Amplification options with TAD speakers

[PGA]

I swapped Constellation Centaur mono for AHB2s in mono. Never looked back. More detail, less grain, same dynamic, 1/10th the cost

 

[Amir]

In my idea The Best/match Amplifier for TAD Loudspeakers is TAD M700 monoblock amplifier.
TAD M700 is great , minimal simple design low current feedback , over 5500VA PSU and ...

Without listening Going for other amplifiers is so risky

 

[Stef]

TAD Speakers and Power Amps are natural partners. I would push using TAD Preamp too in order to allow more flexibility playing with different sources and cables to fine-tune / achieve the sonic characters you are enjoying the most. This would also reduce the potential mismatches between too many different components within the chain.
Having said that TAD speakers are so "neutral" that any good system would be magnified, revealing all the strengths and weaknesses. I guess that if all the basics of a system are correct, this is just a matter of choice and preference at the end.

 

[Ricco275]

I am interested in purchasing the TAD ME1 to replace Avalon Idea and wondering if my Vitus RI-101 mkII would be a good match. The Vitus is an integrated and I am considering to add the CAT SL1 ultimate mkII as a preamp.

Any experience with this pairing?

 

[Stef]

I am interested in purchasing the TAD ME1 to replace Avalon Idea and wondering if my Vitus RI-101 mkII would be a good match. The Vitus is an integrated and I am considering to add the CAT SL1 ultimate mkII as a preamp.

Any experience with this pairing?

I would say congrats if you purchase the TAD ME1 and try with your Vitus RI-101 mkII first, After few long weeks of pleasure have your audio dealer come to your home with some options (CAT SL1 / TAD M1000 or 2500 / ....) and then decide. Your ears, your money, your choice

 

[Ricco275]

I would say congrats if you purchase the TAD ME1 and try with your Vitus RI-101 mkII first, After few long weeks of pleasure have your audio dealer come to your home with some options (CAT SL1 / TAD M1000 or 2500 / ....) and then decide. Your ears, your money, your choice

I have purchased the TAD ME1 a few days ago and the combination with the Vitus is just stellar.

I wonder if I need a preamp at all. The only partial room of improvement is how to listen at low volume (60 / 70db) and enjoying the same dynamics and micro details I here at 90db.

I have replaced the holo spring dac with a MSB Discrete and I couldn’t be happier.

 

[Stef]

I have purchased the TAD ME1 a few days ago and the combination with the Vitus is just stellar.

I wonder if I need a preamp at all. The only partial room of improvement is how to listen at low volume (60 / 70db) and enjoying the same dynamics and micro details I here at 90db.

I have replaced the holo spring dac with a MSB Discrete and I couldn’t be happier.

Congrats for your new purchase Ricco. You must be delighted with all your new top notch hifi components.
IMHO a dedicated preamp is a must, it acts as the "brain" of your system. Try the Vitus RL-102 preamp to match your stereo power amp... I'm sure you will quickly realise how important it is

 

[Olivier59]

Hello I used like you can see a Pilium Iasonas with 500W in 4 ohms. My speakers are the CR1 TX and my speakers cables are Tiglon 2000 who are exactly the same than TAD one but at half the price. I used two per speakers and I am really happy of the result

 

[Stef]

Hello I used like you can see a Pilium Iasonas with 500W in 4 ohms. My speakers are the CR1 TX and my speakers cables are Tiglon 2000 who are exactly the same than TAD one but at half the price. I used two per speakers and I am really happy of the result

Pilium gears are indeed amazing ! Known to be powerful, detailed, liquid sounding, musical,... certainly a fantastic way to drive the CR1tx

 

[Stef]

Just tried at home the THRAX Mono Amps HEROS MK2 100W Class A to drive my CR1-tx. The THRAX were on loan for few days so I can share my experience.

Firstly connected between the TAD C600 and the CR1-tx, the THRAX couldn’t drive the speakers. The bass were rounded and the overall presentation was foggy. I was really disappointed and surprised that the THRAX Heros MK2 with 100W in class A couldn’t deliver a better presentation.

Having the feeling that something was going wrong in the chain I switched preamp and tried the Aries Cerat Incito-S. Suddenly the magic happened and it sounded perfectly fine! The Heros MK2 were delivering a clear and powerful soundstage through the CR1-tx. The bass were tight with a very dense midrange and delicate highs. Deep silence and wonderful density yet highly transparent with a lot of inner details. Beautiful 3D and a large / deep soundstage. They created a real sense of life and a natural flow for pure musical involvement.

THRAX has been a very nice discovery during those few days and also provided a good learning for me. I must have met Gain and Impedance issues between the C600 and the Heros MK2. With Aries Cerat the technical issues were gone and the mariage was perfect. Maybe they share the same philosophy with High Gain from the source / preamp and Lower Gain from the Amp? TAD has a quite high gain for their power amps at 29db while the Heros are at 18db so they may need a higher gain preamp (Incito has a fixed gain of 8db) to be able to drive the CR1-tx? Mystery of matching between components.

I think that the THRAX Heros MK2 with the right preamp can be an interesting alternative to drive the TAD speakers but they are class A and run very very hot….

 

[Olivier59]

I just bought Kondo G700i with Kondo Melius and it's a wonderfull Combo with my CR1 TX. No lack of power at hall, plenty of musicality for only 32 real W.

 

[Flamenko]

I just bought Kondo G700i with Kondo Melius and it's a wonderfull Combo with my CR1 TX. No lack of power at hall, plenty of musicality for only 32 real W.

 

[Amir]

Just tried at home the THRAX Mono Amps HEROS MK2 100W Class A to drive my CR1-tx. The THRAX were on loan for few days so I can share my experience.

Firstly connected between the TAD C600 and the CR1-tx, the THRAX couldn’t drive the speakers. The bass were rounded and the overall presentation was foggy. I was really disappointed and surprised that the THRAX Heros MK2 with 100W in class A couldn’t deliver a better presentation.

Having the feeling that something was going wrong in the chain I switched preamp and tried the Aries Cerat Incito-S. Suddenly the magic happened and it sounded perfectly fine! The Heros MK2 were delivering a clear and powerful soundstage through the CR1-tx. The bass were tight with a very dense midrange and delicate highs. Deep silence and wonderful density yet highly transparent with a lot of inner details. Beautiful 3D and a large / deep soundstage. They created a real sense of life and a natural flow for pure musical involvement.

THRAX has been a very nice discovery during those few days and also provided a good learning for me. I must have met Gain and Impedance issues between the C600 and the Heros MK2. With Aries Cerat the technical issues were gone and the mariage was perfect. Maybe they share the same philosophy with High Gain from the source / preamp and Lower Gain from the Amp? TAD has a quite high gain for their power amps at 29db while the Heros are at 18db so they may need a higher gain preamp (Incito has a fixed gain of 8db) to be able to drive the CR1-tx? Mystery of matching between components.

I think that the THRAX Heros MK2 with the right preamp can be an interesting alternative to drive the TAD speakers but they are class A and run very very hot….

First: Like all other TAD equipments the TAD C600 is double isolated class II electronic products so it means C600 does not connect to earth wire (via AC cable). Most audio equipments like Thrax are class I equipments and they connect to the earth for safety so You should not connect class I to Class II products.
My role is all audio equioments should be class I or all audio equipments should be class II so mixing class I with class II will degrade the sound by wide margin.

second: C600 output stage has a rising impedance around 3k so the input impedance of power amplifier should be over 100k ohm.

third: tubes/chokes have different THD pattern in comparison by solidstates and also the bass (I mean bass not midbass) is different so I do not recommend mixing tubes by solidstates.

forth: most pre and power amplifiers (specially tubes) are not fully balanced , I think it is better to not mix balanced and un-balanced equipments

 

[olivier]

First: Like all other TAD equipments the TAD C600 is double isolated class II electronic products so it means C600 does not connect to earth wire (via AC cable). Most audio equipments like Thrax are class I equipments and they connect to the earth for safety so You should not connect class I to Class II products.
My role is all audio equioments should be class I or all audio equipments should be class II so mixing class I with class II will degrade the sound by wide margin.

second: C600 output stage has a rising impedance around 3k so the input impedance of power amplifier should be over 100k ohm.

third: tubes/chokes have different THD pattern in comparison by solidstates and also the bass (I mean bass not midbass) is different so I do not recommend mixing tubes by solidstates.

forth: most pre and power amplifiers (specially tubes) are not fully balanced , I think it is better to not mix balanced and un-balanced equipments

I never had problems using my TAD 2500 II with Class I preamps. Real balanced sounds best but you can go unbalanced by switch...

 

[Stef]

First: Like all other TAD equipments the TAD C600 is double isolated class II electronic products so it means C600 does not connect to earth wire (via AC cable). Most audio equipments like Thrax are class I equipments and they connect to the earth for safety so You should not connect class I to Class II products.
My role is all audio equioments should be class I or all audio equipments should be class II so mixing class I with class II will degrade the sound by wide margin.

second: C600 output stage has a rising impedance around 3k so the input impedance of power amplifier should be over 100k ohm.

third: tubes/chokes have different THD pattern in comparison by solidstates and also the bass (I mean bass not midbass) is different so I do not recommend mixing tubes by solidstates.

forth: most pre and power amplifiers (specially tubes) are not fully balanced , I think it is better to not mix balanced and un-balanced equipments

Thanks Amir. I can relate to that - experiences are necessary to understand all those points. I have now sold my tubes preamp & power amps to stick to my original TAD pre / power combo. I just kept a tube DAC besides my TAD CD/DAC. While I'm usually using XLR connections for all my gears, for my tube DAC to my preamp I'm using RCA just because it sounds better to my ears...

 

[Ricco275]

After having added a passive preamp from Music First Audio, I am now enjoying the combination of TAD ME-1 with Vitus RI-101mk2.

I am tempted to replace the Vitus with the TAD M1000. Unfortunately I can’t audition the M1000 prior to purchase and I would purchase an ex demo unit.

I wonder if the rule of thumb that all TAD components outperform mixing brands is valid for Vitus compared to entry level TAD components.

perhaps @Amir is knowledgeable on the subject.

 

[Amir]

After having added a passive preamp from Music First Audio, I am now enjoying the combination of TAD ME-1 with Vitus RI-101mk2.

I am tempted to replace the Vitus with the TAD M1000. Unfortunately I can’t audition the M1000 prior to purchase and I would purchase an ex demo unit.

I wonder if the rule of thumb that all TAD components outperform mixing brands is valid for Vitus compared to entry level TAD components.

perhaps @Amir is knowledgeable on the subject.

I think Vitus has different tone in comparison by TAD amplifier. I think it is better to listen to both (full TAD system vs Vitus/TAD) and decide own yourself.

 

[Ricco275]

I think Vitus has different tone in comparison by TAD amplifier. I think it is better to listen to both (full TAD system vs Vitus/TAD) and decide own yourself.

I’m sure about the tone difference and unfortunately I won’t be able to audition that. How would you describe the tone difference between TAD and Vitus?

 

[Amir]

Vitus has more tube like sound and TAD is more neutral . I like both of them .
The only thing you should be careful is the buying Vitus models with enough power

 

[Ricco275]

Vitus has more tube like sound and TAD is more neutral . I like both of them .
The only thing you should be careful is the buying Vitus models with enough power

Thank you @Amir The Vitus I own has definitely enough power with my TAD ME1. The only reason I’m hesitating moving to TAD amplification is that I may find it less engaging than Vitus. I know only listening to it in my home will give me the answer.