Pehaps I can add some perspective. I currently own the CR1’s and was a TAD dealer around 2010 (which was a dismal time in the economy). I would be happy to demo them in our large sound room here in Mahattan for anyone thinking of buying TAD’s.
I had the speakers on various amps, tube and SS (including TAD’s own). while they were excellent, it wasn’t until I paired them with the recent BHK-300 monoblocks (hybrid - tube input/mosfet out) that I heard the speaker’s real potential (I am a dealer for the PS Audio units).
I have augmented the CR1’s with Velodyne subs (in our own configuration) and super tweeter on top.
While everyone is partial to their system and the flavor of sound they have chosen, I hear very few systems that emulate live small/medium scale live music as this one. While the recent NY audio show had some great rooms (Magico/solution stood out) when coming back and hearing some of the same tracks as in the show, my augmented TAD system presented an entirely other level from what I heard at the show.
For background, i am a fan of Raidho, the Magicos (I have not heard their recent top models but intend to) and Soundlabs.
living in Manhattan and being part of a music scene, I get to hear live acoustic instruments played unamplified in home settings or very small clubs on a weekly basis. While I’m sure that there are speakers that do more in terms of hi fi attributes, (staging, depth, disappearing, etc) to my ear the tad’s (especially augmented in the manner I have done) reproduce the sound of live music better than I almost ever hear it done.
even before ore the BHK amps, I had a musician friend sing over a CRosby stills and Nash recoding (not even a great one) and it was shocking how similar her voice and the recording sounded.
i have played mainstream recordings that on other systems sounded poorly (while audiophile cuts on those systems were amazing) that the TAD revealed inner details that made these recordings into "audiophile recordings" territory.
I’m still in the process of refining the system (the Audioquest Niagara 7000 power conditoned which I sell) brought the system to another level. Currently I’m using incredibly cheap speaker cables and Mogami gold XLR IC’s so I know there is still a tremendous amount of information left to retrieve. (I had the Audioquest wel signature speaker cables on for a demo - wow).
while speakers are a personal choice and everyone has different things they listen for,
i have found the concentric driver placement with beryllium is my cup of tea.
I have heard other high end concentric designs (Blade I and 2) and a new beryllium midrange speaker from another company and none seem to do what Andrew jones was able to do with the TAD. I do like what I heard on Andrew’s concentric Elacs and have gotten some friends to buy them.
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