Calloway, I hired three movers, but remember that I had to take them to the second floor up a stairway. We took them up in the flight cases as my storage is also on that floor. The handles at each end of the flight cases helped doing this. We laid the first case on the floor and lifted it out placing it upright so I could carefully remove the wrapping. It was laid on one side with a rug under the lower side, so I could install the StillPoints component stands that I use instead of that provided by Tidal. On a dealers Tidals, the StillPoints component stands proved better than those provided by Tidal.
While I was doing this the men took the shipping case into the storage room and brought the other case up. They then helped me stand the first up and move into an approximate placement. Then, of course, this was all repeated on the other speaker.
The flight cases are an excellent solution for shipping. |
Kw13,
did you listen to the same recordings in your second audition?
Contrivas have the unique ability to show all the details of a recording whether they are good or bad.... |
tbg..how many people did it take to get your se's out of their flight cases and stand them up..?... |
All,
The key awe inspiring feature in my first audition was the complete cut out of vocal from the fabric of music. It was as tho there was a separate center speaker a few feet forward from the main speakers blasting away merrily on its own. I loved that. Even tho it was forward and aggressive by other speakers' standards, both I and my wife found it natural and relaxing. My wife in particular does not normally like forward sound and describes 800D as shouting at her with the same music, yet obviously fell for Contriva which in some way achieved greater aggression but without the tension. So where did that center speaker go on second audition? Has anyone had this experience? |
I am actually happy we found someone that heard the Tidals and didn't like them, even in one of the two auditions, cause it started getting spooky with no negative results about these speakers....lol
Kind Regards,
Mike
...still waiting for my Piano |
Kw13, your description of the change reminds me of something we experienced with the Contrivas after the wall to wall carpet had been renewed in the listening room. In this case, it took two sets of Harmonix RF-999 MT tuning feet to cross the line back from "plain" good to the uniquely emotionally laden performance that had put us flat on our back before. Far from claiming Harmonix feet are the remedy for all, it is one example of "small cause, big effect", so I'm with Tbg in pondering the suspicion the dealer may have tweaked (even a little bit) too much. |
Kw13, I don't know about your relationship with this guy, but acoustic room treatment and to a lessor degree speaker placement is very critical. He may not like what you like. If he will allow you to remote room treatments and reposition the speakers you may find you like them even more. I am still experimenting with my Contriva diacera SEs after nearly two months with them. I assure you that they are very revealing of everything. |
Alectiong,
No he changed nothing except speaker placement and acoutic treatment placement. I was very impressed originally and now very surprised by the change. Third time lucky (too) perhaps... |
Kw13,
could it be a change of placement or associated equipment that resulted in this change of opinions about the Contriva? |
Went back for second audition. This time Contriva not as impressive. The stand out vacal in first audition a few weeks ago was gone. Still very enjoyable but not much more special than any other high end pair. Dealer said he had optimized speaker position. More suited to classical music. Based on this, Scala (6 months ago) was clearly ahead - more intimate sound with tremendous soundstage. Will go back again August when Piano arrives with my amps. |
Calloway, be happy that you sold your other speakers. It took many months after I had the Tidals to sell my Acapella LaCompanellas.
I don't think I will be selling these speakers. Maybe those closing my estate will be. |
...it would be great if i still had them but alas, they were sold.won't be long.. |
Calloway,
I understand the excitement of waiting for new gear. But it can't be that bad if you are waiting while enjoying Piega c-40s;-) |
tbg...my 'se'contrivas are due to be delivered the week of the 12th of july...so, all-in-all not too long to wait.thanks for the offer...i can't wait.. |
Maxx1973, my first opportunity to hear Tidal speakers driven by Tidal electronics will be the coming Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I am fearful that they may be a must.
I must say that you are in for a largely daily improvement for about the next two months. |
Calloway, I think that Tidal just did not anticipate it success. I had to wait nearly six months to get mine even though I was an early adopter. I expect that production could be greatly increased but what were demand to sharply decline? This is always the challenge of a small and successful company.
In MHO, there is no speaker even close to my Contriva Diacera SEs. I suspect that Tidal lesser speakers may get close, but I am very happy to have mine. I think, Linkster captured the essence of those Tidal speakers I have heard.
Calloway, I wish I could lend you mine as I am now in New Mexico and out of Texas heat, but my Tidals are not. Here I am listening to LSA1 Statements in a 10 x 13 x 8 foot room, but the skies are blue, it was 45º this morning, we are surrounded by pine trees and at 8750 feet with pure clean air. What a tradeoff. |
|
Maxx - which speakers did you compare them to when you were doing auditions? I'm sure you had to have compared a lot before spending so much money. I would love to hear your comments.
Thanks! |
Great for you Maxx1973. Congrats. |
Well, I'm also a proud and extremely happy new owner of a Tidal speaker, the Sunray. It was definitely worth the wait. I was lucky to have the finances and decided to buy a "last ever speaker". Yes, they are not cheap, but for me itÂ’s a matter of priorities. Some like fast cars or a boat. I love listening to music and the Sunray makes me fulfill the wish to reproduce live music with hifi. No more searching for me and looking for anything better. I'm just completely relaxed after owning the Sunray. Still have to break them in, but already the sound is amazing. And boy, the finish is nice. IÂ’ve got the black Piano finish, build quality is absolutely superb.
The sound is so transparent and right. With some other speakers I've heard I preferred some artificial sweetness that made it sound better. With my Sunray I donÂ’t require that. I love the sound, the big sweet spot. They just disappear in my room even though it are big speakers ☺. The sound is becoming smoother once they are breaking in more and more, no ceramic harshness.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to listen to the full Tidal suit at the Munich show but was lucky enough to get a flavor of the Tidal Impact when the Sunray was delivered. Off course the listening session was way to short, not broken in speakers etc etc, but the Sunray sound indeed very very nice with the Tidal Impact monoblocks. Very fast, “light” and effortless, string instruments sounded amazing. I’ll definitely try to audition the Impact stereo or monoblocks when the Sunray is properly broken in.
I donÂ’t need to stress people to listen to the Tidal speakers and electronics if they have the opportunity since itÂ’s already published many times in this thread. But itÂ’s definitely worth it ☺. |
Kclone, when I first heard Tidals at the '09 RMAF, they were absolutely green and were not impressive. On day 2 they were much better but still not something I would spend that much money on. But Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Wow!
My personal experiences also largely reflect this. They grew better and better on a daily basis for at least the first two weeks. I had to play with how far they were from the speaker wall and with toe-in. Until I had they crossing just behind me, I did not have the optimal sound stage.
I am now approaching 500 hours and still hear improvements, typically in the bass.
I have yet to play much with the electronics. It now looks like I will have to await the RMAF to hear them with Tidal electronics, which I cannot afford. |
For clarification, now mine sounds absolutely awesome. But, I had to change everything. The Herron preamp was a major improvement over the REF 5 for sure. Yes, I do listen to rock, but I hate most heavy metal. All I was saying is my experience seems different from everyone else. It seems everyone else had an amazing experience from the the time they plopped them down. I didn't, I had to put some work into to it. In the end, it was well worth it, a lot of fun and I am very happy now. I don't see myself worrying about speakers for years. |
Kclone unfortunately I cannot tell you something more than what Jorn told you. I have heard that it depends on the type of music you are listening the quality of the recordings. For example if you listen to Rock, Metal etc where the recordings are not so good you should go for the normal Piano, if you listen to other genres where quality of recordings is better then the Cera would be a better choice!
But dont try to compare auditions, what sounds awesome to me maybe be mediocre to you, you know words cannot really express what we listen to we dont have a common ground in describing sound except if we listen to the same thing the same time!
To tell you the truth I am not a big fun of Audio Research preamps It could contribute to the not so good sound you describe!
Happy Listening,
Mike |
Kclone,
I guess you heard a big improvement when you replaced your Audio Research preamp? Both preamplifiers that we heard are superior to the Audio Research ref... |
hmm. Mine did not have the amazing wow factor after only 40-50 hours. Sounded kind of mediocre to tell you the truth. At the time I was using an Audio Research REF 5 pre and a Sim Audio W-7. I was very disappointed with the sound. The thing is, Jorn said I didn't need to pay crazy attention to the chain to make the Classic sound good. I as mentioned before, paying attention to the chain and changing everything is exactly what I had to do to tap into their potential. Maybe the Cera is just that much better than the Classic. I wonder if I should have ignored his advice gone with the Cera in the first place? |
Bear in mind that the speakers had played only 40-50 hours so they were not properly broken yet... |
I was in the audition of Piano Cera together with Argyro. The sound was truly exceptional and this system even without all its component being in the top league could easily compete for the Best Sound of the Munich High End show if it had been demonstrated in this year's show.
The preamplifier was the Sovereign Director, the power amplifier was the Electrocompaniet AW-250 and the digital source was the Resolution Opus and/or Orpheus Dac One. Cables were the Organic by Argento... |
Kclone as a power amp we used an Electrocompaniet 2 x 250, do not remember the model.
As a preamp, an Aaton Cineast and a Sovereign Director. The difference between the two was huuugeeeeee! The Tidal managed to display all attributes that made the Director a better preamp. It was absolutely SHOCKING how easily you could spot the differences. I have never heard differences between two preamps so easily.
The source was a Resolution Opus 21 and then my Orpheus DAC1!
Cables from epoch and then the famous Organic from Argento.
Kw13 the great thing about Tidal is that all their models differ only the size of the rooms that can fill. If you had ask me about the normal Contriva I would say that the only difference is bass output. But with the Contriva diacera SE I would add the naturalness of the diamond tweeter!
Just pick the speaker that fits your room and then add the Diacera option if you can go for it!
Happy Listening everyone!
Mike |
Mike,
How does it compare with Contriva D SE?
Thanks |
Argyro. What was feeding the Cera's? Just curious. |
Yesterday I had the chance of auditioning a Tidal Piano Cera, the only Tidal speaker I hadnt listen from their line! In one word AMAZING, it indeed sounds like a Sunray for a small room!! Cant wait, I hope I will have mine in a month!
Mike |
ptmconsulting...i live in southern va and will be getting my contriva diacera-ses next month..if you are ever in this area you are more than welcome to come by and hear what all the fuss is about... |
Ptmconsulting, the first production pair of Tidal's newest speaker (Piano Cera) lives with me in Rhode Island. You may want to pursue the owner network as opposed to the dealer network. |
I agree Ptmconsulting, it is always so refreshing seeing people 100% satisifed with what they have! ;)
Happy Listening,
Mike |
There is so much gushing over this brand that I am hugely interested in hearing them. However their presence in and around NYC is nill, providing little access. Because of this I can't help but be leery that this is a "speaker of the month" type of praise, mainly contributed to by the small number of owners who spent a lot of money on them.
I know I'm no being fair until I can hear them myself, but at this pice it is amazing that so many bought them unheard. Hopefully their presence will expand here in the US so we can make our own informed decisions.
In the meantime, I envy every current owners satisfaction with their sound. It is a truly nice thing to just sit back and say "this is amazing and as good as it's gonna get".
Congrats! |
Kw13,
Interesting you asked. I was planning to ask you about the differences between the Scala and the Piano in about two months after you get a chance to listen to the Piano.
I have not listened to them side by side. As a matter of fact, I have not listened to the Tidal speakers at all. The first time I heard of Tidal speakers was about a year ago from Linkster, I believed. He spoke very highly of the Amea speakers when I was in the process of changing my SF Memento speakers to Diablo. So, a couple of months ago, I saw this thread and decided to find out what they are all about and have been hooked since. There are about 10 participants in the thread and all of them think very higly of them. Now, I can't go back. I have to listen to them to find out for myself if they are indeed that great.
Thanks to all who contribute to this thread.
Regards, |
husk01...doug white of 'thevoicethatis.com' is where i bought my contriva diacera-ses from..he is a great guy.....they are scheduled for delivery the week of july 12th ..can't wait.. |
kw13---
i have not had a chance to hear any of the tidal speakers prior to getting my sunrays. i bought them ""blindly", on faith, if you will.
i later learned that out of the 23-25 sunrays out there , most owners bought them without ever listening to them. no one has ever returned them back........:~))).
i also considerd at the time the lansche 8.1, the jmlab gu em,eggleston savoy,and the rockport arrakis.(not necessarly in this order of priority).
to me, the sunrays offer all of the above's attributes and much more. |
Kclone,
Thanks for that useful comment. I listen to jazz too. These days not much different to soft pop. If Piano Classic indeed outshines on pop/rock I would certain have them on short list. Could I ask whether you have done any direct comparison between the different Tidal speakers:
Piano Classic
Piano Cera or Diacera
Contriva Diacera SE (this is one I heard)
Ozy,
Thanks again - I see you have Sunray. Did you do much comparison between the different speakers in deciding for Sunary?
Luck Boy,
I would be very interested in your thoughts how Focal Scala compares with Tidal. Would you be doing a comparison? For your info, I was very impressed with Diablo. I instead got Cremona M for fuller sound. But Diablo's high was the best I had heard. When I listened to Scala I was surprised it outperformed Diablo in almost all aspects (if not all), and in total a much better pair of speakers than any other I heard at the time. Unfortunately I did not get Scala as my room art the time was very small.
I will carry amp to dealer to check out Tidal in the next couple of months. Will report back. |
Tbg, Thanks, is Aaudio the only current importer? |
Husk01, I am getting a very wide sweet spot, but toe in and room treatments can greatly influence this. You may be alluding to my posting on using Murata supertweeters and getting a wider sound stage. I did notice later that the top end using them was harsh and that on removing them, I could get an equally wide sound stage both with further breakin of the speakers and with less toe in.
On your further questions, I learned today that Tidal is going to set up a Tidal US and distribute them here directly. This may influence both questions. Probably, however, the demand for these speakers may still be such that a month or two may pass before you get delivery after buying them. |
Tbg, How wide is the sweet spot on your speakers and what is the lead time to get a pair of Contriva Diacerra Se like yours and what is the retail price? |
Argyro, you would if you spent many summers in Texas summer heat and humidity and tried Grado headphones last year. All they did was to put me to sleep. |
Tbg I wouldn't be able to bare with that! :) |
Calloway, you are about the only person who has not said something about the 18kV isolators (cracked) that I use to keep wire off the floor.
It takes a while for the speakers to break in. I now have about 400 hours of use on them. I am told that I am not there as yet. The real crying shame is that I am going to abandon them for 3.5 months going to my NM mountain retreat from Texas heat. I will be using LSA1 Statements, most of my digital electronics, and Syn. Res. cabling. |
wow...beautiful system...i give...can't wait to get mine..should be ~ 4 weeks... |
Calloway, I can best you. In my over 45 years as an audiophile and trying everything from Klipshhorns, Lowthers, Infinity ServoStatics, Apogees, SoundLabs, Dayton Wrights, Avantegardes, Acapellas, JPLs, and Altecs and concluding that all were compromises, I have found the most real speaker. |
....lucky boy...don't do it!!!..you'll never go back!!!! happened to me...now i'm waiting for a pair of contriva diacera-ses after hearing the piano ceras...best line of speakers i have heard in > 20 years...they get music right... |
I made a mistake of reading this tread in the first plance and committed a sin by following from the start till now. I was initally thinking about upgrading from Focal Diablo to Scala or MBL 116F which I ruled it out yesterday due to room size (13' x 20'). Now, I have to seriously think about auditioning the Piano Cera so that I won't have to regret later on.
Very interesting treads.
Thanks, |
Kw13. I sorry I should have clarified. My speakers are from WLM, not Focal. They are the WLM La Scala's. The WLM La Scalas are 5,000 new, quite bit cheaper than the Piano's.
In regards to the performance on genres like pop/rock. I have not done any comparisons with the other Tidal speakers. All I can tell you at this point is Jorn, the designer at Tidal listens to this genre, and he is keeping the Piano Classic in his system. He can have anything in the Tidal lineup he wants, but as he told me and the dealer via email, the Piano Classic is the right fit for him in his room and the type of music he listens too. I wanted the Piano Cera, it was newer and better overall. I mean it is the better speaker, Jorn admitted that, but he thought for me, it was not the best recommendation base on the info I gave him. I took the recommendation from the designer seriously and went with the Classic. He basically said it does a better job of making music out the not so good recordings in the pop/rock genre whereas the other models will show the sins. Like I said, I did not hear the others models in the lineup so for all I know they do a wonderful job if not better. Maybe others can comment, but I would not be surprise me if most Tidal users listen to the other genres that typically have better sounding recordings. |
