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Review: Tube Audio Design TAD 150 Tube preamp

Category: Preamps

The Tube Audio Design TAD 150 Pre-amp is a reference level pre-amp that I believe will rival ANY pre-amp and ANY price.

The TAD 150 replaced a ten year old Musical Design SP-2B which was very good for its day, but the TAD 150 really did pick up where the Musical Design Piece left off.

The improvements were from top to bottom, the separation, and detail are much improved as well as this unit's ability to dig deeper in the music, and I hate to use this because it sounds so cliché, but yes, I'm hearing things that was just hinted at or simply not there at all with my previous pre-amp. The tone, accuracy, and soundstage of this unit is truly holographic and 3D. It is the most natural sounding pre-amp I have ever owned or Auditioned, but even more spectacular is it's stability it sounds so effortless, you know the types that sound either like they are trying to hard, or trying to keep up, this unit never sounds strained or harsh even at loud volumes or complex passages! No matter loud or soft this unit integrity stays in tact.

So I could go on about how quiet it is, how covenant having a remote control is and so forth but I think you catch my drift. My recommendation is to at least audition the unit, you get your money back if you somehow convince yourself that you don’t like it, but to be fair it may or may not be for everyone based on your taste, but I can almost guarantee that you would have to pay at least $5000 dollars to get anything that comes close.

Associated gear
Musical Concepts CDT-4 transport

Musical Design DAC 1A20 Platinum.

Custom built (By Bizzie Bee) S.E.T. amp using 6AS7 tubes(5W.P.C.)

Bizzie Bee Frozen interconnects throught whole system including Digital Cable.

Speaker Cables are a home brew using Radio Shack RG-58 Coax.

Speakers are Klipsch Quartets. Highly Modified with Auricaps, Goertz copper foil inductors and solen Fast cap.

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jswillis73
eagleman6722
217 posts
 
Review #2

I have had the opportunity to live with this piece for six weeks or so. My Joe-Zen power cord and Signal cable IC's are starting to break in. Soundstage is even wider and deeper. Quality of recordings are very revealing good and bad. This unit will stay in my system for quite a while. Can't wait to upgrade my CD (Adcom GCD600) and Mod my McCormack DNA-1.

Eagleman
risabet
17 posts
 
I recently replaced a Counterpoint SA-1000 with the TAD-150. On first listen, the 150 broadened the soundstage to beyond the edges of the speakers, added realistic layers of depth, and provided a black background from which the music emerged to fill the room. I look forward to allowing the unit, to break-in, to upgrade the power cord, and to roll some tubes in the unit to fine tune the sound. I do wish that the MC section had more gain, volume levels are satisfactory but the volume control is at about 3 o'clock.
risabet
17 posts
 
The pre-amp continues to get better. The soundstage has filled in and the frequency response is now smoother and more extended in both directions. Depth has become more delineated and voices, massed choral and solo are rounder, with more air around them then before. Generally the sound is closer to real, more believable, more like the real thing than with many other preamps at 3 times the money.

Finally used the headphone output w/Grado SR-80's, the only thing to say is DAMN, that is an awesome sound.
phd
1,315 posts
 
Jswillis73 and I have alot in common in that we both owned & enjoyed the Musical Design SP-2B for sometime. The fact that he has recommended the highly regarded TAD 150 and also because of the excellent posts on it above, I want one!
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