Has Tad overtaken JBL in build quality and sonic superiority years ago?

[vinny]

This is what i have been hearing among the JBL community. Even everest paragon L300 hartsfield cant compare to the Tad superior sound. Agree Disagree? Have you heard both sides to confirm or rebut? Im very diisappointed if this was the case. And its sad that top jbl engineers allegedly were allowed to defect to Tad for more money. Am very upset by this news.

[vinny]

i guess everyone here is afraid to answer it lol

[Mr. Widget]

Its kind of a silly question.

Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo and created his own car company... producing arguably better and certainly more expensive cars. Now both Ferrari and Alfa Romeo are owned by Fiat. So?

TAD professional is the line of speakers I believe you are talking about as they are certainly similar to JBL vintage speakers and some of these drivers were designed by Bart Locanthi. Their line of monitors have been out of production for well over a decade. During this time JBL has gotten significantly better on both the Pro side and the High End home side.

TAD home speakers designed by Andrew Jones are a refinement of work he did at KEF. I doubt these are the speakers you are talking about as they are very different animals than Everests, Hartfields etc.

But I don't see the point of your question.


Widget

[pos]

I would venture to say that the only vintage TAD components that are still state of the art by today standards are the TD4003, ET703, and TM1201, but each of them calls for very specific, and somewhat old-fashioned, applications:
- TD4003 : its integrated flare calls for a slow rate horn whereas thread-less drivers and fast rate horns are now the norm
- ET703 : current designs typically do not require supertweeters anymore, even less so when said supertweeter imposes a directivity pattern (ie integrated horn, unlike the 045)
- TM1201(H) : its usable bandwidth makes it difficult to integrate as it struggles to get low, and its upper extension is not really usable for direcitivity reasons

[BMWCCA]

I know I read other replies to this thread. I don't remember anything insulting or controversial. Was this thread "sanitized" for some reason? :dont-know:

Never mind! What I remember reading on this topic was contained in this thread after it went sideways: http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?39859-Can-you-substitute-the-O77-8ohm-diaphram-with-a-16ohm-from-a-2405-slot&p=406922&viewfull=1#post406922

[vinny]

Its kind of a silly question.

Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo and created his own car company... producing arguably better and certainly more expensive cars. Now both Ferrari and Alfa Romeo are owned by Fiat. So?

TAD professional is the line of speakers I believe you are talking about as they are certainly similar to JBL vintage speakers and some of these drivers were designed by Bart Locanthi. Their line of monitors have been out of production for well over a decade. During this time JBL has gotten significantly better on both the Pro side and the High End home side.

TAD home speakers designed by Andrew Jones are a refinement of work he did at KEF. I doubt these are the speakers you are talking about as they are very different animals than Everests, Hartfields etc.

But I don't see the point of your question.


Widget

gotcha the points were answered in my other post..thanks

[Ian Mackenzie]

This is what i have been hearing among the JBL community. Even everest paragon L300 hartsfield cant compare to the Tad superior sound. Agree Disagree? Have you heard both sides to confirm or rebut? Im very diisappointed if this was the case. And its sad that top jbl engineers allegedly were allowed to defect to Tad for more money. Am very upset by this news.

Show your evidence or references.

I actually doubt you have any and your post reads like false news.

Trick question for you?

Who popularised the term false news?

What is a fact is that only one well known JBL engineer went to join Pioneer.

One also went to Superscope apparently.

Numerous notable JBL engineers have in fact moved on to start their own consulting careers in business over to past four decades.

A lot of new talent has also come to JBL.

[SEAWOLF97]

.

One also went to Superscope apparently...

Ed May left JBL in 1976, just as detailed design was just beginning. He joined Marantz Superscope to become their head of loudspeaker design. A custom design facility was built specifically for him. He used it to turn out three complete lines of loudspeakers in very short order.

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/people/may.htm

He left JBL as he was forced into retirement at 65 . :eek:

[edgewound]

Ed May left JBL in 1976, just as detailed design was just beginning. He joined Marantz Superscope to become their head of loudspeaker design. A custom design facility was built specifically for him. He used it to turn out three complete lines of loudspeakers in very short order.

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/people/may.htm

He left JBL as he was forced into retirement at 65 . :eek:

Don't forget Ed May was the driving force behind Gauss between his stints at JBL.

JBL to Gauss, back to JBL, then on to Marantz/Superscope.

[Ian Mackenzie]

That was a very exciting time in audio.

Like the insert on the link this stuff really does rub off on you as a young person.
.
I can still recall going to Instrol HiFi on a Friday night after school and hearing the Jubal, the Horizon L166 and the L36 with my older brother who was a technician at a TV network.

All unaffordable (obviously) but it was fun asking to hear them.

In the same shop at the back they had Klipschorns, Sonab , GAS and Gale.

Across the street was Sound City founded by Vasey Stock and Randell Roach who stocked ESS, Advent, Electrovoice. Stock's claimed to have been to the ESS factory and met Oscar Heil. (Nelson Pass was designing crossover networks for ESS early on)

The larger L200, L300 and the 4315, 4333 and 4341 were over at Encels in Richmond.

Unfortunately they only stocked Luxman amps and l did not get to hear them on the Amrons at Instrol and BJD who also stocked the RTR Magnums.

I recall being drawn to the JBL bass because the 15 inch Tannoy bass was lacking low bass in my opinion.

Instrol later stocked the 4350, BGW amps and the L212.

My brother eventually bought a pair of 2231A's on advice of David Growno at Zephyr Products.

Sometime later l bought the 2121 from Sound City, the 2420 from Encel and finally the 2405 from Dynasound. The 2405s were really expensive but they really made a difference.

My mother would say lan what are you making?

Why aren't you saving your money?

I economised and bought a JH turntable with a formula 4 arm and a 681EEE cartridge.

It was not as good as my friend's AR turntable. I later bought a Kenwood KD650 with an FR12 arm and an Fr mc cartridge. It was more stable than the Linn and less prone to feedback.

I was a bit secretive when asked why l was buying these components and said l was making a loudspeaker out of the Component Speaker designs.

[hsosdrum]

That was a very exciting time in audio.

Tell me about it. I formally joined the industry in 1977 as a retail salesperson at a superstore that carried just about every mid- and high-end brand on the market. Our store had every JBL model on display, from the L16 up through the L300, along with the full Klipsch, Altec, Infinity, AR, Bozak, Ohm, ESS, Dahlquist, Yamaha, Pioneer, Avid and Bose speaker lines (along with some that I'm not remembering). Electronics included everything from MacIntosh (solid-state only), Luxman (the MB3045 amp and matching preamp — I forget the model — were the only tube equipment we carried), G.A.S., Yamaha, Kenwood, Nakamichi, Adcom, Marantz, Pioneer, Sony, Technics and more. We had over a dozen stores across southern California, and JBL, Infinity and Marantz/Superscope built factories and R&D facilities within 3 miles of the store I worked at. Because listening to music at home was a leisure activity that was highly valued by most people, there were plenty of customers to keep our company and our industry afloat and doing well.

Then in 1979 two things happened that undid it all: VHS video recorders became widely available for under $1000 and Sony introduced the Walkman. VHS machines provided overwhelming competition for people's in-home leisure time, and the Walkman gave people a way to listen to their own music while they were doing things other than simply sitting and listening to music in their homes. The smartphone is the ultimate extension of both of these products, and it defines how people currently consume their personal entertainment. We can never go back to 1978.

[SEAWOLF97]

That was a very exciting time in audio..

Across the street was Sound City founded by Vasey Stock and Randell Roach who stocked ESS, Advent, Electrovoice.
Stock's claimed to have been to the ESS factory and met Oscar Heil. (Nelson Pass was designing crossover networks for ESS early on)
..

I have 2 pairs of ESS AMT10b's. Absolutely love that Heil driver.

A huge JBL fanatic friend was telling the story of ESS making the rounds of college campuses in the 70's with AMT's and L100's doing a blind preference test. According to him, the ESS's had the clear advantage.