A woofer of that size with little air behind it can produce only so much sound. But when compared to big floorstanders with bigger and/or multiple dedicated woofers, would a 6.3” woofer prove a weakness? In absolute terms, of course it could, especially when mounted, as in the ME-1, in a cabinet of small internal volume. Of course, compared with the midrange-woofers usually found in two-way speakers, the ME-1’s 6.3” woofer would be a strength. The combination of this and the high quality of the drivers used in the ME-1 let it fill my former listening room, the Music Vault, better than most two-way speakers of the same dimensions ever could. Never underestimate the value of a dedicated woofer - three-way speakers generally have wider dynamic range and can handle more power than two-way speakers of similar size. These coaxial drivers together reproduce everything above 420Hz below that frequency, the CST hands off to a 6.3” woofer. The CST in the ME-1 comprises a 1” beryllium-dome tweeter at the center of the magnesium cone of a 3.5” midrange driver, the CST itself mounted in a shallow waveguide. TAD has staked their reputation on the performance of their Coherent Source Transducer (CST), in which a tweeter is mated to a midrange driver in a coaxial arrangement. Of the many things I noticed about the ME-1’s sound, what most surprised me was what I wrote about in the penultimate paragraph of my review: “It filled my Music Vault with full, rich, detailed sound that never fatigued me and never bored me.”Ībout the word filled: How could such a physically small speaker not sound small in a room 23’ 6”L x 20’ 1”W? The ME-1 has a secret weapon: Although it looks at first glance like a small two-way speaker, it’s actually a three-way. The ME-1 is pretty small at 16.2”H x 9.9”W x 15.8”D, but its size had little correlation with what I heard. It now costs $14,995/pair USD, including TAD’s ST3 stands, and at the time we gave it a Reviewers’ Choice award. In November 2017 I reviewed the Technical Audio Devices Micro Evolution One loudspeaker, aka the TAD ME-1.
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