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TAD Rocks Big Time

Some people in the Audio Industry are just consistently stars. Every time I have a question for Paul Grzybek, he answers instantaneously. Always practical, always helpful. He makes an amazing product. I put the TAD 150 Signature preamp up there as the biggest bargain I have ever bought in my 40-odd years of audio. But there is another point to this thread: if you buy a quality audio product, such as this, believe the seller. I thought I would improve the already great sound, as we nuts tend to do, by buying very expensive NOS 12AT7 tubes to replace the stock ones. Mistake. One bad tube, overall sounded worse than the stock ones. Asked Paul. Told me that the stock ones took him 3 years of research to uncover and they were sleepers, but mighty good. He is dead right. Took me a few hundred dollars to believe him. Advice to the rest of you: Believe the vendor when he's as decent and straight as Paul. More money is not always better. Duh, trite, but worth re-iterating.
springbok10
eagleman6722
217 posts
 
I echo the praise of Springbok. I have had the Pre, the TAD 60 and now the TAD125. His products do not seem to have any sonic character of their own. They seem to take on the sound of the tubes , ICs PCs, CD players, or speakers. The character that they do seem to have is a huge sountstage, pinpoint imaging, and tireless souund.
Paul does respond very quickly even when he is n vacation. His stuff beat Audio Research, McCormack, and D-sonic 525 watt amp in my system.
springbok10 OP
711 posts
 
Unfortunately, Paul told me I bought his last one. You will have to find a used one. I mate mine with the TAD 1000 monoblocs, but formerly used the TAD 60, which is equally good! I have also used it with Moscodes, Nuforce and they all mate equally well. I compared it with the Aesthetix Calypso, which I also own, and it is probably as good, despite the 4-5 X price differential. For about $750 used, this is an incredible bargain, particularly since the stock tubes are so good. Usually one has to replace stock tubes, so this is a further saving. If paul could figure out a way to have it built again, he'll make a killing, although he'll have to raise the price, since this piece is so outstanding.
btaudio
13 posts
 
It is a sad day. The world has lost Paul Grzybek. He died on March 20, 2012. Paul was always jovial, always there for me via email whenever I had any questions. His design talents were first rate. His Fisher restorations were astounding. He will be sorely missed for he was not only a professional, he became a friend who shared bits of his daily life as any friend would. He is sorely missed. RIP, my friend.

Obituary at -

http://williams-kampp.com/_mgxroot/page_10780.php
bdgregory
1,714 posts
 
oh no. What a loss - he was only 48. RIP Paul, and thanks for everything.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,295 posts
 
Very sad to hear that.

I asked him a question only once and he did respond promptly as advertised.

Did not know the man personally but beyond his talents he seemed to be one of those good people who just wanted to do things right and generally succeeded.

Its neat that his creations will continue to provide musical enjoyment for their users and keep the actual person who designed them, not just a company or device, in people's minds. A nice legacy!
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