Posted by Tan,
I count myself a TAD fan. TAD’s disc player and loudspeakers
are permanent residents in my audio system since the day I got smitten by the
TAD-CR1 loudspeakers. So, when AV Designs, TAD’s distributor in Malaysia, told
me that TAD’s President Mr. Shinji Tarutani was coming to the KLIAVS 2023, I
jumped at the opportunity to meet up with him. We sat down for a conversation
on all things TAD. Here is a brief write-up (this is not a verbatim
transcription, but rather I hope to convey the essence of our discussion).
Tan: About TAD’s motto we see on TAD’s website and in
brochures – “The Artistic Intent, Intact”, can you share with us the thinking
and the philosophy behind it?
Mr. Tarutani: That is the guiding principle for our designs.
You see, the recordings we listen to is the product of multiple parties – the singer, musician, producer, recording engineer, mastering engineer etc., each one of them contributes his/her artistry and professionalism to the process. The final product is the culmination of every party’s expression, their artistic intent. Our aim is to respect this artistry and professionalism, as such, our role is to reproduce everything they put on the recording faithfully, for you, the listener, to experience every bit of it.
The role of our electronics and loudspeakers is to retrieve all the details on every recording accurately, not adding, subtracting, or altering anything. We don’t want any coloration in our music reproduction.
Tan: Can you tell us a bit about your current product line-up?
Mr. Tarutani: Our home audio line-up is complete as of now with the latest additions of the TAD-GE1 (Grand Evolution) loudspeaker and the TAD-C1000 pre-amp in our Evolution Series.
We now have disc player/DAC, pre amp, power amp/monoblock and multiple loudspeaker models in both the Reference and Evolution Series. We are one of the very few HiFi brands in the world from which a user can assemble a complete system.
I wonder whether you have noticed something about our loudspeakers. Our loudspeaker designs come in pairs. Every floorstander model has a smaller brother in the form of a stand-mount/bookshelf, or, looking at it the other way round, every standmount/bookshelf model has a corresponding bigger floorstander version.
In the Reference Series, we have the R1TX (Reference One) and CR1TX (Compact Reference One), you can see similar design language from the floorstanding R1TX distilled down to the standmount CR1TX.
In the Evolution Series, we released the CE1TX (Compact Evolution One) first before its bigger brother, which is now being brought out as the GE1 (Grand Evolution One). The GE1 is the CE1TX extended to be a floorstander with an additional woofer.
Further down the line, we have the E1TX (Evolution One) and ME1 (Micro Evolution One) pair, where we took the top half of the E1TX and made it the ME1. The enclosures, the finishes and the drivers are of the same design.
There is an exception though. Our TAD-E2 (Evolution Two) floorstander is unique, in the sense that it will stand on its own without a smaller brother. The TAD-E2 serves the purpose for us to show that we can also do great loudspeakers apart from our normal design. The TAD-E2 2.5-way design is a departure from our usual 3-way design. The TAD-E2 does not use a coaxial driver for the tweeter and midrange, rather, the tweeter is set into a horn guide, which harks back to our early days of producing horn speakers, it is an expression of TAD’s early tradition.
Tan: I see that for source equipment, TAD focuses on disc player (CD/SACD) and DAC but not a streamer. Will TAD consider releasing one?
Mr. Tarutani: We currently have no plan to build a streamer. We see our music making role begin at the point where we receive the digital music signal. There are many excellent streamers available on the market now, our customers can choose one to match to our DAC and get great result.
By the way, do you notice that our Reference TAD-D700 disc player/DAC does not have a USB input? The reason is to keep our reference disc player pure and avoid any possible source of noise pollution. If you prefer to stream using USB but want to get the best performance by using the converter inside the TAD-D700, the best way is to use our DA1000TX or D1000TX (which are also standalone DACs in their own right), to receive the USB signal, and let one of the DA1000/D1000’s digital outputs (S/PDIF or AES/EBU) feed the TAD-D700. This is what AV Designs’s demo system in this Show does, and that is the best way to do it.
Tan: An interesting function on TAD’s stereo power amps is its ability to switch from stereo to bi-amping use. At the same time we also have the TAD-M700 monoblock. Comparing the bi-amp arrangement using two M700S to a pair of M700 monoblocks, which is better?
Mr. Tarutani: That is an interesting question, I was asked this quite a few times. We don’t like to delve into which way sounds better as listening preference is subjective, suffice to say that no listener will be disappointed with either, though my engineer did mention that using a pair of monoblocks could be more powerful. Both approaches are equally valid, it boils down to personal preference at the end of the day.
On the other hand, I’d like to ask you this, you have heard the TAD-R1TX driven by just one M700S power amp, right? Did you even find the performance inadequate?
Tan: No, I didn’t find anything amiss. I found the control, accuracy, speed, dynamics, scale etc. quite amazing even from just one M700S! I reckon using 1 stereo power amp, or biamp with 2, or using a monoblock pair is just a matter of how far you intend to push the performance envelope.
Tan: Some HiFi brands have regular product updates. Every 2-3 years they would come up with a mk2, mk3 etc.. However, TAD seems to have a very long product lifecycle, up to 10 years even. How do you decide that a model is due for an update?
Mr. Tarutani: We want our customers to enjoy their investment in TAD HiFi equipment for the long term, so we don’t do regular model changes just for the sake of it. We usually do a model change when the parts used are no longer available. Since new parts are used, we need to give it a new designation. Design improvements may be made in the new models, and most likely there would be sound differences since the parts are different, but whether it sounds better or not, again, our view is that it is a subjective matter for the listener to judge for himself/herself.
Do you know that in our lab we still use the first-generation TAD-R1 loudspeakers as our reference? Our engineers do their listening tests on the same reference loudspeakers in order to ensure that we always achieve a consistent TAD sound quality.
Tan: How about your future product development plan? Will TAD release something cheaper than the TAD-ME1 loudspeaker? Or will you come up with a speaker model above your flagship TAD-R1TX?
Mr. Tarutani: No, we’ll not be bringing out a loudspeaker below the TAD-ME1, we can’t achieve TAD quality and performance at a lower cost unfortunately.
On the other end of the scale, there are indeed some demand/queries for a bigger loudspeaker than the TAD-R1TX from some of our markets, such as China and Vietnam. We need to look into this further, we have not decided yet.
Tan: TAD has a ‘Professional’ division that makes raw loudspeaker drivers, but I don’t see TAD using these drivers in your finished loudspeaker models. Is the Professional division totally separated from the Home Audio division? Will these professional drivers be used in TAD’s future loudspeaker projects?
Mr. Tarutani: No, both are the same team. We have been making the Professional loudspeaker drivers since our early days, they are our important legacy and tradition. The professional loudspeaker units are currently not used in any of our finished home audio products, but I have a personal dream, my dream is to revive our horn loudspeaker designs from decades ago that use these drivers. Those loudspeakers were marketed under the Pioneer Exclusive name then, and they are still treasured by many enthusiasts till this day. However, nothing is concrete yet, but I hope I can realize this dream.
Well, as a TAD user yourself, which one would you like to see TAD do? Should we extend our lineup to include a bigger loudspeaker than the R1TX, or consider reviving our horn loudspeaker design with our Professional drivers?
Tan: Me? As a TAD fan I personally like to have a listen to TAD’s horn loudspeaker design. That will be a great audiophile experience as it is something hailing from TAD’s illustrious loudspeaker making tradition. Not that I don’t like to see a bigger TAD loudspeaker than the R1TX, but I believe the R1TX is already an awesome flagship loudspeaker in its own right.
Tan: What is TAD’s relationship with Pioneer? Is TAD a totally independent company now?
Mr. Tarutani: Pioneer still owns 100% of TAD. On the design, engineering, and commercial side, TAD is operating entirely separately from Pioneer, since Pioneer is no longer involved in home audio (Pioneer now focuses on car audio and ICE (in-car entertainment)).
In the last few years, we worked extensively to project TAD into the HiFi community. We participated in shows, we built up our distributor network, and I personally travelled to many places to gain greater exposure for TAD. We aim to build a greater awareness of the TAD brand as more and more audiophiles get to experience TAD’s performance and sound quality.
Tan: Indeed, I now see more news and reporting on TAD. It is great to see TAD getting the exposure that it deserves.
There were much about TAD that I would like to ask Mr. Tarutani, but time did not permit. Hope we’ll meet again in the future. I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Tarutani for his time and sharing. Looking forward to Mr. Tarutani’s future visits to KLIAVS and Malaysia.
