First 2 hours of TAD-60

fredv · June 2006

I took the TAD-60 and did a quick set up - swapped out the Mac and keep everything else.
Gears were GTA SEP-1 pre, Adcom GDA-700 DAC, Sony transport, and Carver
AL-III+ speakers, Audioquest sidewinder and bedrock. Tubes came with Svetlana EL34,
JJ 12AX7, 2 x EH 12AU7. I listened for an hour and replaced the EL34 with JJ KT77, then
listened for another 1.5 hours. My initial impression is that the image, depth of sound
stage, and detail beat the Mac hands down. The Mac wins at the bottom by it's raw power.
Don't get me wrong, the TAD-60 is not lack of bass.

I am very happy with the amp especially it is quite features rich.The adjustable feedback
is really a nice touch. It allows me to fine tune the balance of dynamic and warmness.
The triode mode give richer sound; however, not for the low efficiency Carver. It is
a common ground amp, so maybe I should move back the 1.2TL ..... Oh, tube rolling,
it's ability to use 6550 and KT88 open up more options - I can roll the small tubes as well
as the big tubes

This amp can also runs as SET, but I doubt it can drive any of my
speakers ... Anyhow, attached 2 pcitures that I took while it was warming, nothing
fancy, very generic tube amp look.

Added a fully naked pic for her with Valve Art 6550.

F1nut · June 2006

Cool!

Looks good with the cover off.:)

dragon1952 · June 2006

The KT88's would definitely give the bass a boost although possibly at the expense of some of the EL34's more pleasing attributes. Nice looking amp!

Early B. · June 2006

Fantastic! She's cute when naked, too.

SCompRacer · June 2006

Nice looking amp! This guy is located 25 miles from me. His 15 day free trial with a 20% restock fee split between Norm and I puts it on my future try list.:D I see he offers 100 WPC mono blocks too.

organ · June 2006

Very cool amp. What kind of output tubes does your Mac use? I'm sure you could get as much bass out of the TAD when you start rolling 88's and 6550's. They have more bottom end than 34's.

I love the options available on that amp. Adjustable feedback and the ability to run in SET is just insane.
I have my amp running in push/pull triode.

Are you planning to write a review? This looks like a very solid piece of equipment.

Maurice

janmike · June 2006

Need to get me some of that tube gear some day. Looks good.

fredv · June 2006

SCompRacer wrote:

I see he offers 100 WPC mono blocks too.

That's the reason why the seller sold to me after 2.5 months. He liked the amp so much that he decided to go all out to the mono blocks!!

Since Paul is so close to you, give him a call, maybe you can simply walk in for a demo!!

fredv · June 2006

Very cool amp. What kind of output tubes does your Mac use?

The Mac is 200wpc SS. The only things it lights up are the light bulbs

Are you planning to write a review?

Yes, I will write a more thorough "2 cents" for the amp. I bought a quad of 6550 from Troy recently, so I will be able to find out the change of using EL34 and KT88 types of tubes with this amp. I just need more time and less work, LOL.

SCompRacer · June 2006

fredv wrote:

Since Paul is so close to you, give him a call, maybe you can simply walk in for a demo!!

It looks like I'll get a demo this Saturday at a friends house who is closer to me than Wheaton is. I may even go with to pick it up.:D

Demiurge · June 2006

That thing looks sweet. Nice!

fredv · June 2006

SCompRacer wrote:

It looks like I'll get a demo this Saturday at a friends house who is closer to me than Wheaton is. I may even go with to pick it up.:D

That's cool. Please let us know what you think about this. I am thinking about picking up a second TAD-60 from Paul to bimap the Carver

provided what my manager just told me is real - my team will be awarded as outstanding Q2 accomplishment, and the whole team will be sharing the spot bonus. If that is the case and you have interest to play with it more, we can work something out - the cost for you is simply the shipping to send it back to me

SCompRacer · June 2006

I surely hope the bonus comes through for you. I don't know many folks that wouldn't appreciate a little extra coin. Plenty of ways to use it.:D

That is very kind of you to extend that offer. I am pretty tight for cash right now after purchasing the MIT IC's/speaker cables and TT cartridge. Since I have no desire to get back into or work on race cars anymore, I will generate some cash this weekend by selling some precision tools I no longer use.

Normanality had horizontally biamped his Carver AL-III+'s with two of the McAlister amps and it was AWESOME. It made me want to make my Silver Amazings biwirable and pick up a second amp.

Normanality · June 2006

SCompRacer wrote:

It looks like I'll get a demo this Saturday at a friends house who is closer to me than Wheaton is. I may even go with to pick it up.:D

LOL let the cat outa the bag did ya?

Yeah, my name is Norm and I'm a tube-aholic. I ordered one and will be picking it up Saturday first thing. I also ordered a matched set of the 88's so I'll have some interesting tube rolling ahead.

I'll be playing it mostly on my Carver AL III's but also the SDA 1C's I'm buying this weekend.

Normanality · June 2006

Fred, I'm looking forwards to your impressions!

This is my first foray into audio output tubes in over 20 years.
(the McAlister doesn't count since it uses TV tubes with no rolling)

Don't forget to remove them tube covers

fredv · June 2006

Hi Norm,

Which 88 did you order? I have a quad of Valve Art 6550 from TroyD. I think these were made by Shuguang's. I will borrow my brother's KT88EH's this weekend. It is going to be interesting to hear how this thing sounds in different 88's and 34's.

fredv · June 2006

Normanality wrote:

Fred, I'm looking forwards to your impressions!

This is my first foray into audio output tubes in over 20 years.
(the McAlister doesn't count since it uses TV tubes with no rolling)

Don't forget to remove them tube covers

Right on, she looks a lot better when she is fully naked - strip the tube shields and cage!! Oh yeah, even sexier with the inplanted booties (KT88)

LOL, I have been listening to sand amp until lately. My tube experience is
somewhat limited. My impression probably isn't worth anything, but I will say something

So far, I am still limited on the first 3 hours of session. I didn't have time to play with it yesterday due to work. I hope I will have more time over the weekend ....

halo · June 2006

I sent Paul an email to inquire about the price and the sale is over. Almost $1500 fully loaded now - you got a great deal Fred.

Normanality · June 2006

Halo wrote:

I sent Paul an email to inquire about the price and the sale is over. Almost $1500 fully loaded now - you got a great deal Fred.

Really?

It's still listed as on sale on his website.

Just click the add to cart.

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/bizzyb/AGONSALE0206.html

Normanality · June 2006

fredv wrote:

Hi Norm,

Which 88 did you order? I have a quad of Valve Art 6550 from TroyD. I think these were made by Shuguang's. I will borrow my brother's KT88EH's this weekend. It is going to be interesting to hear how this thing sounds in different 88's and 34's.

See what happens when I post from the office? Brainfade.
I ordered the matched set of JJ's (KT77) from Paul.

halo · June 2006

I followed the link he sent in his email response. Guess its still on sale

Give me a call Norm

fredv · June 2006

I had a longer listening session last night. This time I stayed with the KT77 but replaced the EH 12AU7's with RCA clear top 12AU7's. The EH's were a little edgy to my ears. The RCA's are more tubey and add clearer mid definition. Norm, you may want to add a pair of NOS 12AU7 to your "to buy"
list. This amp responds well to this roll.

So, what can I say about this amp so far? The imaging is excellent. Placement of the instruments is vivid, I can tell where are the drum, violent, flute etc. Presentation is very natural. Female vocal is to die for - very sweet sounding. The bass is tight. However, it is not very forgiving. If the source is not good, she will amplify every flaw that you don't want to hear. Jacky Chan's movie Myth CD is an example. I didn't know the recordings of the orchestrate theme s
were so bad until last night - flat and absolutely no sense of dimension. It didn't
sound half as bad before!!! This amp's triode mode is not as "weak" as what I
said earlier. It can drive the Carver in triode mode just fine as long as you
don't listen at reference level all the time:-). In triode mode, the sound is
noticeably richer from midrange and down.

Norm, Halo, you maybe able to haggle the price if you pay cash and local pick
up. I think the package price of the amp and the APC is an excellent value. If
I buy another TAD-60, I will go with this package.

Normanality · June 2006

Thanks for the info Fred! I'm looking forwards to picking mine up tomorrow morning. Paul has already installed and biased the JJ's.
For now, it's a game called audio shuffle.
One PP150 heading to Noel.
One VTL 2.5 heading to Victor.
Move the ML33 to the A system.
Setup the LAudio preamp and a Parasound DAC 2000 Ultra on the B system for Anonymouse to demo on Sunday

I'm gonna need a couple days to recoup from my weekend LOL.

Normanality · June 2006

Alrighty. Just got back with the amp. Damn it's heavy!
This is how to package a tube amp! Rigid foam encasing the entire amp and double boxed. I wish everyone packed like this.

Quick snapshot before I go install it and disappear for a few hours of listening.

ND13 · June 2006

Looks Great!!! Can't wait to hear it when I come up to pick up the McAlister.:)

Normanality · June 2006

Rich came by for the virgin voyage of the TAD 60. Right out of the box, the music was warm, detailed top to bottom with an every so slight rolloff in the sub region. It wasn't so much missing anything down deep as it wasn't quite as fast as I've become acustomed with the McAlister. We played all sorts of music and there is no doubt the TAD 60 can drive the Carver AL III's easily, even with the modded subwoofer. Yello "Flag" made the walls shake while remaining clean with highs and mids separated in the soundstage.

I couldn't be happier with the purchase and the build quality of this unit.
The APC power center is a nice addition with the package.

A couple more shots of my "B" system currently.

ND13 · June 2006

Sweet!!!!

halo · June 2006

Looks great Norm! Wish I could've stuck around to demo the amp but Jess wanted to get going and Rich's back wasn't / isn't up to the task of getting me up there

. Guess you'll have to make a trip out to my neck of the woods with the TAD :eek:

.

Normanality · June 2006

Halo wrote:

Looks great Norm! Wish I could've stuck around to demo the amp but Jess wanted to get going and Rich's back wasn't / isn't up to the task of getting me up there . Guess you'll have to make a trip out to my neck of the woods with the TAD :eek: .

Roger Wilko. So, where's the report on the VTL?

halo · June 2006

Normanality wrote:

Roger Wilko. So, where's the report on the VTL?

Consider it *SOLD*

SCompRacer · June 2006

I concur with my colleague. Wynton Marsalis sounded wunnerful too.

One thing the McAlister does exceptionally well is deep, hard hitting, makes you think of a big old sand amp bass. He sure has a lock on them custom wound output trannies. The TAD runs away in features, appearance and build finesse. Keep burning and see if it gets better.

Fred sure done good. :cool: If he wasn't getting that bonus I would put him in for a raise.:D

Rich's back wasn't / isn't up to the task

You gotta remember Im an old man.:eek: I can barely get myself around.:D

First 2 hours of TAD-60

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