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Reviewer’s Notebook: TAD CR-1 Loudspeakers & Wireworld Platinum Eclipse Cable

Reviewer’s Notebook: TAD CR-1 Loudspeakers & Wireworld Platinum Eclipse Cable

Everyone’s heard the old saw that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Some weeks ago during my evaluation of the TAD CR-1 loudspeaker I snapped one of the banana terminations of the Wireworld Platinum Eclipse speaker cable. Dang. I’d grown acclimated to Wireworld’s pure silver flagship wire and for a variety of reasons I thought it was doing an especially good job bringing out the best from the demanding TADs, the finest stand-mounted speaker I’d ever experienced. (TAS’ Cover story Issue 205)

In any case, I was not lacking for cables and was prepared to substitute the Wireworld with other wires that I had on hand–TARA Labs, Kimber Kable and Synergistic Research, excellent wires all–fairly expensive yet by today’s standards, not outlandishly so.

With the Wireworld soon to depart back to the factory for repair I didn’t spend a huge amount of time making sonic comparisons between cables. Just enough to say the Wireworld sounded a bit more lively,  a little less veiled and a bit weightier in the bass.  The cables returned a couple weeks later as I was finishing my allotted time with the TAD–now being driven by the TAD M600 monoblock amps. Prior to putting the Platinum Eclipse back in the system, I took a last listen to a few tracks, and shut down the amps after pausing the Audio Research CD5 on the track  of Linda Ronstadt’s “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” (the title seemed somehow fitting).  A minute or so later I powered back on the M600s and hit Play on the ARC. Whump. What the…? I reached for the volume control to lower the level. Yes I was playing this track loud when I left off but I had no idea it was this loud and where did all the bass drum weight and skin resonance come from, the percussive attack and the slap of dynamics and the gradations of micro-detail? The wire changed the profile, and the size of the system footprint.  Honestly I haven’t heard enough cable in this stratospheric range to conclude that the Wireworld stands alone. But it was a remarkable display of resolution and transparency. One thing I do know is that wire like this only makes sense  in the context of system capable of the highest levels of resolving power and frequency extension because this effect wasn’t nearly as pronounced with smaller, dynamically limited speakers or modest electronics.  This is all to say the reviewing process is never complete. That system synergies are not always predictable and that issues sometimes arise in a most serendipitous way. Fact is,  I failed to make this observation until both product reviews were already published and for that I apologize. The good news is that it only makes the Wireworld and the TAD emerge all the more impressive. Sheesh, what a system. Wireworld Platinum Eclipse. Price: $16,400 8ft/pr.Reviewer’s Notebook: TAD CR-1 Loudspeakers & Wireworld Platinum Eclipse Cable

Tags: TAD LABORATORIES

Neil Gader

By Neil Gader

My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.

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