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TAD Reference loudspeakers-How good are they?

Just wondering if the TAD Ref 1 and/or TAD Compact Ref 1 are as good as some of the show reviews suggest, although a recent review did mention a slightly "dark" presentation, albeit state of the art sound.

Does anyone know if the implementation of concentric tweeter/mid is superior to that of KEF/Thiel, or perhaps the Berylium constructed drivers and/or crossover sophistication.

I'm thinking about the TAD Compact Ref One as my "final" loudspeaker, as I have a small listening room at 14 x 16; Quite expensive at MSRP of $37K. I would appreciate any and all opinions and experience with the TAD Reference loudspeakers.

Thanks so much!
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audiobrian
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Zephyr,

From what I have seen the S5 appears to have severe compression issues above 2KHz. So I am not surprised that the TAD (a reference speaker design) would make ones ears bleed if one was used to all that compression (congested laid back treble lacking the ability to convey true dynamics and harshness of horn instruments and percussion). In essence, a reference style loudspeaker is always more likely to sound harsh compared to more popular audiophile style speakers that can be kinder to the sound.
zephyr24069's avatar
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zephyr24069
1,241 posts
 
Thanks for your response; that is interesting regarding the other speaker. I had not heard that from the guys I know who own them and are liking them very much. Happy New Year!
melbguy1
1,438 posts
 
@Zephyr, i'm glad you've assembled a system which sounds musical to your ears. Tthanks for your good wishes. All the best to you in 2017!

@shadorne, You must be talking about the S5 Mk1, as respected reviewer Martin Colloms had this to say about the S5 Mk2's in his review for Hifi Critic -

"We also found that the S5 MkII could play almost impossibly loud with near perfect clarity and no perceptible hardening, textural crowding or dynamic compression. The most difficult and densely scored material was handled with sweet clarity and with particularly low fatigue, a strong indicator of inherently low distortion together with exceptionally uniform frequency responses".

zephyr24069's avatar
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zephyr24069
1,241 posts
 
Melbguy: Happy New Year to you as well!  As far as my system sounding musical to me, you can also add a long list of various audio fans who have had long and multiple listening sessions at the house so it's not simply just my ears thinking the system sounds good.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
@melbguy1


I was was referring to these rather embarrassing set of measurements for a SOTA mega-buck speaker. (See horrendous deviation from linearity above 2KHz - this kind of distortion is common in low cost speakers and is usually extremely audible - this example however is the worst I have ever seen. I don’t think this engineering error is acceptable in a speaker of this calibre or claimed repute. Maybe this explains the MkII to correct the errors of the Mk I?)

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1043:nrc-measu...
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