New TAD-60 Tube Amp...

halo

I'm picking it up on Weneday. It was the last '06 model. I'll be bi-amping my VR-2's :cool:

The new '07 model is out and it's on sale for $999.99 :eek: Retail is $2899 each! Grab 'em while you can (limited availability). LINK

Getting into tubes doesn't get any easier than this. Paul is an awesome guy. Customer Service is priority #1.

I'm not making anything here - I'm just a very satisfied customer

Normanality

You're going to love the extra power Victor!

These TADs offer so many options for tweaking the sound.
Currently, I'm happiest with 6550's on the bass and JJ's KT77 on the panel.

Be prepared, your room is going to get doubly warm with the extra tubes

SCompRacer

Congrats on the second TAD-60 Victor. Paul will be marketing a DAC soon, in the less than <$1K range.

fredv

Congrat, Victor. As Norm said, prepare for twice as warmer :-)
The '07 model is rated at 45 wpc RMS but peak at 120 like the '06. I wonder what is changed....

Ern Dog

This amp looks very solid and is at a good price. Wish I had the coin to buy one. Let us know how it sounds.

Ricardo

Congrats on the new addition....lots of TAD followers on this thread

I browsed through the link and the bookshelfs called my attention....sweet looking....but..$2499 list price....$380 sale price...$280 "demo"?? Do I smell something basically wrong here? Anyone of the locals has seen/heard those?

WilliamM2

Do I smell something basically wrong here?

The Aural Ersatz Sub caught my eye, good looking sub. $2499 list, $289 sale price? Does seem odd.

And he offers a 20 day home trial on "list" price items (20% re-stocking fee), but NO returns on sale items. That's usually the type of re-seller to avoid.

halo

The few people from CP that have been to my home know that my "listening room" was once an outdoor porch (which is now a poorly insulated enclosed porch). I had to use a Vornado space heater (highly recommend btw) to keep it toasty back there. We've made some other improvements so the cold isn't as big a problem as it used to be but I welcome the extra warmth provided by the tubes.

My Von's aren't as efficient as the InnerSounds so I'm happy to have MORE POWER too! (double bonus)

SCompRacer wrote:

Congrats on the second TAD-60 Victor. Paul will be marketing a DAC soon, in the less than <$1K range.

Ya but the amp has sucked my fund dry for the time being Plus I just got a new CDP

fredv wrote:

I wonder what is changed....

Read the product description Fred. New transformer allows use of 6L6GC's + the built in bias

Ern Dog wrote:

This amp looks very solid and is at a good price. Wish I had the coin to buy one. Let us know how it sounds.

Very solid build quality @ an excellent $ for what you get. If it sounds as good as the one I already have... :rolleyes:

WilliamM2 wrote:

The Aural Ersatz Sub caught my eye, good looking sub. $2499 list, $289 sale price? he offers a 20 day home trial on "list" price items (20% re-stocking fee), but NO returns on sale items. That's usually the type of re-seller to avoid.

No worries William. Rich bought the sub and, last I heard, it was very good. To those of you worried about dealing with Paul...DON'T BE. As I said before, Paul takes CS very seriously. Any issue or question I ever had was dealt with / answered very quickly.

This is a no brainer folks. After the deal is gone you're going to be kicking yourself for letting it pass you by. If you don't like it you can sell it on da 'gon.

SCompRacer

WilliamM2 wrote:

The Aural Ersatz Sub caught my eye, good looking sub. $2499 list, $289 sale price? Does seem odd.

And he offers a 20 day home trial on "list" price items (20% re-stocking fee), but NO returns on sale items. That's usually the type of re-seller to avoid.

Paul's way of advertising is to sell the product for little or no profit at first, then increase the pricing as he gains in popularity. It may sound screwy but that is the way he does it. It could hurt him in the end as folks remember that low pricing in the beginning. I'm no marketing major but I think most companies add all their markup in the beginning so no one gets in cheaply on the ground floor. Sonically and feature wise, the TAD-60 amps are worth much more than $999 and if your nearby and want a demo, come give em a listen and decide for yourself.

That sub worked great to enhance the lows in a two channel rig, but IMO it is marginal for home theatre use. (My friend thought differently). Maybe with a bigger amp.... I traded him my Aural Ersatz sub along with a Onkyo AVR for a very nice condition '96 Olds Cutlass with a bad tranny. My new work car. No more manual shifting. Life is good.

I have met Paul face to face and think he is great to deal with. I challenged him to bring that DAC over here cause it will take one hell of a DAC to best a Modwright SACD player.

fredv

IMHO, I think Paul's retail prices are a little exaggerated. This guy is a great engineer but probably needs to take a few more MBA courses

Rich, just curious, did you get a chance to try the 6CA7's?

SCompRacer

fredv wrote:

Rich, just curious, did you get a chance to try the 6CA7's?

No, I have been too busy with work and the away from home car project, but Norm has. I'm sure he will comment since you asked. Now that the car project is done, and if the wife doesn't claim dibs on me all next weekend, maybe he will come over with the tubes and hear what he is missing with my new + IC's.

I don't recall the list prices being that far out of line when we purchased our amps. I'll make Paul aware of the reaction to his ad's expressed by our fellow polkies.

SCompRacer

HTrookie wrote:

Anyone of the locals has seen/heard those?

No one that I am aware of. I was tempted to buy a pair for the price, but applied that money to other things.

halo

fredv wrote:

IMHO, I think Paul's retail prices are a little exaggerated. This guy is a great engineer but probably needs to take a few more MBA courses

SCompRacer wrote:

I don't recall the list prices being that far out of line when we purchased our amps. I'll make Paul aware of the reaction to his ad's expressed by our fellow polkies.

Already asked about that $ increase. His costs have skyrocketed. I still think his stuff is a helluva bargain.

My new TAD-60 has the 6CA7's as well as the Fro-Zen Cryo-Shields

fredv

Hey, maybe one of you guys can help HT to audition the bookselves while you are in Paul's shop :-)

Normanality

Hi Fred,

I've got complete sets of KT77's, 6CA7's and 6550's.

I've found that the KT77's offer more detail and better highs while the 6CA7's are smoother on the midrange. The 6550's haul **** on the bass.
That said, I'm biamping with KT77's and 6550's. The 6CA7's fall short on both fronts (with the Innersounds) YMMV

halo

fred - Paul has no "shop". We just pick it up from the UPS Store.

Norm - Thanks for the info. Paul seemed to think that the 6CA7 would be better on the bass amp than the 6550. He felt I'd be getting the slam of the 6550 w/ the midrange of an EL34. I'll roll 'em and see what I think the Von's may react differently.

Talked to Andy @ VTS and he's setting me up with RCA U7's and either RCA or Tung Sol X7's (which ever test better). If I don't like 'em I can send them back.

This is all moot if I manage an audition of Joey's Onix mini's and they knock the snot out of the VR-2's.

Joey_V

Halo wrote:

This is all moot if I manage an audition of Joey's Onix mini's and they knock the snot out of the VR-2's.

That would be a very interesting turn of events.

The ONLY way to know for sure is to bring over either the Minis or the VR2s.

Joey

halo

Rich and I are in complete agreement with you Joey...

You need to bring the mini's to my place - you already know they sound great at your place. I need to know if they'll sound great in mine.

Remeber that I had Norm's Carver's at my place and, while they were impressive, I find the VR-2's to be the better speaker. Not saying that the Carver is a POS but, to my ears, I prefer the Von's.

Joey_V

How to do this...

halo

coordination

fredv

The Mini's look really interesting, but the 86db efficiency really need 2 TAD-60's (which you have) to drive. Love to hear how they sound with the TAD's.

halo

My VR-2's are 87.5 dB anechoic (90 dB in room with boundary boost). One TAD-60 was doing just fine but I felt two would give me more (duh).

I don't know if the mini's can be bi-amped since they have a built in 350 watt powered woofer.