![]() But I used the low-pass filter in the Marantz pre-pro. In the latter case the TADs were still operating full-range, a setup that most audiophiles could achieve with a subwoofer having its own low-pass filter. To further check this out, I went back and forth between the full-range ME1s alone, and the ME1s plus a properly set up and equalized subwoofer operating below 60Hz. This was frequently the case with recordings of pipe organ, or of pounding drums such as those on Kodo's Mondo Head (CD, Sony Music Entertainment Japan WK 56111), a percussion recording produced by Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, who co-composed all but one of the selections. And the cleanness of that bass range always supported the music, even when it was obvious that I wasn't hearing everything the recording had to give. Double basses, such as David Piltch's on Holly Cole's Don't Smoke in Bed (CD, Manhattan/Capitol CDP 7 81198 2), were often satisfying (the instrument typically bottoms out at around 40Hz). Never boomy or bloated, it was consistently tight and well defineduntil it gave up the ghost. (In my setup, any right-channel speaker is handicapped by the absence of a wall to the right of it the left went slightly lower.) Listening to the warble tones on Stereophile's first Test CD (Stereophile STPH002-2) with both speakers playing, I heard just-audible output at 40Hz.įig.2 TAD Micro Evolution One, right speaker, averaged in-room response at listening seat.ĭepending on the instruments involved, the TAD's bass was often more than adequate. My in-room measurements did show useful response into the mid-to-50Hz region (figs.1 & 2). While larger than some stand-mounts, it's still a small speaker, and despite its unique bass loading it didn't dig particularly deep in the low end. ![]() If the TAD had a weakness, it was one you might guess from looking at it. Nor was I disappointed by the ME1s' excellent soundstaging, which excelled in both depth and width when the recording cooperated. My in-room measurements (footnote 2) did show a peak just above 150Hzwhich is either the upper bass or the lower midrange, depending on your definitionbut I heard no evidence of it. Instrumental timbres were convincingly reproduced, as were the voices of a wide range of singers, well known and obscure, such as Holly Cole, Norah Jones, Cyndee Peters, Sophie Zelmani, Sinne Eeg (the last two first heard on The DALI CD Vol.3, a sampler demo disc from Danish loudspeaker maker DALI), Muddy Waters, Leo Kottke, Leonard Cohen, the King's Singers, and many others. In my months of living with the ME1s, I can't recall a single instance of obvious midrange problems with otherwise good recordings.
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