Built for the love of music...

Mike Lavigne said:

yes, that would be excellent. and I hope it happens.

btw; your friend Rusty was here the other night and we had a great time. thanks for the connection.

Happy Holidays to you too!!

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It will happen, just wish it would have been sooner! Rusty had a great time, I heard about it shortly thereafter, great guy and definite music lover!

Have a good one,....talk soon.

jeffrey_t said:

Congratulations! The fit and finish of those speakers is beyond reproach. I've heard them many times at shows and they are consistently one of my favorites in terms of detail, clarity and ability to pressurize a large room. They do love power, how much power does your amp have?

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It's an Esoteric A-02, so power to spare into 8 and definitely into 4-ohms and below. May hit the Grandioso monos next year and will also listen to other candidates but from what I'm hearing on day1, the A-02s definitely can drive these well beyond any dynamic range need I have....

LL21 said:

Congrats...have heard your speakers at Pioneer Plaza (TAD's HQ) in Tokyo...fantastic stuff. Also like your HRS setup...big fan myself. Enjoy.

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Thank you! I am very happy with combination of the old Adona racks I have plus Composite Audio 2010 platforms (again, had these for years) with the HRS damping plates. They are a great addition!

sbo6 said:

Congrats, great looking room and system, you have the speakers of my dreams. I heard the TAD E1s at RMAF a few years back and thought they were simply fantastic at detail retrieval, dynamics, musicality and overall coherence. I understand the Refs are levels better so you must be in heaven. Enjoy!

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Thank you.....Happy Holidays to you and yours! They are definitely my dream speakers; I had been running through the top models and compiling specs, listening impressions, price/performance opinions, etc.. for quite a while. After hearing only Day-1 impressions before having to hit the road for the holidays (and leaving them up and burning in of course all the while) I am sure that as these break in, they will continue to reveal themselves as one of the world's best speakers. They seem to have everything that I previously had that I enjoyed added to by refinements that take me where I wanted to be all along. I think it speaks volumes that the design on these has been final for quite a few year now, no "best/new" model has emerged and people keep reviewing, buying and lumping on praise as a SOTA design. Much better I think than those vendors who constantly come out with new speakers that somehow double and triple in price and promise nirvana only to be superceded 1-2 years later with a supposedly better speaker. The obvious benefit to the audio-nut is that the investment made is more stable and not constantly undermined by the manufacturer rolling out new models frequently. All in all, very content and happy with this move and I'm sure will be learning new things daily for quite a while as to what they are capable of. Most of all I am looking forward to simply sitting back and enjoying music more with them.

Have a great holiday!

UPDATED: Current component, cable and tweak list going into the New Year. Furutech GTX-D (R) NCF duplexes and 105-D cover plates to be installed this week. Updated pictures with the TADs up and running occur a couple pages back on this thread....


TAD Reference 1 MkII Speakers w/Stillpoints ULTRA5 Footers & Spikes
Esoteric Audio P-02 SOTA Transport
Esoteric Audio D-02 SOTA Dual-Mono DAC
Cybershaft (Japan) RBOCXO-01 10 mHz Premium Rubidium and OCXO Dual Master Clock 120V US Version
Esoteric Audio C-02 Dual-Mono Preamp
Esoteric Audio A-02 Master Soundworks Dual-Mono Stereo Amp
Isotek Systems EVO3 SIGMAS Power Conditioner
Isotek Systems EVO3 TITAN Power Conditioner
Granite Audio Ground Zero Star-Grounding Station
Furutech GTX-D/R NCF Duplexes & 105D Cover Plates (3)
Cutler-Hammer, GE MLC and EP 20amp Dedicated Circuit (10gauge)
Environmental Potentials EP-2050 Surge Suppressor Wave-Form Correct
Environmental Potentials EP-2750 Ground Filter
Whole-House Ground CADWELD Kit & Dual Ground Rods
Adona Corporation AV45CS4 and AV45CS1 (multiple)
Composite Audio CF-2010 Platforms (multiple)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Large Damping Plates Silver (5)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPS Large Damping Plates Black (3)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Medium Damping Plates Black (2)
Stillpoints Ultra SS with Ultra Bases (4) under Cybershaft RBOCXO-01
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold Speaker Cables 9-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Signature Gold Speaker Jumpers (2 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR 6-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR 4-meter (1 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR 6-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR 3-meter custom (1 pair)
Kubala-Sosna ELATION 1-meter XLR AES/EBU (2)
Wireworld PLATINUM STARLIGHT v7 75-ohm BNC:BNC 1.5-meter Master Clock (Primary)
Esoteric/MEXCEL 8N-A2000 BNC:BNC 50-ohm 1.5-meter Master Clock Cable (Primary)
Kubala-Sosna EMOTION 75-ohm BNC:BNC 1.5-meter Master Clock Cable
Kubala-Sosna EMOTION 50-ohm 2-meter custom-built and EMOTION 75-ohm 1-meter BNC:BNC
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold 20amp 10-foot PC (2)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold 15-amp 6-foot PC (3)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Silver PC 10-foot
Elrod Power Systems Statement Silver PC 6-foot
Isotek Systems ELITE 2m Neutrik Powerconn connector to 20-amp
B.M.C. PureUSB1 5-meter

XV-1 said:

Lovely system, but where is the turntable ?

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I knew it was only a matter of time before someone asked me that!
You've got a great system from what I read in your signature!

As an old vinyl junkie (who lost a couple of TT, gear and a nice small collection of several hundred MoFI and other great albums in the mid-late 90s due to water damage in a home) who can still readily extol the virtues of vinyl and related gear, this system has become "NVR/NTTR" (No Vinyl Required/No TT Required). It delivers for what I'm looking for and more in terms of the best of tube-like harmonics and all the desirable things one wants from tubes together with all the best I remember and have heard from good vinyl in the last couple of years withOUT the undesirable (to me) aspects of tube gear, the obsession and cost of tube-rolling/tube maintenance, cost of tube gear big enough to drive the music I play often, the feeling/need to have multiple arms, turntables, MM vs MC options, tonearm cables, expensive cartridges (and multiple at that) and all the other things that I used to obsess over. Basically, I had to make a choice,...max out my digital->analog playback experience as far as possible or go all-in for vinyl and commit to that and only that. Fiscal matters alone dictate the choice; when you add the storage space needed for a collection of this scale in vinyl vs. CD, XRCD(n) and SACD, the difference is (to me) substantial. Knowing myself, having vinyl in this system would also compel me to chase not only the best and multiple pressings/releases of various albums, symphonies (by orchestra and/or conductor), etc...on LP but also have to do the same CD, SACD, XRCD(n). In short, I cause myself enough "trouble" with only a D->A setup; I cannot manage both a great digital front-end and a vinyl setup. I go nuts enough as it is !

All that stated, I love the sound of a good vinyl-based system! I have no doubt there are some things, over some albums, etc..that I may be missing with no vinyl or tubes in the system but I am at peace and very happy with how things sounds as of last week with my prior speakers and gear and in particular this week and the times ahead with the TAD R1s and new simplified system configuration.

Thanks again for the post; Happy Holidays to You and Yours Mate! I work with a numbers of Aussies (and people all over the world) and I know y'all "know how to bring in the New Year"!!!

Good morning all! Had my other set of multi-ribbon jumpers re-terminated with Furutech CF-202 (R) Banana plugs. The Bocchino banana plugs are first rate sonically and build quality giving me great results over the last couple of years and the Bocchino spades' quality and heft is obvious from the photos but the TAD R1 binding posts are huge as stated previously and I had to use a screwdriver to open up the veins on the bananas manually to get them to remain in the large holes in the binding posts. Obviously not a great long-term solution as they will loosen a bit over time. I had these 2 pair of jumpers re-terminated as they have a further 2 additional layers of ribbons over my first pair.

The Furutech CF-202 (R) Bananas are serious stuff, they feature a carbon fiber & non-magnetic stainless barrel assembly that when turned counter-clockwise, causes the mechanism to variably deploy and lock the banana in the binding post with fins that can be expanded to just the right size to fit whatever binding post you have and feature other notable things in their build as well including a damping ring. In short they lock in, stay there and sound great.

Burn-in on the speakers at a slower pace due to work/life realities continues. It's amazing to me just how good these speakers are and that's after only 225 hours or so. Stunning!

Photos;

Updated system components, cables, power backplane and tweaks list;

TAD Reference 1 MkII Speakers w/Stillpoints ULTRA5 Footers
Esoteric Audio D-02 SOTA Dual-Mono DAC
Cybershaft (Japan) RBOCXO-01 10 MHz Premium Rubidium and OCXO Dual Master Clock 120V US Version
Esoteric Audio C-02 Dual-Mono Preamp
Esoteric Audio A-02 Master Soundworks Dual-Mono Stereo Amp
Isotek Systems EVO3 SIGMAS Power Conditioner
Isotek Systems EVO3 TITAN Power Conditioner
Granite Audio Ground Zero Star-Grounding Station
Furutech GTX-D/R NCF Duplexes & 105D Cover Plates (3)
Cutler-Hammer, GE MLC and EP 20amp Dedicated Circuit (10gauge)
Environmental Potentials EP-2050 Surge Suppressor Wave-Form Correct
Environmental Potentials EP-2750 Ground Filter
Whole-House Ground CADWELD Kit & Dual Ground Rods
Adona Corporation AV45CS4 and AV45CS1 (multiple)
Composite Audio CF-2010 Platforms (multiple)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Large Damping Plates Silver (5)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPS Large Damping Plates Black (3)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Medium Damping Plates Black (2)
Stillpoints Ultra SS with Ultra Bases (4) under Cybershaft RBOCXO-01
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold Speaker Cables 9-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Signature Gold Speaker Jumpers (2 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR 6-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR 4-meter (1 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR 6-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR 3-meter custom (1 pair)
Kubala-Sosna ELATION 1-meter XLR AES/EBU (2)
Wireworld PLATINUM STARLIGHT v7 75-ohm BNC:BNC 1.5-meter Master Clock
Esoteric/MEXCEL 8N-A2000 BNC:BNC 50-ohm 1.5-meter Master Clock Cable
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold 20amp 10-foot PC (2)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold 15-amp 6-foot PC (3)
Elrod Power Systems Statement Silver PC 10-foot 15-amp
Elrod Power Systems Statement Silver PC 10-foot 20-amp
B.M.C. PureUSB1 5-meter

FYI all...Elrod cabling for power, analog interconnect and speaker cables have been a core part of this system since 2009 in various revisions of Signature Gold and Statement Gold levels.

***Elrod has just finished his "Master Series" design upgrades for his Statement Silver, Statement Gold and Diamond power cords, interconnects and speaker cables. I am told by a couple of people that are running them already that they are "beyond words" great in their sonic and musical performance and they are yet another huge improvement in what is possible with SOTA audio cables...AND that they actually surpass his latest DIAMOND level cables.

Oh well...an audio-nuts job (of obsessing) is never done; I will be trying some of these in the months to come!

Installed ONE of these in the system today on my Esoteric A-02 power amp to replace a 2 year old Elrod Statement Gold next-gen cable as a test.

Cable was cooked for 6 days and then rounded out by David on his system to a full 2 weeks of burn-in.

To say the design changes are major would be a huge understatement....double the width of the widest ribbons used to date and double the count over what was already his latest generation design for Statement Gold; that's all that can be said.

Within the first 12 hours the phrase (which I've only used once before for any cable) "component-level upgrade" came to mind. It's as if my amp had been further upgraded along with my entire system. This is no exaggeration and I'm surprised at the uplift from a single power cord from the level I already was experiencing. All frequency bands experienced significant changes for the better, an already 3-dimensional wrap-around soundstage on most recordings became an even more dense, musical energy-filled 3D wrap-around deeply immersive soundstage on EVERY recording, every note, voice, etc...became even more real and life-like, inner detail increased on most material (already have tons of inner detail thanks to the TAD R1s), musical energy increased in the room and the listener is pulled even deeper into the recording. I found myself rewinding or starting tracks over many times as the surprise factor with this change was extremely high.

I had talked to a couple of guys who had gone this route picking up this brand new cable family in the last month; they were saying that the Master Series Golds eclipsed the Diamond and MBX2 families of cables and simply blew the doors off the latest Statement Gold generation. That all sounded hard to believe (particularly the part about eclipsing MBX2 and Diamond/X2; after 12 hours, I do believe it to be true...

Tough part about the Elrod line is the website has not been updated in a long, long time as more time is spent on design and build than on marketing. My advice is to reach out to me or others using these cables and get some candid conversations going. Also, you can easily reach David Elrod via phone / email; he's a wealth of knowledge and will discuss cables, music, system design/synergy with any serious audio-nut.

It's been a very surprising day and yes, the cable is more impressive in person than it even is in these pictures.

Some basic pictures below....forgive the photo skills

Updated all systems photos after the Stillpoints Ultra5 Footers were attached to the R1s....

still no turntable

LL21 said:

great stuff! congrats and great reading...enjoy.

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LL21,

Thank you!

Updated and corrected systems components, cables and accessories list;

TAD Reference 1 MkII Speakers w/Stillpoints ULTRA5 Footers
Esoteric Audio P-02 Dual-Mono Transport
Esoteric Audio D-02 Dual-Mono DAC
Cybershaft (Japan) RBOCXO-01 10 MHz Premium Rb and OCXO Dual Master Clock
Esoteric Audio C-02 Dual-Mono Preamp
Esoteric Audio A-02 Master Soundworks Dual-Mono Stereo Amp
Isotek Systems EVO3 SIGMAS Power Conditioner
Isotek Systems EVO3 TITAN Power Conditioner
Granite Audio Ground Zero Star-Grounding Station
Furutech GTX-D/R NCF Duplexes & 105D Cover Plates (3)
Cutler-Hammer, GE MLC and EP 20amp Dedicated Circuit (10gauge)
Environmental Potentials EP-2050 Wave-Form Correct & Surge Suppression
Environmental Potentials EP-2750 Ground Filter
Whole-House Ground CADWELD Kit & Dual Ground Rods
Adona Corporation AV45CS4 and AV45CS1 (multiple)
Composite Audio CF-2010 Platforms (multiple)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Large Damping Plates Silver (5)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPS Large Damping Plates Black (3)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Medium Damping Plates Black (2)
Stillpoints Ultra SS with Ultra Bases (4) under Cybershaft RBOCXO-01
Elrod Systems Statement Gold Speaker Cables 9-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Systems Signature Gold Speaker Jumpers (2 pair)
Elrod Systems Statement Gold XLR 6-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Systems Statement Gold XLR 4-meter (1 pair)
Kubala-Sosna ELATION 1-meter XLR AES/EBU (2)
Wireworld PLATINUM STARLIGHT v7 75-ohm BNC:BNC 1.5-meter Master Clock
Esoteric/MEXCEL 8N-A2000 BNC:BNC 50-ohm 1.5-meter Master Clock Cable
Elrod Systems MASTER SERIES Statement Gold PC, 10-foot, 15-Amp (Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Elrod Systems MASTER SERIES Statement Gold PC, 7-foot, 15-Amp (Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Elrod Systems MASTER SERIES Statement Gold PC, 10-foot, 20-Amp (Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Elrod Systems MASTER SERIES Statement Gold PC, 10-foot, 20-Amp (Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Elrod Systems Statement Gold 15-amp 6-foot PC (Oyaide M1F1)
Elrod Systems Statement Gold 15-amp 6-foot PC (Oyaide M1F1)
Elrod Systems Statement Silver PC 10-foot 15-amp (FI-48)
B.M.C. PureUSB1 5-meter

Updated for final cable lengths for Masters Series (Elrod) power cords, retained Statement Gold lengths and inclusion of a worthy replacement (Alienware 17R4 fully stoked...) for my MacBook Pro (had to give it up due to work pressure to get off Apple hardware as we are a competitor);

TAD Reference 1 MkII Speakers w/Stillpoints ULTRA5 Footers
Esoteric Audio P-02 Dual-Mono Transport
Esoteric Audio D-02 Dual-Mono DAC
Cybershaft (Japan) RBOCXO-01 10 MHz Premium Rb and OCXO Dual Master Clock
Esoteric Audio C-02 Dual-Mono Preamp
Esoteric Audio A-02 Master Soundworks Dual-Mono Stereo Amp
Isotek Systems EVO3 SIGMAS Power Conditioner
Isotek Systems EVO3 TITAN Power Conditioner
Granite Audio Ground Zero Star-Grounding Station
Furutech GTX-D/R NCF Duplexes & 105D Cover Plates (5)
Cutler-Hammer, GE MLC and EP 20amp Dedicated Circuit (10gauge)
Environmental Potentials EP-2050 Wave-Form Correct & Surge Suppression
Environmental Potentials EP-2750 Ground Filter
Whole-House Ground CADWELD Kit & Dual Ground Rods
Adona Corporation AV45CS4 and AV45CS1 (multiple)
Composite Audio CF-2010 Platforms (multiple)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Large Damping Plates Silver (5)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPS Large Damping Plates Black (3)
Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Medium Damping Plates Black (2)
Stillpoints Ultra SS with Ultra Bases (4) under Cybershaft RBOCXO-01
Elrod Systems Statement Gold Speaker Cables 9-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Systems Signature Gold Speaker Jumpers (2 pair)
Elrod Systems Statement Gold XLR 6-foot (1 pair)
Elrod Systems Statement Gold XLR 4-meter (1 pair)
Kubala-Sosna ELATION 1-meter XLR AES/EBU (2)
Wireworld PLATINUM STARLIGHT v7 75-ohm BNC:BNC 1.5-meter Master Clock
Esoteric/MEXCEL 8N-A2000 BNC:BNC 50-ohm 1.5-meter Master Clock Cable
Elrod Systems MASTER SERIES Statement Gold PC, 10-foot, 15-Amp (Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Elrod Systems MASTER SERIES Statement Gold PC, 9-foot, 15-Amp (Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Elrod Systems MASTER SERIES Statement Gold PC, 10-foot, 20-Amp (Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Elrod Systems MASTER SERIES Statement Gold PC, 10-foot, 20-Amp (Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Elrod Systems Statement Gold 15-amp 10-foot PC (Oyaide M1F1)
Elrod Systems Statement Gold 15-amp 6-foot PC (Oyaide M1F1)
Elrod Systems Statement Silver PC 10-foot 15-amp (Furutech FI-48)
B.M.C. PureUSB1 5-meter

Computer Audio/Rip Playback: Alienware 17”R4, Intel Core i7-7820HK 2.9 GHz (over-clocked by AW to 4.4 GHz), UHD 120Hz 3840x2160 4K LCD Display, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD (Music Library, Playback S/W & O/S here), 1 TB SATA HD, NVidia GeForce GTX 1070, Windows 10 Pro (Optimized), ROON, Tidal, iTunes, Esoteric HR Player, Cyberlink PowerDVD 16 Ultra, 4Media, dbPowerAmp, Wondershare DVD and Audio Ripping and Conversion/Playback tools, etc…

Photos of two of the new 'kids', a 10' and a 9' 15-amp Masters Series Statement Gold PC;