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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Midrange driver suggestions
Post Subject: TAD TM-1201 observationsPosted by noviygera on: 1/19/2018
There seems to be a lack of useful feedback on the actual sound quality of these oddball, relatively rare TAD mids. So I think it would be helpful to share some basic observations I gather after listening to them for a couple of days. I install these 1201 on an open baffle so I could compare to Tannoy 12" paper coax, also being on a similar open baffle (using only the woofer section and bypassing tannoy crossover).
I had them powered by a 30w push pull tube amp and DSP processor for flexibility of setting the crossover filters. I set the filters to 6db/oct at 150hz and 1.5khz.
It's an understatement that I don't like the 1201 sound. It's probably the most unpleasant sound I heard at home from a single driver. When the German distributor told me the sound is "fast and loud" I thought that may be a good start to describe. But the main problem I have with this driver is that as soon as I start listening to any music material that I like, I want to turn off this thing after 2 minutes. At first what stands out is the truly high sensitivity and the clarity of attack of all sounds. However, everything sounds loud and compressed, as thought the music that I know so well has compressed the hell out of it and then converted to mp3 of medium bitrate. It's a flat, loud sound with little spacial development, as clearly evident when comparing to the lowly 12" paper tannoy.
There is no sustain of any note, no harmonic development, just an on/off type of behavior that really creates an aggressive, hard to enjoy environment. I did not measure this thing and I don't care about that as I see no point of investigating for myself any further. It may be this this is acceptable in a mastering studio monitor where the values are based on dissecting the recording but for reproducing something that resembles natural tone and timbre, this is an awful midrange. Beautiful midrage it is not.
I did compare to the paper Tannoys. What is clear is the significant sensitivity advantage and midrange resolution but of only the attack of the notes. Maybe it's related to the low Qm of the TAD? I don't know.
So do not rush to purchase TM-1201, in fact if I got them for free, I would sell them at the first opportunity. I don't want to say this is a piece of shit driver but it sure sound like one. Over engineered in the wrong direction?
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