Here is an email from Jorn at Tidal. I was trying to decide on which model would be the right fit for me. I gave them my info. and they type of music I listen to (pop/rock).
"The new Piano Cera is faster, more nuetral, and just the better speaker. It sounds like a small Sunray. BUT: The Tidal Piano is so magical in my world that I would not hesitate a second to choose it over the Cera. In fact, the Piano Cero will show you a U2 album is a lousy recording while the Piano Classic will still make music out of it and does not need crazy attention to the chain. My tip, the Piano it is."
Jorn.
Translation, if you only listen to rock, and that genre has a lot of lousy recordings, the Piano Classic is going to be the best fit. However, for classic or jazz or a wider range of music the Cera is the better fit. |
Linkster, your right. My amp handles speakers very well, no need to mess with something that is working.
Calloway, congrats. What size is your room? |
Are the Cera's rated at 88 dbs? Correct me if I am wrong, but If that is the case, 100 watts from a high current amp should do the job no problem. |
I have a solid state amp, Modwright KWA 150. I wonder if getting another one and running in mono configuration would have any advantages or improvements or maybe that would just be a waste? |
Maxx1973, which Tidal do you have on order? |
The cool thing about the Tidal, and this was mentioned somewhere else in this thread and maybe another, is that if you make a tweak or a change in components, room, cables, ect...the Tidal's will display it. I mean all speakers will to certain extent, but with the Piano is seems like it is not the speaker signature sound that you hear, it is the rest of the system so when making a tweak or a better component change it can be very rewarding. My intention when I got the Piano's was to get off the Audio merry go around. Well, I'm sure I am done with speakers for awhile, but I had a lot of fun probing the potential of the Tidal's by making a lot of tweaks and component changes. The down side is I spent some more money. Oh well, I guess that is the sickness of this hobby. |
Hi Mike. I have the Piano Classic, which I assume is somewhat similar to the Cera. From my experience, it takes at least 500 hours before they come into their own. They will sound good up until that time, but they kind of take on a new life after that. The other fun thing is any changes made are really noticalbe. I have changed all of my components, cables, placement, ect.. to get the most of the Tidal's. What I learned is, there does't really seem to be a "getting the most" out of them. Their potential will be as good as the room and upstream stuff allow. |
Congrats Argyro. Now is he hardest part for you, I mean you got a taste the Tidals and now you have all of this waiting a head of you. Just know it is darn worth it. |
Mike, just curious. What is the size of your room? |
I'd say I listen at 75-80. Do you have a preference in music or do you listen to a lot of genre's? |
Sorry Argyro, but I just dropped a sub in the system a couple of days ago so I am still working on repositioning. I may not have to do anything at all, but either way I will post my measurements/position in the room. |
Sorry Argyro, you get to suffer the wait like the rest of us. We all had to do it. Enjoy that anticipation feeling. :) |
Kw13, I own the Piano Classic. Do you know if the dealer has the Piano Cera coming or the Classic? From what I understand, at least from Jorn from Tidal, The Piano Classic may be a better fit for pop/rock. Based on the cd's you brought, it seems like that is you music preferences anyway. I will admit, I wasn't enamored with mine at first. I thought to myself, I paid that much money for speakers and at the time, my WLM La Scala system was the better system in my house. The Piano's forced my to deal with the rest of my chain including speaker positioning. After a few changes, or should I say a lot of changes(and Money) the Piano's now are draw dropping good. Just amazing really. Such balance, warmth, detail, air, extension, ect.. it's all there. I can put on some crappy Romones recording, and although it will never morph into sounding as good as the good recordings in my collection, it will sound better than I have ever heard the Romones sound before. Good luck. |
Kw13. I sorry I should have clarified. My speakers are from WLM, not Focal. They are the WLM La Scala's. The WLM La Scalas are 5,000 new, quite bit cheaper than the Piano's.
In regards to the performance on genres like pop/rock. I have not done any comparisons with the other Tidal speakers. All I can tell you at this point is Jorn, the designer at Tidal listens to this genre, and he is keeping the Piano Classic in his system. He can have anything in the Tidal lineup he wants, but as he told me and the dealer via email, the Piano Classic is the right fit for him in his room and the type of music he listens too. I wanted the Piano Cera, it was newer and better overall. I mean it is the better speaker, Jorn admitted that, but he thought for me, it was not the best recommendation base on the info I gave him. I took the recommendation from the designer seriously and went with the Classic. He basically said it does a better job of making music out the not so good recordings in the pop/rock genre whereas the other models will show the sins. Like I said, I did not hear the others models in the lineup so for all I know they do a wonderful job if not better. Maybe others can comment, but I would not be surprise me if most Tidal users listen to the other genres that typically have better sounding recordings. |
Argyro. What was feeding the Cera's? Just curious. |
hmm. Mine did not have the amazing wow factor after only 40-50 hours. Sounded kind of mediocre to tell you the truth. At the time I was using an Audio Research REF 5 pre and a Sim Audio W-7. I was very disappointed with the sound. The thing is, Jorn said I didn't need to pay crazy attention to the chain to make the Classic sound good. I as mentioned before, paying attention to the chain and changing everything is exactly what I had to do to tap into their potential. Maybe the Cera is just that much better than the Classic. I wonder if I should have ignored his advice gone with the Cera in the first place? |
For clarification, now mine sounds absolutely awesome. But, I had to change everything. The Herron preamp was a major improvement over the REF 5 for sure. Yes, I do listen to rock, but I hate most heavy metal. All I was saying is my experience seems different from everyone else. It seems everyone else had an amazing experience from the the time they plopped them down. I didn't, I had to put some work into to it. In the end, it was well worth it, a lot of fun and I am very happy now. I don't see myself worrying about speakers for years. |
Great for you Maxx1973. Congrats. |
Glad to hear you have the Piano Cera Argyro. It is great your setup sounds outstanding from the outset. My Piano classic sounded good when I first got it, but not draw dropping good like you would expect from an expensive speaker line. I thought getting a great speaker would hide the other sins. I Addressed other areas in my system, and now I am in awe every time I listen. I still get sense of excitement to fire the system up every single time. |
So Tidal doesn't make the Piano Classic any more? I wonder why? Oh well. I just dropped a new amp to drive mine. It is form Aspen out of Australia and the amp is called the Maya. It is their flagship amp. It is a zero global feedback design and sound is outstanding. |
Indeed you are right, I completely mis read your post. Sorry about that and thanks for clarifying. |
Hey guys. Anyone else notice that Tidal likes to be turned up more than other speaker brands? What I mean is it seems like Tidal does not sound as good as other brands at lower levels but the higher you go Tidal sound quality improve exponentially(at least this is the case with my Pianos). My concern is I am hurting my ears without knowing it. The problem is my system lacks any harshness or edge so it doesn't strain my ears. The SPL reads generally 90-95. I wonder if louder is okay without the evidence of grain or harshness or is it actually the sound/decibel level that matters most? |
Okay this is weird. I just played two recordings and one sounds much quieter at the same decibel levels. 75-83 sounds plenty loud and pleasurable on Lloyd Cole but quieter on Concrete Blonde. |
I was talking about actual SPL, I use a meter and like I said one recording sounded quiet and dull at 75-83 and the other one sounded plenty loud at the same SPL range on the meter. For the record, I use a Iphone app. called Studio Six Digital SPL meter. |
TBG, shouldn't you have the sound meter in the A position instead of C? I had mine on C and that is the reason some recordings were sounding quit at the same decibel levels as perceived louder recordings. I switched to A and it turns out I can turn the quiet ones up some and still be in the safe zone. |
