Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

The specs in this review and in TAD's marketing webpage do not include maximum SPL, which is useful in determining the maximum signal crests which can be accomodated relative to a specific propagation distance and Lref (reference level). The 200W maximum power handling is presumably a thermal limit rather than a nonlinear distortion based limit or mechanical excursion based limit, and that thermal limit is presumably relative to a longish time averaged interval of music signal rather than accomodating signal crests without significant mechanical clipping.

Looking at KEF's published specifications for the Blade Two Meta for comparison, KEF lists max SPL at 116_dB, but with no SPL filter weighting or other conditions mentioned.

Audio Engineering Society has recently published AES75-2023,
"Abstract: This standard details a procedure for measuring maximum linear sound levels of a loudspeaker system or driver using a test signal called Music-Noise. In order to measure maximum linear sound levels meaningfully and repeatably, a signal is required whose RMS and peak levels as functions of frequency have been shown to be representative of program material. Various existing standards define noise-based test signals which, like Music-Noise, have incorporated the knowledge that typical program material has a diminishing RMS level with increasing frequency, but Music-Noise uniquely also features a relatively constant peak level as a function of frequency, so that the crest factor (peak level – RMS level) increases with frequency, which an analysis on a large variety of music and other content has revealed is an important additional characteristic of typical program material. The specified procedure determines a loudspeaker’s maximum linear sound levels by incrementally increasing the Playback Level of Music-Noise until a stop condition is met: either an unacceptable change in the transfer function’s magnitude or an unacceptable change in the coherence of the transfer function."

I appreciate the measurements already included in these reviews, appreciate the significant effort that goes into providing those, and understand that J.C.Atkinson is not likely in need of more work to keep himself busy. That said, it would be better to see max SPL IAW AES75-2023 included in Stereophile's published measurements of loudspeakers, not only because the data itself is very useful, but also because publishing that would bring added useful considerations to the reader's attention, get them thinking more about accomodating signal crests without clipping, electrical or mechanical, in high quality playback.

More information about M-Noise and related measurements are detailed at the following link.
https://m-noise.org/

That Julia Wolfe recording is great! I'm on a Grisey kick at the moment. I don't know if it's your kind of thing but I'm totally hooked on this https://i.imgur.com/gXcAeQZ.png

So… low impedance and sensitivity don’t matter anymore after having been branded bad boys by reviewers for ages?

...if I could afford it. But first, if I'm paying $32,000, I'd ask that they make it less ugly before they deliver it to me. Its visual design is discombobulated and all-over-the-place: There is a white ring around the upper drivers, and a black ring around the lower; there is an unpleasantly cheesy, orangish wood veneer coupled with metal side panels. At the very least, change the white ring to black to bring some unity and harmony to the visual design.

Just because the sound engineers can produce a good-sounding speaker doesn't mean they can produce one that looks good. Sheesh. For $32,000?

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[please forgive my poor English]

First of all, please note the question mark in the title, as well as the words "more or less" and "reminiscent", as I am aware that, otherwise, the title could trigger reactions (after all, we are talking about a 4 Ohms low sensitivity speaker).

Many thanks Herb for this thouroughful review. Always a pleasure to read you, sincerely.

I listened to the 1st European pair a few months ago, at a dealer's. It was a burnt in pair, touring in Europe. The dealer is still waiting for his own pair.

The partnered electronics may not be have been ideal, but what I could hear later in the afternoon, just before attending a concert the same evening, became interesting. It is that experience, which specifically focused on the midrange, that I wished to share.

I listened to lieder (piano and baritone voice here) through the CE1-TX. Though there were no horn speaker under the hand to compare, I was struck by two things: the "rightness" of the piano (no high bass/low-mid emphasis which usually makes sound the left hand on a Steinway like a Harbeth - I own a pair of Harbeth M30.2 Anniversary, I'm definitely not trying to shock anyone here).

But most of all, I was struck by the incredible clarity, expressiveness and naturalness of the voice. We played at concert volume, at least subjectively (I sat approx. 3,5m-4m away from the speakers). Then, 120 minutes later, I was sitting right in front of the German baritone Benjamin Appl, 10th row (in a concert hall endowed with a very good acoustics - remember? I'm the "posh tippler", as you nicknamed me ;-) And Benjamin Appl sang exactly the same piece of music I heard on the CE1-TX two hours earlier (I had chosen them purposely for the TADs of course). The way the CE1-TX is able to project voices (in the best sense of the word) in a nearly "live concert way", is astounding; voices remain perfectly natural though, without coarseness or "astringency". And this reminds me a little of bit of horns (the best ones, not the fatiguing ones). To reach such a sound pressure level and expressiveness, a powerful amplifier might be required, though your feedback on what the low-powered First Watt Sit3 (30W facing 4 Ohms) is capable of with that speaker, is really intriguing and, for the prospect, is worth investigating.

Of course, one must not (or should not) play at such high sound pressure levels in town, with neighbors. Therefore the importance of another point: how do the CE1-TX behave at low, even very low level? (Steve Guttenberg in his YT video review seems to say that they still sound great at low level, even at very low level).

The speakers should come back at the dealer's in a few weeks. I will be able to assess them more thoroughly. They seem definitely promising, maybe even one of a kind.

Another point that struck me in your review was that the Harbeth 30.2 Anniversary (that I own, in a 2nd system) is the one speaker this TAD "reminds [you] of most"; not the Joseph Audio Pusar Graphene (which has nevertheless a higher-grade Scanspeak tweeter than the M30.2; the treble of the M30.2 is very good -you even wrote "gorgeous"-, but in absolute terms, I find that it lacks "magic" and air by comparison - the TAD, by contrast, are champions here). The TAD CE1-TX may remind me a little of my M30.2 Anniversary too (just a little, as far as I am concerned), but the CE1-TX are quite a different animal for sure. It seems they convey music in a unique way for their size. To be confirmed...

Kind regards from Europe.

PS: I live in such a tiny country that there is no need to be a tippler, even less to be posh, to access great concert halls just next door ;-)
Nevertheless, I like "posh tippler". I keep it. Thanks!

If you ever hear me attempt to describe speaker performance with words like that, poor cold water on me and tell me I'm hopped up on goofballs. The subjective review is a ghost story.

Jerry Garcia first recorded 'Sugaree' on his eponymously named first solo album 'Garcia'. Different altogether than EC's song. Also, if Herb's friend had never heard (of) EC, how did he know 'THAT was how that recording was supposed to sound'? These may be fabulous sounding speakers, but like most standmounts, not pleasing aesthetically in the least.