the top 15" woofer/mid and bottom edge of the 90 x 40° coverage CD MF/HF horn above it), a wider sweet spot, a more uniform dispersion coverage pattern at the cross-over, and only one cross-over point (@ ~790Hz) vs. two with the Uccello's. A smidgen of extension is subjectively sacrificed at the very top end, but it feels cleaner and better resolved - no doubt also due to the active configuration. 

The TAD 2401's are most likely fantastic speakers, and I'd probably have them lifted off the ground some 12-15" perhaps.  

@dangerisland --

When you realize 2-way is as good as it gets (as you will inevitably do when you become a snotty pants speaker junkie), you know the x-over point needs to be set as far outside the mid-range band as possible, on either end of the spectrum.

There are no doubt different schools and pros/cons on the matter of the preferable cross-over point with a 2-way design. As an outset I would go with a XO-point that has the low frequency driver cover the entire "power region," which puts the XO at somewhere between 650-750Hz - perhaps better so nearer the lower end here rather than the higher ditto, or just somewhere in between. From what I can assess the XO-point of your TAD 2402's (congrats) is set around 650Hz, which could be close to ideal with the choice of drivers and horn. At XO at 250Hz might have other advantages, but as a 2-way horn design would be difficult to realize.   

I recently heard the Ref one tx. They sound good but not lifelike. They don't do anything wrong but on the same token they don't elicit emotions. I give it 👎😊

I have a pair of R1 MkII and they sound incredible. It really depends on the rest of the system but I think they are the most revealing speaker on the planet. I've had Vandersteen Ultra 55's, Evolution Acoustics MM3 and Apogee Diva Ultimates which I love but wow the R1's are insanely detailed and dynamic, startling. I've frankly had a ton of high-end speakers and these are the best I have ever heard. 

 

Rob