TAD Evolution 2 Speaker Review

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

To me this, looks like more 50° to 40°...

 

[Pearljam5000]

I have a feeling they will be much better

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

I have a feeling they will be much betterView attachment 242038

They have to...

But what i don't like about this company is their Price/performance ratio

This tower is fine for 2000 USD segment... I don't know how they come with that 20,000 price for this very simple tower...

 

[Pearljam5000]

They have to...

But what i don't like about this company is their Price/performance ratio

This tower is fine for 2000 USD segment... I don't know how they come with that 20,000 price for this very simple tower...

You're also paying for the brand name and exclusivity...

 

[Robbo99999]

Score	out of the box	w/EQ
out of the box	6.0	6.8
w/ perfect subwoofer	7.3	8.0

I will not comment on the price. I didn't read the thread yet but clearly they know what they are doing: DI is outstanding. And linear DI means great opportunity to EQ.
Let's do a simple EQ to flatten the listening window (orange curve):

View attachment 242037

EQ for TAD Evolution 2 computed from ASR data
Preference Score 6.0 with EQ 6.8
Generated from http://github.com/pierreaubert/spinorama/generate_peqs.py v0.16
Dated: 2022-11-08-21:00:14

Preamp: -4.4 dB

Filter  1: ON PK Fc  8925 Hz Gain -2.27 dB Q 1.93
Filter  2: ON PK Fc  2540 Hz Gain +1.86 dB Q 2.85
Filter  3: ON PK Fc   601 Hz Gain -3.59 dB Q 1.64
Filter  4: ON PK Fc  6638 Hz Gain -0.51 dB Q 1.55
Filter  5: ON PK Fc    34 Hz Gain +4.24 dB Q 0.81
Filter  6: ON PK Fc   120 Hz Gain -0.99 dB Q 2.92
Filter  7: ON PK Fc    43 Hz Gain -0.55 dB Q 2.96
Filter  8: ON PK Fc    55 Hz Gain +0.55 dB Q 0.61
Filter  9: ON PK Fc    45 Hz Gain -0.62 dB Q 2.97

Nice, my intuition had told me these would be real easy to EQ!

 

[juliangst]

70K € is a bit much for 'bookshelf' speakers IMHO but at least you get one of the most beautifully finished speakers on the market

 

[MZKM]

Reserved.

 

[amarsicola]

At least if they sell 4 or 5 pairs they can get the money for a Klippel for their next shoot. Their audience is tipically not reading this forum, so they have a hope.

 

[voodooless]

So, where is the review of the GR reasearch crossover upgrade?

 

[BillH]

I almost posted yesterday when I first saw this review. The directivity curve is pretty unique. Not only are there no dips but the slope is nearly constant throughout the frequency band. I think if one peruses the top tier speakers this one looks good looking only at this metric. My recollection is that a lot of “good” directivity speakers omit the dip but show a change in slope along the way

 

[Multicore]

Do we have a flatness metric? Might be handy.
It’s just OK, given the price. The look is rather bland, too. $20,000 typically gets you something with a more distinctive appearance.

Pimp my boxes!

 

[Multicore]

View attachment 242064


70K € is a bit much for 'bookshelf' speakers IMHO but at least you get one of the most beautifully finished speakers on the market

For when you want the living room to look like the radiation therapy suite that Darth Vader went to.

 

[AndreaT]

You're also paying for the brand name and exclusivity...

They cost $ 2,000 for the speakers and $ 18,000 for the binding posts (nuclear tolerance of threads)…

 

[jae]

Have been seeing a lot of TAD speakers in more than one of those youtuber "audiophile" "reference" systems. With 10-40k worth of equipment running into them.

 

[Maiky76]

Score	out of the box	w/EQ
out of the box	6.0	6.8
w/ perfect subwoofer	7.3	8.0

I will not comment on the price. I didn't read the thread yet but clearly they know what they are doing: DI is outstanding. And linear DI means great opportunity to EQ.
Let's do a simple EQ to flatten the listening window (orange curve):

View attachment 242037

EQ for TAD Evolution 2 computed from ASR data
Preference Score 6.0 with EQ 6.8
Generated from http://github.com/pierreaubert/spinorama/generate_peqs.py v0.16
Dated: 2022-11-08-21:00:14

Preamp: -4.4 dB

Filter  1: ON PK Fc  8925 Hz Gain -2.27 dB Q 1.93
Filter  2: ON PK Fc  2540 Hz Gain +1.86 dB Q 2.85
Filter  3: ON PK Fc   601 Hz Gain -3.59 dB Q 1.64
Filter  4: ON PK Fc  6638 Hz Gain -0.51 dB Q 1.55
Filter  5: ON PK Fc    34 Hz Gain +4.24 dB Q 0.81
Filter  6: ON PK Fc   120 Hz Gain -0.99 dB Q 2.92
Filter  7: ON PK Fc    43 Hz Gain -0.55 dB Q 2.96
Filter  8: ON PK Fc    55 Hz Gain +0.55 dB Q 0.61
Filter  9: ON PK Fc    45 Hz Gain -0.62 dB Q 2.97

Hi,

Here is my take on the EQ.

Please report your findings, positive or negative!

The following EQs are “anechoic” EQs to get the speaker right before room integration. If you able to implement these EQs you must add EQ at LF for room integration, that is usually not optional… see hints there: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...helf-speaker-review.11144/page-26#post-800725

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: 5.8
With Sub: 7.2


Spinorama with no EQ:

• Not as Flat as i would expect for the price.
• Good Directivity good for EQ

Directivity:

Better stay at tweeter height
Horizontally, better toe-in the speakers by 10/20deg and have the axis crossing in front of the listening location, might help dosing the upper range.

EQ design:

I have generated two EQs. The APO config files are attached.

• The first one, labelled, LW is targeted at making the LW flat
• The second, labelled Score, starts with the first one and adds the score as an optimization variable.
• The EQs are designed in the context of regular stereo use i.e. domestic environment, no warranty is provided for a near field use in a studio environment although the LW might be better suited for this purpose.

Score EQ LW: 6.7
with sub: 8.1

Score EQ Score: 6.8
with sub: 8.2

TAD Evolution 2 APO EQ LW 96000Hz
November092022-105607

Preamp: -2.6 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 33.39,    0.00,    1.21
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 122.42,    -1.55,    3.09
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 198.12,    -1.03,    3.06
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 593.24,    -3.30,    1.28
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 2721.87,    3.43,    1.98
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 3256.36,    -1.61,    1.98
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 8892.96,    -1.81,    2.44
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 15901.87,    2.67,    2.76

TAD Evolution 2 APO EQ Score 96000Hz
November092022-105614

Preamp: -2.6 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 33.68,    0.00,    1.24
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 122.92,    -1.66,    3.05
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 200.12,    -1.10,    3.18
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 587.95,    -3.70,    1.17
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 2674.74,    3.06,    1.58
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 2972.74,    -1.35,    0.50
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 3515.04,    -1.25,    2.91
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 9086.60,    -2.45,    1.94
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 16076.73,    1.77,    4.76

Spinorama EQ LW

Spinorama EQ Score

Zoom PIR-LW-ON

Regression - Tonal

Radar no EQ vs EQ score
Small improvements

The rest of the plots is attached.

Comparison with Pierre's EQ
Slightly different scores compared to his calculation.
EQ Pierre: 6.7
with sub: 8.0

 

[kemmler3D]

Measurements look bad, but the unevenness in the FR will probably sound "expensive" in that it has a warm midrange (mids boosted, upper mids recesssed), a 'refined' (lacking) but extended bass section, and otherwise okay treble. With the low distortion and credible directivity, I could imagine people really liking this speaker despite imperfect measurements.

Personally I would probably find the mids a little honky (boosting 400hz is pushing it with me, better keep it to 600 or higher if you're going to do that IMO) but it's probably not horrible.

Now for $20K I voted 'not terrible', but I imagine this wouldn't sound bad in person at all. Not flat, but not bad. Probably really works for classical, you know?

 

[onslash]

I have a TAD micro evolution one and i've been quite a fan of its co-axial tweeter/midrage, build quality, frequency response and measurement are pretty good too. Well, this was dissapointing... To begin with it doesn't even look that nice unlike the me-1.

 

[jtwrace]

TAD is now the MEH to me.

 

[Spocko]

For those wondering why it's $20K, much of that is because it's "Made in Japan". Engineering aside, you're paying for the workmanship and effort of craftsman/workers who truly take pride in their work as part of their culture - it may be worth it to some and absolutely nothing to others, but it does go into the price.

 

[pma]

Would be nice to have some listening impressions. It is necessary for speakers, measurements do not tell the whole story if they are at the level as those shown. I like the built quality, finally we can see something else than the “cost effective” low cost mass production product.