TAD Reference One TX
The Ultimate Reference Speaker from TAD.
On permanent demo at WInters Audio – by appointment only
"The Artistic Intent, Intact"
This TAD strap line says everything you need to know about the listening experience. Masses of detail and precision for sure, but with passion and emotion in equal measure too, creating a truly rewarding sound.
About the Reference One TX
This is a serious speaker. The Reference One embodies all of TAD's skills to create a product that is both strong in concept and structure, incredibly coherent and staggerinly informative. To quote TAD "The result is a sound field of flawless purity that achieves unprecedented professional audio artistry.
The TAD Reference One realizes richly resonant sound that has no equal."
Now, we have a pair of Reference Ones at Winters Audio. We've burned them in and set them up perfectly. We have spent time with them and listened to every genre of music through them, so we're writing from genuine experience of this product.
These speakers are true high end. Their ability to scale up and down is one of the first things that shocks you. Then there's the imaging, both its width and depth, but also with it's stability regardless of what's playing. Bass control, oh yes. Treble extension, plenty. Timing – music is exciting and propulsive and you're suddenly much more aware of timing cues between players. And honestly, the list goes on, and so does the clock – it's usually 2am before we know it.
About the Reference One TX
This is a serious speaker. The Reference One embodies all of TAD's skills to create a product that is both strong in concept and structure, incredibly coherent and staggerinly informative. To quote TAD "The result is a sound field of flawless purity that achieves unprecedented professional audio artistry.
The TAD Reference One realizes richly resonant sound that has no equal."
Now, we have a pair of Reference Ones at Winters Audio. We've burned them in and set them up perfectly. We have spent time with them and listened to every genre of music through them, so we're writing from genuine experience of this product.
These speakers are true high end. Their ability to scale up and down is one of the first things that shocks you. Then there's the imaging, both its width and depth, but also with it's stability regardless of what's playing. Bass control, oh yes. Treble extension, plenty. Timing – music is exciting and propulsive and you're suddenly much more aware of timing cues between players. And honestly, the list goes on, and so does the clock – it's usually 2am before we know it.
Tech Insight
The Reference One features TADs new SILENT (Structurally Inert Laminated Enclosure Technology) cabinet – the ultimate in elegant curves and immense stability. It is constructed from carefully selected materials to control resonances, in order that the superior performance of the drive unit is maintained to the maximum degree. The basis of our efforts to eliminate resonance is the strong enclosure design, inspired by the structural theory of aircraft wings and ships. The inner frame is then clad with a hybrid of materials that combine 50mm thick side panels glued to CNC machined plywood panels with a maximum thickness of 137mm.
Specifications
Drive Units: Bass: 25cm x 2, Midrange/Tweeter: concentric 16 cm (MF) 3.5 cm (HF)
Frequency response: 21 Hz to 100 kHz
Crossover frequencies: 250 Hz and 2 kHz
Unit polarity: LF (+), MF (+), HF (+)
Maximum input power: 300 W
Sensitivity: 90 dB (2.83 V @ 1 m)
Rated impedance: 4 Ω
Weight: 150 kg (330 lb)
Dimensions: 554 mm (21 3/4") (W) × 1,293 mm (50 7/8") (H)
× 698 mm (27½") (D)
Matching & Setup
First of all, you should check out the weight and dimension specs of this product. These speakers are large and heafty! You will really need a room that is going to match these characteristics and be able to let them brethe. Once you get them into your listening room you will have to take great care with positioning. Moving with gentle increments is the way to go, and get someone to help you, but really work on getting the top-to-bottom integration right, as well as the imaging.
When it comes to amplification, you will see that these speakers' efficiency is a little above average but their impedance is only 4 Ω. So solid state amplification should be a minimum of 60W really, and a good 40W valve amp with 4 Ω taps can be a good match. More power (particularly with a high damping factor) will really grip these speakers and of course TAD's own amplification is pretty much the ideal companion.