TAD UNDER YOUR NOSE

TAD UNDER YOUR NOSE

Do you remember my Las Vegas CES ‘98 report where I asserted that the John Wolfe/Audio Classic Reproduction T-1 Speaker was “Best at Show” and that this speaker was made with off the shelf...anyone can buy...TAD components?

TAD, Technical Audio Devices, a division of Pioneer, makes world class driver components that are used mostly in recording studios. These are also the favorite drivers of Bruce Edgar of horn fame.

These are also the rave fave drivers of Japanese audiomaniacs and they are “common” in the Japanese homes for a good reason....you can’t create a bad sound with them. In Japan, you walk down to your local audio salon and pick up a set of these drivers, then you walk next store to the “speaker box maker” and pick up a set of cabinets and you take the stuff home and in a couple of hours you have state of the art speakers that you will own the rest of your life. Japanese audio magazines are filled with ads for speaker enclosures and horns for these drivers and in their DIY magazines there are articles about innovative cabinet designs for these drivers.

These drivers are not cheap, but there is nothing you can buy in any store-bought American speaker that comes close to the quality of these drivers. Can you imagine any...even the most expensive American loudspeaker...that uses a $600 woofer? You buy TAD once, and you take them into the next lifetime.

Now we get to the fun part...when you go to the TAD web site you will notice these are all super high efficiency drivers with the woofers ranging from 94 to 100 db efficient and the midrange compression drivers all around 100 db efficient which means with these drivers you are in Triode Heaven. Did you notice the A word...the Alnico word...that’s right there are lots of Alnico drivers....why?...because they are superior to ferrite/ceramic types, and Japanese audiomaniacs demand them.

You will also note that TAD sells crossover networks but I suggest you build your own which is very easy. How difficult is to get these drivers? Just skateboard down to your local pro-audio shop and pull out your plastic.

So the good news is that these super high quality high efficiency/high impedance alnico drivers are available in your neighborhood...the bad news is that they are expensive and that you have to hire a carpenter to build a box...and the goods news, in closing, is that you can, with a little effort, save thousands of dollars and create a loudspeaker that is vastly superior to anything available in your local audio salon.....add enjoy those magnificent 3 watt directly heated triode amps blasting the wallpaper off your walls.

Go to: www.tad-pioneer.com

e-mail Dr. Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg: drgizmo@meta-gizmo.com