TAD R1TX Reference One TX Speakers

Description

Overview

The Reference One TX is the loudspeaker TAD builds when nothing has to be traded away. TAD — Technical Audio Devices — made its name building studio monitors, and the R1TX is the domestic expression of that lineage: a three-way vented system whose design decisions consistently favour measured accuracy over easy charm.

Design & build

The centrepiece is TAD’s CST driver — a Coherent Source Transducer that mounts a 3.5 cm beryllium dome tweeter concentrically within a 16 cm beryllium midrange, so the two share a single acoustic origin. Beryllium is used because of its stiffness-to-mass ratio, and TAD forms it by a vapour-deposition technique developed in-house. Below, two 25 cm TLCC (Tri-Laminate Composite Cone) woofers handle the bottom end, driven by OFGMS optimised-field magnet structures. The cabinet is TAD’s SILENT enclosure — Structurally Inert Laminated Enclosure Technology — with an Aerodynamic Port System, and the woodwork is done in collaboration with Tendo Mokko.

Sound & performance

A coaxial mid-and-treble driver behaves as a single point source through the range where our hearing is most sensitive to arrival timing, and the audible result is an unusually stable, precisely located stereo image that does not collapse when you move your head. The character overall is accurate rather than flattering. If a recording is bright, the R1TX will tell you so. For the listener who wants that, there is very little at any price that does it better.

Specifications

Design: three-way vented-box system with Aerodynamic Port System. Drive units: coaxial 3.5 cm beryllium dome tweeter / 16 cm beryllium midrange (CST); 2 × 25 cm TLCC woofers. Frequency response: 21 Hz – 100 kHz. Crossover frequencies: 250 Hz and 2 kHz. Maximum input: 300 W. Sensitivity: 90 dB (2.83 V, 1 m). Nominal impedance: 4 ohms.

Who it’s for

A dedicated listening room, a large music room, or the front left and right of a two-channel-first system where the room has been built or treated around the loudspeakers. This is not a sitting-room purchase, and we would rather say that plainly than sell a pair into a space that cannot use them.

What we would pair it with

Within TAD, the M2500MK2 or the reference M700 power amplifier, the C700 preamplifier, and the D700 or DA1000TX as the digital source. Outside it, Gryphon Antileon EVO or the Apex. A 4-ohm nominal impedance and 90 dB sensitivity is not a punishing load on paper, but a speaker this resolving will expose a mediocre amplifier immediately, so the amplification budget should be planned alongside rather than afterwards.

Room and setup notes

These are large, heavy loudspeakers and delivery, access and floor loading should be surveyed before the order rather than discovered on the day. They need real distance from the rear wall and precise, symmetrical placement; the coaxial driver rewards careful toe-in more than almost anything else we install. At this level the room is the dominant variable — a treated room with modest electronics will beat an untreated room with these, and we will say so before you spend. See room acoustics.

Also worth considering

The Compact Reference One TX is the standmount expression of the same CST engineering and is the better answer in a smaller room. Below that, the Evolution One TX and Compact Evolution One TX. For a warmer, more forgiving voice at reference level, Sonus Faber Il Cremonese, or Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4. See all our loudspeakers.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

A loudspeaker at this level is a room project. We survey the space, model the acoustics, specify the amplification alongside the speakers, handle the delivery and do the setup and measurement afterwards — which is where a good proportion of the performance actually comes from. Hidden Home Technology is a family-run, CEDIA Professional Member business in Bath with over twenty-five years in high-end audio, working across the South West, South Wales, London and the Home Counties. Get in touch to discuss a system.