ta'us: the 1995 Cyberfi review:
kindly rescued from the Great Bit-Bucket in the Sky by Kel Yeo, Singapore
Ta'us is the most sensitive of three new horn-loaded speakers from Impulse Loudspeakers. Named after musical instruments, the new speakers replace Impulse's long-running H Series. Ta'us is a three-way design featuring an inverted dome fibreglass tweeter, a horn-loaded midrange driver and a doped paper cone/nitrile rubber surround bass unit loaded by a folded horn exiting through the cabinet base. Ta'us has evolved from its H2 predecessor in three main respects. First Impulse integrates a Canadian maple facade to the front baffle to achieve improved rigidity, aesthetics and cost effective production. A metal plate covered with Spectra Dynamics sound deflecting panels has been added to the cabinet base to improve bass consistency. Finally, detail changes have been made to the bass drive unit and crossover network. Ta'us has been developed as a high sensitivity, wide bandwidth, wide dynamic range, responsive, aesthetically original, attractive loudspeaker available through specialist dealers around the world.
Sometimes you just have to let yourself go. It can be a struggle. Ask anyone standing on the edge of a precipice and they'll tell you it's agony. That's the downside. Having taken the plunge, negotiated the moguls, beaten whatever demon you're struggling with...and lived to tell the tale, the rewards can be startling.- beyond your wildest dreams.
Live with a pair of Impulse Ta'us loudspeakers and you've no option but to let go. If you don't, if you keep them 'caged in', or if you analyse them through the blinkers of conventional loudspeaker wisdom, you haven't a hope of knowing what the Ta'us is all about.
I've used horn speakers a couple of times over the past four or five years, once with sensational results (Tannoy Westminsters), the other feeling like the proverbial fly about to make intimate contact with an oncoming windscreen. I know the highs and the lows of living with horns, so you can't say I didn't approach the Ta'us with anything but an open mind.
Is it a tamed wild cat or one that runs faster and more furiously than ever?
What I anticipated was a speaker with plenty of clout, yet not so much that it would run roughshod over the subtleties of a performance or recording. The H2 certainly never imposed itself to such an extent that its colorations outweighed its ease of projection. So how did this, the first descendent of H2, live up to expectations? Is it a tamed wild cat or one that runs faster and more furiously than ever?
After a bit of faffing about getting these heavyweight monsters located securely and in the best possible position, I strapped myself in for a rollercoaster ride. The partnering equipment included familiar items such as Linn LP12 turntable fitted with Ekos arm and Troika cartridge feeding Kinshaw Perception phono stage and a variety of solid state and valve amplifiers. I used a Roksan Attessa CD transport and Audio Note DAC3 D/A converter to play CDs and cables included Trichord digital interconnect, Audio Note and NVA loudspeaker cable.
the sound took on a more focused quality without losing the sense of depth and space
First let's deal with the speaker positioning. On day one, the speakers were positioned about three feet out into my 26 X 13.5ft room. They sounded OK, but not overwhelming. The main problems concerned clarity of detail and bass weight, particularly listening to minimalist choral music of the Pärt and Hilliard/Garbarek Officium variety. The solution was obvious. By moving the speakers away, so that their backs were placed next to the wall, the sound took on a more focused quality without losing the sense of depth and space.
Next I had the opportunity to add the Spectra Dynamics sound panels to the base plate. Unfortunately Impulse's Mahesh Patel had accidentally left the factory without the panels, so my first impressions were of the speakers minus their final tweak.
Placing the panels over the base plate I must admit I was half expecting a loss in bass authority. Poulenc's bittersweet opera Dialogue des Carmélites and Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem soon put paid to my doubts.
the quality of vocal diction was quite simply exemplary
In the Poulenc the quality of vocal diction was quite simply exemplary, while the power of the timpani created a vast panorama. Most impressive. The hugely dramatic Britten orchestral piece reiterated what the Poulenc had suggested. The experience was physically overwhelming, not only due to the enormity of sound from the bass timpani, but the hair raising transient clarity and penetration of instruments including xylophone and brass. The huge surging drum rolls brought a brooding menace which completely filled the room. The sound had a brilliance and starkness as if the orchestra was laid bare between and behind the speakers, projecting effortlessly into the room.
Mahler's stunningly recorded Second Symphony (Ozawa/Boston Symphony Orchestra on Philips 420 824-2) proved nearly as powerful, with wave after wave of dramatic string, brass and percussion themes. More impressive was the level of detailing and intricacy as tiny instrument solos were clearly weaved into the enormous architecture of the piece.
The intensity of Kodaly's solo cello sonata made an equally vivid impression, the slight roughness of Janos Starker's bow on string giving the performance a clear, robust. purposeful character. The range from extreme high register intense vibrato to open string woody resonance was captured with captivating clarity.
the Ta'us did not draw attention too greatly to recording deficiencies
Other solo instrument recordings also fared well. These included most memorably Glenn Gould's Bach Goldberg Variations (his last recording) to a historical Gieseking recording of Debussy and, most impressively, Martin Souter playing the Knole private chapel organ in a simply stunning album on Isis. The sound of air in pipes, the occasional stop changes and foot on pedal noises adding to the magnificent atmosphere of the acoustic so well captured by the recording engineer Geoffrey Horn. What I found reassuring was the way the Ta'us did not draw attention too greatly to recording deficiencies. The Gieseking album, for instance, is far from perfect, yet the sense of a musician communicating, of the piano harmonies unfolding and of the depth of instrument timbre were conveyed surprisingly well despite the restricted bandwidth and dynamic range of the early Fifties recording.
One of my greatest fears using horn loudspeakers is that they can make some less than ideal recordings sound like parodies. To test this possibility I tried Another Side of Bob Dylan, quite a brittle sounding production, yet musically packed with some of Dylan's most powerful utterances. What nobody could ignore was the way the Ta'us assisted an appreciation of the lyrics. What clearer case could the loudspeaker have made for itself?
Phenomenal impact and inner detail to the roughly hewn chunks and glass shards of alto sax
Listening long and hard to a range of jazz, blues and rock recordings left me with slight doubts about the Ta'us, concerning its bass extension which did not seem dramatically greater than I'm used to hearing from my Snell Type J IIs. In other respects the Ta'us was more persuasive. Perhaps the most vivid example I can recall was the superb rendition of Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch. Phenomenal impact and inner detail to the roughly hewn chunks and glass shards of alto sax, trumpet, clarinet, vibes and percussion. Monk, Bill Evans, Coltrane et al also came to life in the hands of Ta'us, and more modern pristine discs came up shining too. I even found myself smirking with enjoyment indulging in sessions of U2 and early Free! Free they most certainly were.
I found myself worrying about upsebing the neighbours more often than usual
The Ta'us is undoubtedly a quite exhilarating loudspeaker. It shirks at nothing. The power to project an enormous dynamic range, to let rip with a transient and to allow singers to enunciate are all of incalculable value in communicating the essence of a musical performance. Using the Ta'us, I have to say that I found myself worrying about upsetting the neighbours more often than usual. They can't have bargained on living next door to a full scale symphony orchestra.
Another concern I still haven't quite resolved is whether at times the speakers' effusiveness doesn't just get the better of it. On balance I reckon that some modern recordings lack in resolution what they make up for in power - Szymanowski's Stabat Mater for instance - are ill suited to reproduction by the Ta'us. So too, ironically are one or two of the largely excellent Living Stereo reissued vinyl releases. The shrillness and inconsistency of brass is exposed by Ta'us for what it is.
You wouldn't expect an easy ride from such idiosyncratic, high sensitivity loudspeakers. What you get is a physicality to the reproduction of music that can be quite literally breathtaking. These speakers are audacious in the extreme. Whether you can handle them is as much a matter of your temperament and domestic priorities as it is a question of fidelity. There is no doubt in my mind that the Ta'us is a remarkable loudspeaker and a worthy successor to the H2. It lives, breathes, eats, drinks and (just once in a while) spits out music. Like an exuberant partner they can be quite a handful. Are you up to it?!
Adjusting the speaker position helped bring out the best in this disc. In particular the sense of acoustic scale, timpani power and vocal clarity was very impressive
This sublime recording and performance is given the full treatment by Ta'us. The huge menacing drum rolls, searing brass and overwhelming scale are extraordinarily imposing, the physical power of the sound quite devastating. Ta'us projected this inspirational music effortlessly.
Plenty of inner detail, not always immediately apparent was unravelled by Ta'us. The intricacies of rhythm and the instrument tonalities far from posing a problem were resolved with supreme ease.
A tad telephonic at the best of times, the sound of this album benefited in an unexpected way using Ta'us. The vocal diction was so precise and clear that the curious colorations in the recording, perhaps exaggerated by the speakers, soon melted away. It was the message that mattered, the message that could not be missed. The in-your-face quality of the presentation, though in some ways unnaturally coloured, brought the music to life.
Difficult to capture recording , the orchestra sounded veiled though the soloist projects clearly. Increasing volume level merely highlighted orchestral confusion and swimminess. The Ta'us' relentless presentation did not compensate for the recording's inherent lack of resolution. Bring on those extra 'bits'.
Ta'us was designed as the replacement to H2, a speaker of prodigious capability. A floorstanding, horn loaded, three-way speaker, H2 combined above average sensitivity with a hi-fi sound that has received considerable praise from serious enthusiasts and critics alike.
A common criticism of compact low frequency horn loaded speakers such as the H2 and Ta'us is that their mouth area, being a small fraction of the size required for accurate, extended bass. Impulse refutes the accusation saying that acoustic theory and practice are, to some extent, contradictory. The original Klipschorn speakers, for example, should have had a disastrously restricted bass according to theory, whereas in reality they were capable of output down to 40Hz. Impulse reckons that by placing the horn mouth close to the floor and a rear wall, a quarter wave horn is perfectly capable of delivering acceptable bass extension.
Technically the Ta'us has evolved in a number of interrelated ways from its H2 predecessor. The important aesthetic innovation, a maple facade, has created a stiff, enormously strong front baffle. The entire baffle/facade structure is sculpted from machined, bonded blocks of maple. The thickness of the baffle at its centre is no less than 40mm. Impulse has used MLSSA testing to check that the new facade has no adverse effect on performance. The feared change in radiation pattern does not appear to have materialised, for instance.
The other major change has been the introduction of a base plate into which four, hefty, spiked feet are attached. The significance of the plate is that it provides a consistent reflector for the output of the bass horn which radiates down onto it. Previously the H2 performance depended to an unacceptable degree on the nature of the floor surface onto which the bass horn projected. One curious aspect of the Ta'us is that this new base plate is covered in Spectra Dynamics deflecting panels to help prevent any inherent base plate vibrations and consequent ringing when energised
Despite rumours that Impulse was planning a change from inverted Focal dome tweeter featured in the H2 (the sort used in Wilson Audio loudspeakers, for example) it has been retained. This treble drive unit, operating from 4.5kHz to the 20kHz upper frequency limit, is unusually constructed using a fibreglass material for the diaphragm. Apparently one of its other unusual properties is a resonant frequency well below the normal operating range of a tweeter. Mahesh believes it is below 1kHz.
The midrange horn is quite a curiosity. While essentially the same unit featured in the H2, Impulse has now blocked it off at the top and rear, resulting in a reduction of cancellations. These cancellations had been a source of concern over the H2's imaging performance. The idea of 'closing off' the unit was to improve the consistency of the Ta'us' imaging in all types of listening acoustic, thereby making the new speaker less prone to variations in room type - an important consideration for a loudspeaker shipped to many world markets. The midrange horn operates from 750Hz to 4.5kHz.
Another change, from H2 to Ta'us, was directly influenced by climatic factors in the Far East. The bass unit which previously relied on a foam roll surround now has a nitrile rubber surround. The foam had a tendency to disintegrate in hot, humid environments. By changing to the new SEAS bass unit, this problem should be prevented. The doped paper diaphragm has been retained, however.
The new bass driver, assisted by horn loading, provides output down to 40Hz. Impulse has made a couple of small changes to the H2 hard-wired crossover to accommodate the change of bass driver. The low pass filter is now a 12dB/octave slope, achieved by the addition of an extra capacitor. Solen polypropylene capacitors are used throughout on the grounds of preferred sound quality and reliability.
Impulse has carved out a firm niche for its horn loudspeakers. Their sound is renowned among hi-fi enthusiasts seeking the most immediate and powerful presentation of reproduced music. Yet the loudspeakers are also noted for their elegant visual design. The beautiful curved junction between woven grille fabric and wooden side panel in the Impulse H2 spoke volumes for the overall design concept. Impulse's problem has been to keep pace with the demand. Eventually, the economics of producing these stylish and evocative loudspeakers forced Mahesh Patel, the company's owner, into making a tough decision: whether to rein back the demand or find a more efficient way of producing the speakers. Last year he took the bull by the horns and revamped the entire range, taking the necessary practical steps to ensure that the new model lineup sacrificed nothing in sound quality, gained in reliability and visual appeal, yet could be built in sufficient quantities to meet the anticipated demand.
Help was obtained via the UK's Design Council, shortly before its own radical reappraisal and change of role from design provider to lobbying body. The Design Council put Impulse in touch with a number of Industrial Design companies, from which Mahesh selected London based Isis, a specialist company comprising a team of seven industrial design experts. Isis was commissioned to produce outline designs for the front baffle and surround for the new loudspeaker range.
Jack Wooley, a director of Isis, was responsible for the Impulse redesign. He takes up the story: 'Mahesh wanted to create loudspeakers whose casework reflected the quality of the acoustic design. We suggested that he took an approach of looking at the loudspeaker as a piece of furniture rather than just a black box. It would be attractive in its own right and fit in with most interiors. High quality materials would be necessary, rather than the veneered MDF so often used.
'We were inevitably constrained by the acoustic geometry of the rectilinear box - the speaker enclosure - so we couldn't do anything with that. In any case Mahesh wanted to retain an MDF cabinet for acoustic reasons to do with resistance to warpage. We came up with ten designs which he whittled down to three he really liked. Essentially the choice was between a box treated as attractively as possible, and a facade to create the feel of a receding box. Another idea was to create a frame with material hung from it to hide the box.
'In the end Mahesh chose the lozenge shaped facade for its purity and elegance. The solid machined maple helps to create a feeling of value reflecting the quality of the acoustic design.'
Mahesh points out that the Canadian maple is selected because it is a hardwood taken from managed forests that are not being depleted of trees. It was important to him that the wood is not felled from irreplaceable tree stock. The retention of a craftsman element to the build of the speaker was also critical. The facades are manufactured on site at Impulse's south London factory, blocks of maple being machined and glued to form the front baffle and its extension in the form of the curved frame facade.
The ease with which the Ta'us fits into systems is astonishing. It may impose a certain character all of its own, making it less than totally transparent to the individual qualities of amplifiers and source components. But the upside is that Ta'us manages to make the most of whatever power it is driven by. If you veer strongly to the minimalist valve amplifier approach, the Ta'us is good news. Its high sensitivity ensures that a huge sound and convincing projection is possible even when it is driven by the most miserly amplifier. A 15W valve amp could seem generous to speakers of such high sensitivity. The Ta'us is perfectly happy partnered by more powerful amplifiers, but the extra output is, in a sense, a luxury. Do try to avoid fiercely aggressive sounding source components. Their exposure by Ta'us will be neither a pleasant nor a realistic hi-fi experience. If you want to hide faults earlier in the recording chain the Ta'us is not the speaker to do it. Just as it is a leveller for old and new recordings alike, so Ta'us makes mincemeat of less than competent source signals. I was rudely reminded of the fact on numerous occasions listening to wildly inconsistent broadcast signal quality even from supposedly reputable BBC sources. The time of day (quality of mains electricity supply), the channel, the programme all had a bearing on the listenability to a broadcast. Frustrating.
The Impulse Ta'us finds itself up against a surprising number of high quality loudspeakers. Each has a distinctive mix of qualities as you might expect, but few rival the Ta'us' blend of high sensitivity, ease of projection and clarity of detail.
The Shahinian Arc is perhaps the most comparable speaker. Though much smaller, it is capable of a more powerful full bodied if obvious bass. It is more domesticated, but less capable of holding your attention in a battle of the big guns. It requires a more powerful partnering amplifier than the Ta'us.
The Quad ESL63 is a totally different beast. Its strengths lie not in pounding listeners into submission, but in tonal refinement, delicacy, an integrity of sound second to none and an overall transparency that is thoroughly engaging and persuasive. If it lacks the Ta'us' ability to set up enormous, physically overwhelming and invigorating sound pictures, it makes up for its relative dynamic range limitation in many other ways.
The Naim SBL Active is on a par with the Ta'us in its ability to reproduce music with a tangible, reach-out-and-touch quality, but it does so at the expense of imposing an even stronger individual character to some recordings. If your tastes veer towards high level rock, the tightness, detail resolution, sheer physicality and projection make the Active SBL the number one choice. However it may not quite rival the Ta'us in its ability to differentiate characteristic classical recording venue acoustics.
The Ta'us is a large loudspeaker and one that needs to be carefully and securely positioned if it is to perform at its best. It worked optimally in my 26 X13.5ft room when placed against one of the short walls firing down the long axis. It also benefitted from the use of Spectra Dynamics deflecting panels placed on the base plate preventing ringing from the downward firing bass horn. However its high sensitivity helps makes it easy to drive and compatible with a wide range of partnering amplifiers including low powered valve to 100W solid state designs.
Like its H2 predecessor, the Ta'us takes its Impulse brand name very seriously. Unlike some speakers which sound fine playing refined, undemanding music but fall flat on their face when presented with powerful, highly dynamic music full of sharp, bludgeoning transients, Ta'us will play anything from The Rite of Spring to Eric Dolphy, or U2 to Debussy Etudes. What's more it will play this music with total conviction.
These loudspeakers play loud and create an open, deep sound. They bring a freedom of expression and dynamic, a power and authority that can, at times, seem almost limitless. On the other hand, Ta'us makes second rate source material sound distinctly unpleasant. Occasionally these speakers may also seem overeffusive, but the overwhelming impression they leave is one of exceptional authority and the ability to communicate the most complex, dynamically demanding signal in an utterly uncompromising fashion.
Jonathan Kettle’s excellent review of the Ta’us clearly reveals the objectives I set out to achieve in the transformation of the H2. Changes have been guided by the desire to portray the emotion and interplay of music with a vibrancy often lacking in other systems. Listen up. Music is fun!
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