TAD R1s and CR1s: Jumper to bottom or top???

SCAudiophile

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Sep 11, 2010
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I've had extremely good results attaching my speaker cables to the top-end binding posts of my R1s and "jumpering down" to the bottom-end/bass binding posts. Admittedly, this was how I always 'found it worked best' with my choices of cables and custom jumpers with various speakers; I've not tried the other option.

Any R1 and CR1 owners out there that have found one way or the other work best, or assuming after-market jumpers equal/equivalent/matching whatever speaker cable is used, does either jumpering up or down give the same result?

Note: I'm looking for what attributes are better (if any) above and beyond simply saying that one of the other is 'better'.

Thank you!
 

Bobbi

Well-Known Member
Mar 5, 2016
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I am installing my R1 in 2 days so ill see what I find.
Unfortunately ill be using the stock links for a little while ;)
 

SCAudiophile

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Sep 11, 2010
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Greer South Carolina (USA)
I am installing my R1 in 2 days so ill see what I find.
Unfortunately ill be using the stock links for a little while ;)

Did you just receive them or is this a re-install after renovation/house move, etc...? If new,..Congratulations(!); mine arrived just before this past Xmas and I've been in awe of them ever since!

What type of speaker cables are you using? I have a spare pair of Elrod Power Systems multi-ribbon jumpers that are simply stellar but I don't know what you are using for cables to begin with.
If interested, PM me and we can talk....
 

Bobbi

Well-Known Member
Mar 5, 2016
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Well they are brand new. But I have had them in my garage for 6 months waiting to do renovations.

We are moving out for the renovations to begin next week but I cant wait any longer so ill set them up in the rental apartment we have organised for the next 4 months :)

Planning on using Fono Acustica Armonica speaker cables. Ive never heard of the Elrod cables before so ill have a read ! :D

Im glad your enjoying the speakers, one of the greats :D
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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Try diagonal too!
 

SCAudiophile

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Sep 11, 2010
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An excellent link and much appreciated.
Thanks audio Bill!

Thank you all for the suggestions; interesting thing with diagonal is that Audioquest also has a method and it is exactly the opposite of the one Nordost seems to prefer. Too many choices ;)!
 

audio.bill

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2013
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Yes, AQ also recommends the diagonal connection scheme but prefers to reverse the upper and lower speaker cable connections from Nordost. So the speaker cables are connected to the binding posts on the opposite diagonal in appearance.
 

SCAudiophile

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Sep 11, 2010
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I tried both. AQ way was much superior than Nordost suggested. Probably coax drivers of TAD's like to be fed first ;)

I've now tried both as well with Elrod Statement Gold Jumpers and Speaker cables; coming in to the upper posts for mids and trebles then jumper-ing straight down to the bass is undeniably the best (here in my rig).
 

audio.bill

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May 27, 2013
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Chicago suburbs
I've now tried both as well with Elrod Statement Gold Jumpers and Speaker cables; coming in to the upper posts for mids and trebles then jumper-ing straight down to the bass is undeniably the best (here in my rig).
So am I to understand that you have both tried the Nordost and AQ suggested diagonal connection schemes with your TADs but found the preferred connection to be non-diagonal straight in to the upper driver and then jumpering to the lower connections?
 

SCAudiophile

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Sep 11, 2010
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So am I to understand that you have both tried the Nordost and AQ suggested diagonal connection schemes with your TADs but found the preferred connection to be non-diagonal straight in to the upper driver and then jumpering to the lower connections?

Yes...that is correct. I know 3 other guys who own 4 pairs of R1s total (one has 2 pair!) and their findings are similar.
 

kingfisher

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May 25, 2017
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Istanbul, Turkey
I tried all possibilities again and allowed enough time to understand the differences. Diagonal connection by inserting red connector to HF plug definitely gave optimum results, especially with increased 3-D soundstage, of course valid for my rig.
 

SCAudiophile

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Sep 11, 2010
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Greer South Carolina (USA)
I tried all possibilities again and allowed enough time to understand the differences. Diagonal connection by inserting red connector to HF plug definitely gave optimum results, especially with increased 3-D soundstage, of course valid for my rig.

Interesting....can you clarify if you do this the AQ or Nordost way and post pictures of the back plate and how you wire these up for both left and right speaker? Thanks!
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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I tried all possibilities again and allowed enough time to understand the differences. Diagonal connection by inserting red connector to HF plug definitely gave optimum results, especially with increased 3-D soundstage, of course valid for my rig.

I've only done one trial and better soundstage was the main difference with the diagonal hookup, which means more resolution. It is interesting...
 

SCAudiophile

Well-Known Member
Sep 11, 2010
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Greer South Carolina (USA)
Very cool,...thank you for the great photo!
 

RdW

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Apr 8, 2018
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I tried both. AQ way was much superior than Nordost suggested. Probably coax drivers of TAD's like to be fed first ;)
This post is already three years old and I just bumped into it. I though, having AQ Redwood installed, let’s give it a try and connect them the diagonal AQ way (I was using the LF as input “jumping up”). I got now more information available in the upper range of the frequency while keeping the low frequencies gravity. So, good advice!

Am now wondering what a Audio Quest William Tell SILVER BiWire COMBO will do nowadays against my good old Redwoods. Anyone experience which BiWire COMBO’s from AQ?
 

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astrotoy

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May 24, 2010
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Last year, my dealer was planning his move to another location at the same time I was thinking about putting together a second system. I asked him what he would recommend, particularly with older components that could be had at lower cost. He surprised me with suggesting his pair of TAD CM-1's, speakers that I had been impressed with maybe 10 years ago when I first heard them in his set up. Andrew Jones had built a small number of these speakers as prototypes for his CR-1's. They basically had the same speaker design, but have beautiful cabinetry that turned out to be too expensive to go into the CR-1's. The price was right. However, he could not find the jumpers that came with the speaker and just fashioned a pair that worked out of stranded copper.

Now that I have found this thread, I would like to try the diagonal placement of the speaker wires and get better jumpers. I see that AQ has three levels of jumpers, all solid wire - for $30, $230, and $550 (solid copper, functionally perfect copper, and silver). There are others that were mentioned, so some recommendations please. If the $30 pair is fine, then I don't mind going cheap - but if the others or ones you all suggest are better, I can go higher.

Thanks, Larry
 

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