Hi Husk01, concrete (2nd floor apartment) thereon very dense, short-haired carpet. The feet are on the carpet, not on the concrete directly.
Showing 16 responses by karelfd
German forums, say no more ... I have once read an attack on Tidal, where someone - who had of course never heard the Preos preamp and had actually only seen pictures of its inside - accused Tidal of having plainly copied a Bryston preamp and selling it at a multiple of its price. Rest assured Mike, it's all there and more importantly it is true to life. |
Hi Fla, power requirement is a favourite theme among Tidalists. I have adopted the view expressed by most: "don't parch them!" It would be a terrible waste if you lost the beauty of what these speakers can do because the amp runs out of breath. I heard the Piano Cera in a fairly large auditioning room (still have a picture of that on my system thread) with 2x 140W (8Ώ) and I thought it was a perfect fit. Of prime importance is, those watts need to arrive "clean" and they need to arrive as fast as lightning to catch the dynamics that Tidals excel at. Having said that, when I still had the Unison S2K with its 2x 15W from 2 KT88's, I had to try my Contrivas with it, of course. From that experience only, I'd say if your room is smallish and the music you hear is mainly small combos or solo performers, be it jazz, folk, blues (great !), renaissance or chamber music, I believe a pair of SET 300B's or 845's can take you to nirvana. Don't take my word for it, though, but do try to audition the pairing in your own room. Would be brilliant if you could choose from 2 alternative amplification paths, of course :^) |
Hi Alec, last year I had the occasion to compare quite closely the Marten Coltrane Momento with the Tidal Contriva (with other source and amps, but certainly no slouches on either system), so that is one number higher in the Marten hierarchy against one number lower in the Tidal hierarchy. I had noted my detailed impressions in a thread that was deleted meanwhile, but the key differences were that the less expensive Contrivas showed better homogeneity and Marten couldn't hide traces of ceramic hardness, dare I say "grain". Mind you, Marten makes great speakers. But it is the seamless coherence and see-through capacity that sets Tidal apart: you hear music, understand the musician's emotional state, as opposed to hearing (good) gear reproducing music. It is indeed the "magic" that Tbg mentioned that makes all the difference, just uncanny! |
Kw13, once you're caught there is no going back. And that has nothing to do with having read threads like this one on the subject. I take my own case as an example, but you can also read a number of other people's stories that didn't even know the name until they heard them for the first time, immediately fell for them and were prepared to break the bank to get them in their system as soon as possible. The unfortunate bit in that last statement is the "didn't even know the name", unfortunate for an interested audiophile, that is. As you correctly pointed out, there are very few reviews. John Potis's review on the Piano (classic) on 6moons probably was the first major one. In their native Germany, there are none at all until this day. Let's just assume this has nothing to do with systematically ignoring the brand for fear it might ravage some existing elite (well...) but only with inexistent advertisement budget (I've seen one ad by the dealer and I do read a lot) and extremely thin dealer network in Germany. As pointed out by the previous posters, these speakers are in fact made on order. In any case, that is why it is so important that at least these "love fest" threads exist: grassroots information upon which everyone can then either continue to read, search, attend show performances, audition ... or not (this is not religion, we're not here to convert anyone). Sadly, the content of these threads must also tell you something about prices that are to be expected. Let's be realistic, to achieve Tidal's quality benchmarks in terms of sonics and build quality, research, custom made parts, craftsmanship all have a price ticket. Very unfortunate for all of us, rest assured I couldn' t agree more, but we all know other examples of that. Outside of Germany, add shipment cost, distributor's (healthy) margins and their advertisement outlay. And since there is nothing to be found in the used market ... Will these speakers be bettered as you suspect? Well, other people already have elected another own best anyway, and Tidal aficionados (or cognoscenti, if you like ;^)) may find future Tidal series to outshine today's one day. As per today however, you have stated the most important thing: find a way to hear them and be the judge yourself. Warning: you may find yourself wanting to have some and even relativize the price (in all honesty, I've heard more expensive speakers that didn't stand a chance). Hope you find an opportunity to listen soon! |
Kw13, your description of the change reminds me of something we experienced with the Contrivas after the wall to wall carpet had been renewed in the listening room. In this case, it took two sets of Harmonix RF-999 MT tuning feet to cross the line back from "plain" good to the uniquely emotionally laden performance that had put us flat on our back before. Far from claiming Harmonix feet are the remedy for all, it is one example of "small cause, big effect", so I'm with Tbg in pondering the suspicion the dealer may have tweaked (even a little bit) too much. |
Tbg, my previous generation Contrivas came with plain spikes that I'm still using in combination with the Harmonix tuning feet to my full satisfaction, I'm happy to say. I do believe, meanwhile, Tidals come with their weight optimized proprietary steel isolator feet, as a regular customary accessory that is (the shiny cylindric feet you can see on some photographs on the website). So I wonder, are these the ones the US distributor actually sold optionally or yet something else? |
Dear Pramod, even from a distance of some 9,000 km, I think I can relate to the joy and excitement you describe. And "it" will happen again each time you'll listen to your system, correction: to the real people performing real music by means of your system; you'll find yourself immersed in music and utterly involved with the artist's emotional expression. Blissful. Enjoy, my friend! |
Mike, I have not really tried to toe in much more than where my speakers are now (Contrivas are HEAVY to manoeuvre with). Where they are now is where the soundstage feels correct in width as well as depth for all sorts of different recordings from solitary poet with a guitar to jazz combo in a cellar or Yes's full menagerie of instruments, and from a Fazioli to full assault philharmonics. That indeed was the main difference with less or no toe-in. Also, my speakers still have non ceramic woofers and the correct toe-in is where the "crease" (grossly exaggerated term used only to get the idea across) between materials disappeared. Importantly, as you guys already pointed out, there is also the saturation of the sound that unmistakably falls in place. |
Tbg, I have B.M.C. on the radar (I have been interested in their CDP/DAC) but have not found the opportunity to hear their products yet. Pricewise, they look almost too good to be true, IF they can deliver what they promise. May take some time, but I'll revert to this. Meanwhile, here's the catalogue B.M.C. |