TAD R-1's VS Yamaha NS F901's

Audio_Karma

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Sep 24, 2012
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Have you all seen this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6V8BOrrjGg

They start out by playing some music with the TAD R-1's and then 21 minutes into the video the guy comes on stage and puts his hand on top of the Yamaha speakers letting you know they switched to the Yamaha speakers.

When they switched speakers, the Yamaha speakers do sound better in this video !
 

FrantzM

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Apr 20, 2010
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Here's more info on these speakers

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audi...oava/ns-f901_w/?mode=model#tab=product_lineup

I'm going wait until later on this year when these speakers go on closeout to get the best price on them.

Page not found reply from Yamaha website. CLICK HERE FOR a working link. Amazon has them

Interesting push from Japanese companies. And before we pooh-pohh them remember they have the chops: TAD is after all Pioneer, Esoteric is Teac... Yamaha has proven they can produce serious products in the past, Sony has made some noise with their speakers, Denon , etc ... Could it be a revival ?
 

Audio_Karma

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Sep 24, 2012
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Now your not going hear a difference if your listening to this video above through your computer speakers but if your listening to this video with good headphones like my Audeze LCD-3's then YES! you can hear the differences between these two speakers.
 

JackD201

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If you like the Yammies, try to get an opportunity to hear Fostex' domestic MG Drivered speakers. They don't look like much but boy they perform.
 

Audio_Karma

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Sep 24, 2012
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Someone over on the Audiogon Forum listened to these Yamaha speakers and bought them after hearing them. He was raving about them saying he really didn't need speakers but after hearing them he had to have them. Go over on the Speaker Forum there and look what he said about these Yamaha speakers... Roguemodel is the one that bought these Yamaha speakers.. Did you see the speakers Roguemodel was comparing these Yamaha speakers to? WOW!!! No wonder he bought them!!
 
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Phelonious Ponk

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Jun 30, 2010
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Yamaha is also thoroughly capable of producing excellent DACs, pres, processors and amps. A fully active solution would have been awfully nice.

Tim
 

Smokin' Joe

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Jun 6, 2012
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Well l have owned both and at the same time.
Whilst the 901's are are great little speaker they are no match what so ever for the R1's.
Not ever worth bringing up.
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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Well l have owned both and at the same time.
Whilst the 901's are are great little speaker they are no match what so ever for the R1's.
Not ever worth bringing up.

No doubt, it's a ridiculous comparison imo. I've never heard an aluminum dome come anywhere close to a beryllium dome, never mind the TAD vapor-deposited Be tweeter... the Yammies are 65 lbs each with two 6.5" woofers. R1s 330 lbs each, 10" woofers... and on and on... Listening may be the only real test but there's simply no possible way the Yammies are going to come even close.

Not to say the Yammies aren't a great value for $4k/pair though...
 

Smokin' Joe

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The 901's are a very good speaker for the price, currently powering them with a Gryphon Antileon Sig power amp and Esoteric C-03X pre and they sound superb as you would expect.
Imagining and soundstage are very good with the bottom end missing some punch.
At the moment Im listen to my Gryphon Atlantis through the same system. I know these are a very good speaker but for the life of me l just can warm to them for some reason, (probably because they were a downgrade from the Ref1's) I feel my Sasha's were better sounding to my ears when l owned them.
For the price the Yamaha's do impress me more than the Atlantis. That being said, the 901's and Atlantis are currently for sale as my second pair of TAD Reference 1 speakers are due at the end of the month.
Truth be known, l should never have parted with them in the first place.
The Ref1's are an end game speaker for me.
 
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Audio_Karma

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Sep 24, 2012
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The 901's are a very good speaker for the price, currently powering them with a Gryphon Antileon Sig power amp and Esoteric C-03X pre and they sound superb as you would expect.
Imagining and soundstage are very good with the bottom end missing some punch.
At the moment Im listen to my Gryphon Atlantis through the same system. I know these are a very good speaker but for the life of me l just can warm to them for some reason, (probably because they were a downgrade from the Ref1's) I feel my Sasha's were better sounding to my ears when l owned them.
For the price the Yamaha's do impress me more than the Atlantis. That being said, the 901's and Atlantis are currently for sale as my second pair of TAD Reference 1 speakers are due at the end of the month.
Truth be known, l should never have parted with them in the first place.
The Ref1's are an end game speaker for me.

Joe, you might want to compare your TAD's to some Spatial Audio M3 Open Baffle Speakers...your never listen to "BOX SPEAKERS" AGAIN!! These speakers are a REAL GAME CHANGER!!...:b
 

DaveC

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Nov 16, 2014
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Joe, you might want to compare your TAD's to some Spatial Audio M3 Open Baffle Speakers...your never listen to "BOX SPEAKERS" AGAIN!! These speakers are a REAL GAME CHANGER!!...:b

That's even more ridiculous than the 901 comparison.

The spatials are also good value but it's an off the shelf coax driver bolted to a board, with a cheap compression driver and a cheaper horn. And dipole is no way, no how better than a "box speaker". Dipole bass especially sucks imo.

The truth is, nobody in the business has a mid/tweeter better than TAD Reference series. These were designed by Andrew Jones without financial limitation with the resources of Pioneer!... a serious argument could be made that the Ref Ones are the best dynamic speakers in existence.
 

Audio_Karma

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Sep 24, 2012
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That's even more ridiculous than the 901 comparison.

The spatials are also good value but it's an off the shelf coax driver bolted to a board, with a cheap compression driver and a cheaper horn. And dipole is no way, no how better than a "box speaker". Dipole bass especially sucks imo.

The truth is, nobody in the business has a mid/tweeter better than TAD Reference series. These were designed by Andrew Jones without financial limitation with the resources of Pioneer!... a serious argument could be made that the Ref Ones are the best dynamic speakers in existence.

Some of us find out after hearing open baffle speakers they like them better than box speakers and these Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S open baffle speakers are the best open baffle to come on the market... that I have ever heard and if you like a lot of bottom end then just get the top of the line Spatial Audio LUMINAS Statements .
 

Smokin' Joe

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Jun 6, 2012
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Some of us find out after hearing open baffle speakers they like them better than box speakers and these Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S open baffle speakers are the best open baffle to come on the market... that I have ever heard and if you like a lot of bottom end then just get the top of the line Spatial Audio LUMINAS Statements .
Lets just say I've heard for an extended period the Kyron Audio variants and after all the praise they are just not for me.

http://kyronaudio.com.au/#!kronos/kronos.html
https://vimeo.com/118888043
http://www.avhub.com.au/news/sound-image/kyron-kronos-loudspeaker-of-the-year-over-20000-398574
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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Some of us find out after hearing open baffle speakers they like them better than box speakers and these Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S open baffle speakers are the best open baffle to come on the market... that I have ever heard and if you like a lot of bottom end then just get the top of the line Spatial Audio LUMINAS Statements .

And some of us find out that OB speakers are not for us... Personally, I don't like them.

Not even close to the best OB speaker either... not dissing them, they are a good value as you're not paying as much for an enclosure and some love OB speakers. But c'mon, the comparison to a speaker that is among the best in the world isn't reasonable.
 

Audio_Karma

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Sep 24, 2012
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Lets just say I've heard for an extended period the Kyron Audio variants and after all the praise they are just not for me.

http://kyronaudio.com.au/#!kronos/kronos.html
https://vimeo.com/118888043
http://www.avhub.com.au/news/sound-image/kyron-kronos-loudspeaker-of-the-year-over-20000-398574

So your a box speaker kind of man....Yamaha is coming out with a new Reference speaker called the NS-5000 that will be coming out next month sometime. Stereophile is going to do a review on them when they come on the market.
 

Smokin' Joe

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Jun 6, 2012
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So your a box speaker kind of man....Yamaha is coming out with a new Reference speaker called the NS-5000 that will be coming out next month sometime. Stereophile is going to do a review on them when they come on the market.
Yes mate, I'm aware of this. I've heard rumours that they may be approx $15kAUD when/if they arrive down under.
I love my Yamaha speakers as you can see in the above pic but for that price they would want to be very, very special!
 

prerich

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May 21, 2012
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