![]() The two TAD loudspeakers, the big brother Reference One (TAD-R1) and the Compact Reference (TAD-CR1) are Jones’ designs. Andrew Jones is a familiar name to many audiophiles, he is previously the Chief Engineering at KEF, the venerable hifi loudspeaker manufacturer from the UK. TAD’s entry to the high-end is spearheaded by Andrew Jones, Director and Chief Engineer for TAD Laboratories. If you are a regular here, you would know that we had been time and again impressed with what TAD had brought out over the last couple of years. For us at Hifi-Unlimited, it has been a fantastic journey with TAD. With this pedigree in pro-audio, TAD is now bringing its technical excellence to consumer audio. If you go to TAD’s website ( ), it has a ‘Professional’ section that lists its studio monitor model (the TSM-2201-LR which Big E wrote about a few months ago) and a range of their raw speaker units. TAD’s speaker units and studio monitors are widely used in recording studios, concert halls and movie theatres. Why? It is because TAD was active only in the professional arena. However, as mentioned earlier, TAD is not a new set up, the TAD name has been in existence for 30 years but unknown to the audiophile consumers like us. TAD is Pioneer’s ‘Lexus’ entry into the high-end marketplace. Pioneer needs to differentiate its high-end offerings from its mass market products, and just like its compatriots in the automobile industry, where Honda set up Acura, Nissan has Infiniti and Toyota has Lexus, Pioneer brought out its TAD brand. TAD is Pioneer’s entry vehicle to the high-end. will undertake the development, manufacturing and commercialization of new high-end speakers and electronics.” For more on TAD Laboratories’s corporatization, refer to Pioneer’s press release here. Pioneer is leveraging its 70-year history in speaker production with the official incorporation of TAD as a subsidiary designed to introduce studio quality loudspeakers for high definition home entertainment. TAD is not exactly new, Pioneer said that “TAD has been a department within Pioneer for the past thirty years, dedicated to providing the highest-expression of audio technology. This new company will represent the highest expression of Pioneer technology in all categories evolving what TAD™ has meant in the professional recording studio for over 30 years to the world of high-end home”. Incorporated on October 1st 2007, this Pioneer subsidiary aims “to elevate the standard of performance for high fidelity audio equipment. Technical Audio Devices Laboratories Inc. Set up in this way, this loudspeaker system occupies a footprint not smaller than a mid-size floorstander (think Wilson Sophia or Magico Q3 for example), though visually they don’t look quite big. The two of them are so one-piece that I can’t imagine using the TAD-CR1 without the TAD-ST1 stands. Anyone taking a first look at the TAD-CR1 will know there is nowhere for it to go (definitely not on a bookshelf) except on its dedicated stand, in account of its bulk and its weight. ![]() While the TAD-CR1 is not a floorstander, calling it a bookshelf loudspeaker will be a total misnomer. However, if anyone were to judge the TAD-CR1 based on its size and price without hearing how they actually sound, that would be a great pity.ĪV Designs, TAD’s exclusive dealer in Malaysia, told me that at this price the TAD-ST1 speaker stands dedicated to the TAD-CR1 are included, they are not an optional item like in some other countries. It is, as far as I know, the most expensive non-floorstanding hifi loudspeakers at this point in time. The TAD-CR1 being a standmount defies this expectation. This matter with their price is further exacerbated if an audiophile insists that there must be a direct correlation between price and size, i.e., the higher the price the bigger the speaker should be. Let’s first get one thing out of the way – at RM148,000 a pair, the Technical Audio Devices Compact Reference (TAD-CR1) loudspeakers are very expensive. ![]()
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