Reviews of the TAD Compact Reference 1

[Gregadd]

Are there any white papers around on the design

[Gregadd]

In deed it appears the vapor depsited beryllium is complex and expensixe.

[Gregadd]

"Concentric-driver speakers are inclined to have a coloration arising from horn-loading of the concentric tweeter by the surrounding midrange driver."

[AudioExplorations]

"Concentric-driver speakers are inclined to have a coloration arising from horn-loading of the concentric tweeter by the surrounding midrange driver."

Greg, you are right about the horn-loading aspect, this is what Andres Jones said about it in a recent interview:

"... a concentric driver is essentially a horn-loaded tweeter in a horn that is moving -- but because so many have a negative reaction to the word horn, we instead refer to a waveguide. With every tweeter, I pretty much put it in a short waveguide to help control the directivity. Whenever I’ve been forced to put a tweeter directly on the surface of the box, I’ve made the measurements and then struggled with the design of the rest of the system. It is just the wrong thing to do, from my viewpoint. Controlling the directivity with a waveguide of the correct shape is a good thing. You can get a very dynamic sound, low coloration, and other benefits from a properly designed horn driver these days. But you still have this bandwidth limitation. So how do you overcome that? It may now mean you are crossing over at 1000Hz. Is that better than crossing over at 2000-3000Hz? Maybe. But you are still typically crossing over to a bigger bass driver, and so still have the same issues of interference off axis, so you’re back to design compromises. I think horns have gotten a bad rap. They can be so much better these days. You can do some really good hi-fi systems with correct choices of drivers and matching wavelengths."

Interestingly he specifically mentions low coloration as a result of the design. In my personal case I have found these speakers unbeaten in terms of accuracy and transparency - most reviewers also tend to highlight this.

[Gregadd]

I like horns. The point is there must IMO be a benefit to choosing a component with an inherent design flaw. Especially at this price point. It seems that coherence may be one benifit of the cooncentric driver.

[AudioExplorations]

Yes, every driver type has it's pros and cons and every design decision taken is a compromise of some sort. I am by no means an expert on this but a lot of the benefits I am aware of have to do with the true point source emanation of the sound waves. As there are no time and phase coherency differences between the two drivers at any off-axis position in relation to the speaker it means that very simple and highly transparent crossovers can be used. Result is that the sound that arrives at the listener both direct and reflected from the side walls/ceilings has the same harmonics and timbre, making the need for highly treated rooms less of an issue. I would be interested read up more about this.

[AudioExplorations]

Found this podcast where Andrew himself talks more about this http://twit.tv/show/home-theater-geeks/112

[AudioExplorations]

Eye candy

[joeinid]

Beautiful photos Joost.

Thanks!

[AudioExplorations]

Hey Joe... don't steal my avatar!!!