Напольная акустика — TAD EVOLUTION ONE E1TX

The TAD-E1TX, named Evolution One TX, is a tower speaker with three ways and reflex loading, built by the Japanese company TAD Laboratories. TAD places it in its Evolution series, and the newer TAD-E1AX has since succeeded it as the Evolution One floorstander.

Key specs that matter

Two 16 cm cone woofers work below a 9 cm concentric CST unit in which a cone midrange surrounds a 2.5 cm beryllium dome tweeter. The crossover divides the signal at 420 Hz and 2.5 kHz. TAD quotes a response of 29 Hz to 60 kHz, a sensitivity of 88 dB at 2.83 volts and 1 metre, a 4 ohm rated impedance and a 200 W limit for maximum input. With the spike feet fitted each speaker measures 350 mm wide, 1,215 mm high and 512 mm deep, and it weighs 46 kg.

Engineering and use context

The CST name stands for Coherent Source Transducer. Mounting the tweeter on the axis of the midrange lets the pair behave as a point source, and TAD states that this single unit covers everything above the lower crossover point. Beryllium was chosen for the tweeter diaphragm because it is light yet highly rigid. The twin woofers use the MACC diaphragm, an abbreviation of Multi-layered Aramid Composite Cone, which TAD combines with a powerful magnetic circuit to obtain linear drive. The cabinet has an organic compound shape. The reflex system is a bidirectional ADS port, where ADS means Aero-Dynamic Slot. Its slit-shaped openings sit on both the left and right sides, low and close to the floor, and TAD says this symmetrical layout removes unwanted port output and lowers standing waves inside the enclosure. The maker supplies three cone spikes with three spike holders, so each tower rests on a three-point base, and two auxiliary legs are included as well.

Pairing

The packing list adds two short cables, a cloth and the manual. TAD builds its own Evolution electronics next to the speakers, including the TAD-M2500TX power amplifier and the TAD-D1000TX disc player. The E1TX is sold in a black version under the code TAD-E1TX-K, while its successor comes in two versions, TAD-E1AX-K and TAD-E1AX-GW. Beyond the floorstanders, the Evolution range also offers the bookshelf TAD-ME1TX and TAD-CE1TX.

Alternatives

A step up within the Evolution floorstanders is the TAD-GE1 Grand Evolution One, which uses two 18 cm woofers and a 14 cm concentric CST driver with a beryllium dome.