first off (and no offense), but i'd remove the main drivers just to make sure they're the wide range version without a crossover. i've been fooling with this speaker for a time while i'm in financially lean times (and my attorney is not). this speaker sorely needs cabinet reinforcement/damping/mass imho. i've done some other tweaks to it, but haven't gotten to the cabinet yet. take a look at the GR research website to see how they dealt with the flimsy insignia cabinets with their mods. this is pretty much what i intend to try once i get around to it. i can only imagine that this would allow the speaker to better handle "heavier" music, but i guess i'll find out once i'm done :-)
Any way to mod the TAD-803's ?
Hi guys, this is my first post here.
I've recently (3 months ago) purchased a pair of TAD-803's at a low cost. I'm assuming they're the crossover-less design as they are certainly not the "new" model.
I originally had the 803's hooked up to an Onkyo solid state. I was in between amplifiers at the time and that is all I had on hand. As you can imagine, they sounded terrible...I mean really bad. There was absolutely no oomph, any musical complexity seemed to utterly confuse the drivers and as such I had a hard time listening to them, which caused me to develop a sense of buyer's remorse.
However, before my mid line class A amp got back from California (recall because of a faulty transformer), I ended up purchasing a completely modified Jolida 202a. I mean the V-caps, new resistors, cardas recabled, new (old) tubes, wbt posts, 50 watt model.
To be honest, this really made them sing. I've never heard acoustic guitar so visceral and real. Snares and cymbals have a presence that I couldn't imagine. Both male and female vocals carry an emotion so believable that I immediately dismissed my buyers remorse in favor of absolute satisfaction.
But they still have their shortcomings...
When switching over from jazz, light classical, and acoustic pieces to full orchestras, death metal, and rock...I am immediately disappointed again.
High energy orchestral pieces like Mahler tend to get... jumbled. The sound stage shrinks and the instruments lose their individual voices. The same is true for any heavier rock music, the sound just seems to get very compressed.
The issue is somewhat remedied by cutting out 110 hz and below (completely) and sending that to a sub...but there's still a bit to be desired.
My question to anyone willing is - Can I modify the 803's in any way so that heavier music is less jumbled? I've seen these "moon rocks" for sale, but do they really help? And would they resolve my specific issue? Other than that, is there any other solution? Perhaps one I can try out at home?
I love these speakers for acoustic and jazz, but I can't deal with shortcomings in the "rocking out" department.
Thanks for any response,
Rob
I've recently (3 months ago) purchased a pair of TAD-803's at a low cost. I'm assuming they're the crossover-less design as they are certainly not the "new" model.
I originally had the 803's hooked up to an Onkyo solid state. I was in between amplifiers at the time and that is all I had on hand. As you can imagine, they sounded terrible...I mean really bad. There was absolutely no oomph, any musical complexity seemed to utterly confuse the drivers and as such I had a hard time listening to them, which caused me to develop a sense of buyer's remorse.
However, before my mid line class A amp got back from California (recall because of a faulty transformer), I ended up purchasing a completely modified Jolida 202a. I mean the V-caps, new resistors, cardas recabled, new (old) tubes, wbt posts, 50 watt model.
To be honest, this really made them sing. I've never heard acoustic guitar so visceral and real. Snares and cymbals have a presence that I couldn't imagine. Both male and female vocals carry an emotion so believable that I immediately dismissed my buyers remorse in favor of absolute satisfaction.
But they still have their shortcomings...
When switching over from jazz, light classical, and acoustic pieces to full orchestras, death metal, and rock...I am immediately disappointed again.
High energy orchestral pieces like Mahler tend to get... jumbled. The sound stage shrinks and the instruments lose their individual voices. The same is true for any heavier rock music, the sound just seems to get very compressed.
The issue is somewhat remedied by cutting out 110 hz and below (completely) and sending that to a sub...but there's still a bit to be desired.
My question to anyone willing is - Can I modify the 803's in any way so that heavier music is less jumbled? I've seen these "moon rocks" for sale, but do they really help? And would they resolve my specific issue? Other than that, is there any other solution? Perhaps one I can try out at home?
I love these speakers for acoustic and jazz, but I can't deal with shortcomings in the "rocking out" department.
Thanks for any response,
Rob