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Tube Audio Design owners-hello!

cries55

cries55

Active Member
Hi Folks- I am lucky enough to own a TAD 150 signature preamp and a pair of TAD-1000 power amps. Love em all, and am shattered by Paul G's death. I would love to chat with other owners about tubes, upgrades, choice of other components etc. Is anybody out there? Also I am a vinyl guy, so add that to the mix.
BTW- the thing that is driving me most at this point is tube choice. I am currently running kt120's and siemens el34's with mullard cv4024's in the monoblocs, and mullard 7025's in the pre. Paul was mostly a new tube guy due, I guess, to how quickly these amps use up tubes. I have had these units less than a year. Thoughts?
Also I don't know much about the tube world, but these amps make my Bozaks sing!
peace
chuck
 
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When I get a chance I can post what I did to my 1000's, but it won't be for some time.
(there packed away an to many projects in front right now to finish them anytime soon)

I did a fair amount of work on the power supply and input tube circuitry on mine though.
 
So Folks, maybe I am reading this wrong but after 95 hits and only one response either no on wants to admit they own TAD gear, or they just don't want to admit it to me. ?; )
Strange that- but can someone help me understand?
 
Ive read a lot of good things about the signature pre and have been trying to find one for a couple years now but always seem to be too late when they are for sale.

How do you like yours, what would you say are its strengths and weaknesses in your opinion?

I like that it has a remote and home theater passthru.
 
cries55 said:
So Folks, maybe I am reading this wrong but after 95 hits and only one response either no on wants to admit they own TAD gear, or they just don't want to admit it to me. ?; )
Click to expand...

Or maybe there just aren't many owners around these parts.

jeff
 
cries55 said:
I am lucky to own pair of TAD-1000 power amps. Love em, I would love to chat
with other owners about tubes, upgrades, choice of other components etc. Is anybody out there?. I have had
these units less than a year. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

What's up chuck,
I inherited a pair of TAD-1000's from my dear brother, which brings life to my a pair of Tannoy DMT-15 (studio monitors).
The 1000's match up nicely with the DMT-15's 50 to 400 Watt 8Ω specs without a glitch what-so-ever on all formats
including Disc, Vinyl, Reel to Reel and even cassettes. The TAD's are very accurate and responsive at high volumes
depending on the source. My current tube complement utilizes (2) EL34 Green Miniwatt Mullards priming (4) Genalex
made in England (printed label), KT88 sC Z MADE IN UK. (opposite side). (Mullard?). This setup has been in constant use
for two years now, and sounds fantastic. There are a lot of people out here, that don't like the Tad-1000, I disagree.
 
All is possible ad perhaps there aren't many owners about, but thanks folks for the feedback you did give. DLady, which 12ax are you using if you don't mind saying and why do folks not like the gear? I looked long and hard for neg feedback before I bought these, and perhaps it had to do with Pauls passing, but I really couldn't find much. And what I did find didn't compare with the pos feedback that I found, and even more for the TAD 150 sig. Anybody out there want to tell me what the issue's are(might be opening a can of worms here, especially if I want to resell but oh well. Thanks in advance. peace chuck
 
cries55 said:
DLady, which 12ax are you using if you don't mind saying
and why do folks not like the gear?
Click to expand...

Hay! Chuck,
I'm using VALVO (Holland) ECC 83's with the stylized falcon logo on the back (early 1960's).
Your question:"why do folks not like the gear?". beats Me?. I've read articles suggesting that
the manufacturing quality of the TAD-1000 had slacked off due to economic reasons. Others
have claimed that the frequency response falters at the low end. I have been reading this kind
stuff over the last few years since I've been using the 1000's. I do not notice or hear any
problems. For me, Its mighty fine gear that I listen to everyday, and Hopefully the same
for you Chuck. Until later…..Lyndra
 
Thanks Lyndra- I love my stuff, and at this point so do all my friends with good ears. The build quality is great, but this was an early unit that paul just sold new late last year after doing 3 weeks of bench work. And as far as the low end is concerned I tune my systems with a Dayton Audio Omnimic. And according to it the LF oomph is just fine. Or are you speaking of the quality of the LF?
And to you thanks for the reply, I very much appreciate it. Now Paul said that those tele 12ax7's were one of his choice apparently. I am using mullards myself and it sounds great.
 
I didn't think the Stock 1000's sounded bad, sounded pretty decent to me.
(measured decent as well, I like little more air on the top, tighter bottom)

But I felt there was more performance left on the table, I redid the supply
a bit, changed the 12AX7 out to a triode strapped 6EJ7 and redid the Fbk.

The changes I made improved the amps for me, I'm not done yet nor have
any documentation yet on what I have done or what the final build will be.

The build and parts quality is pretty good, with a little room for "upgrading"
here and there or you could call it just "builders choice" on what to do/use.

That's pretty much my assessment to my testing here.. :)
 
Thanks kegger. I was wondering if you could share the differences in how it sounds when you are done. Also, are you open to repeating the build if it turns out well?Also any thoughts on the preamp TAD -150 signature?
peace
chuck
 
If you have a tube amp that makes Bozaks sing, I wouldn't change a thing. I tried at least a dozen tube rigs on my Tobin mods 302 Urbans and never had any luck. On solid state they sounded like heaven, but tubes didn't get it done.:no: My research concluded that tubes didn't have near enough damping factor. I even found an original owners book written by Rudy himself that strongly recommended "a good solid state amp with the highest damping factor available". I always thought they would be fantastic if I could ever find the right tube rig, and it sounds like you have. I wonder if the TAD has a higher damping factor than most tube amps.:scratch2:
 
you know, the MC 2155 I had prior to these sounded great, with both 302's and the symphonies. But the TAD tube amp, as well as a cheap el34 driven chinese tube amp I used prior to this, both sounded great, better than the mac. The mac played smoothly at higher volumes, smoother than either tube amp, but tubes give a better seperation and sound stage, depth, and clarity. I understand the bozak and tube vs SS issue., but i didn't know it was about damping. Can you explain that to me like you would a 3rd grader?
 
Jay, can I ask what you did to your 1000's, and what the cost was? just for future reference, mind you. and I found the schematics at the BEZ site. I want to pitch an upgrade to my repair guy mike zuccaro and see what he says. I'm pretty sure he will talk me out of it, as he usually does with unnecessary work, but I want to know what to pitch.
peace
chuck
 
I just found your post, Chuck. I own a TAD 60 and love it. I'm sure the 1000's are a world apart though, so I can't comment on them. The thing I like about the 60 is it can be used in triode mode, penthode UL mode and biased for SE class A (1st 10 watts, then AB). It has adjustable feedback via a 250Kohm pot as well so you can add a little or a lot to the circuit.

I think the trouble with any TAD is that they aren't very common and the folks that have them (including myself) didn't have access to Paul's modifications and/or mindset in regards to the circuitry, so there just isn't any real info out there regarding his designs. The BEZ site has a schem of their model T8C-60 and after I checked it against my actual TAD-60, I found a few resisters and caps (mostly in the PS circuit) that are different values from the schematic. Otherwise, they're the same amp IMO.

The 60 has great synergy with my Altec 604's and KLH 6's. It just sounds right to me. I've used JJE34L's, EH 6CA7's and SED "Flying C" 6550C's for the output, with the 6550C's being my longtime favorites. The bass extension is the best of the three, IMO.

I read somewhere, or, maybe even Paul himself told me that the 12AU7's provide less difference in the sound when rolled, but trying a different 12AX7 will have the biggest influence on sound. I used RCA cleartops for the AU7's for a longtime and only recently rolled a pair of JRC 6189's in and I'm very happy with them. I've been using a Russian Mullard re-issue 12AX7 and I like it, it has a wide open mid-range, good clean highs and is very neutral, I think.

I just wanted to chime in with my very small contribution to your post, good luck and let us know how you do. :thmbsp:
 
Thanks Francis- (my sons name, my middle name, my grandfathers name btw). I'm so happy to hear you like yours as much as I do. I am new to this hobby, a year or so seriously involved, so I am vulnerable to negative feedbackitis. is the 60 an integrated?
 
Yes it is, so to speak. It only has one input and it has a "trim" pot that is used as a volume control when no preamp is used. 1V input can drive it to full volume.

It's a very versatile amp. That might be why some people would think negatively about it. "It does too many things, so it can't be good." :scratch2:

I wouldn't agree.

Don't let the negativity discourage you, everyone has an opinion, and especially those that really understand the circuitry of good amplifiers. There are so many ways a great amp can be built and used that there will always be someone claiming theirs is better. Certainly there can be a worst, but I don't believe that Paul's work is anywhere near the bottom of the list. I am of the opinion that he built some very affordable, very good sounding and reliable electronics.

I figure if I like it, that's really all that counts. :thmbsp:

Mine was built in Nov. 2006 and still had 6 months warranty left on it when I bought it. It's been rock solid for 5 years with the exeception of the 4A main fuse that came with it failing after I started using the 6550C's. At Paul's suggestion, I bumped it up to a 125V 5A fast blow and haven't had any problems since.

I have spent the past few weeks learning the circuit, but allthough I can trace out the schematic and get a sense of how it works, it's beyond my ability to see where improvements could be made, other than maybe simple upgrades like using higher quality components in key places. I've managed to identify the manufacture origin of most of the parts used, and I haven't found any obvious "red flags."

I do wish I had talked with Paul more when he was alive...:sigh:
 
Yes me too- I only learned of pauls death in the middle of doing the deal to buy these amps. It was cross country, I had to sell gear to do it and it took a couple of weeks. I almost backed out because I loved the idea of being able to talk to the designer/builder if anything went wrong. But I'm glad I followed thru.

Mine are an early build model but one of the last that paul sold. they are in the audioasylum archives, bought from chris adams. I NEVER see these for sale, and I was looking. listening last night they sounded great.

I am waiting for a quad of mullard el34's to see if they will change the sound much. will post. peace and thanks chuck
 
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