Description
TAD C700 Pre Amplifier
The Tad Labs C700 pre amplifier is a purist all-analogue affair, designed without compromise following a fundamental reassessment of all aspects of electrical and mechanical high-end audio design by TAD Laboratories.
Its dual-mono design is fully balanced throughout, TAD Labs having taken extreme measures to ensure total uniformity of its left and right channels for both positive and negative signals.
While the balanced circuits provide resistance to the effects of external noise and any fluctuations in ground potential.
Power Supply
Naturally the C700’s beefy power supply (that employs a 400VA rated toroidal transformer) is housed in a separate enclosure.
This to obviate any possible ingress of noise to delicate audio signals caused by vibration or magnetic flux leakage.
Its construction quality is second-to-none featuring a 15kg, 33mm thick isolation base precision-machined from a billet of aluminium for supreme mechanical stability.
Chassis
All additional chassis parts are machined to the same high accuracy as the sub chassis, serving to reduce the impact of vibration and external noise.
Weighing 29kg, the main body of the TAD C700 pre-amplifier requires a sturdy equipment rack.
Internal construction
Under the bonnet the Tad Labs C700 employs dedicated parts of the highest quality and precision, including a dual-mono ladder-resistance switching electronic volume control featuring super-precise ball bearings.
Features
TAD Lab’s custom-designed volume control circuits achieve an absolute channel level difference of less than 0.1dB – even at attenuations of more than 100dB – with harmonic distortion at only 0.0005% (@1Vrms input).
Impedance at the input and output terminals is independent of the volume setting, minimising interaction with the signal circuitry and maximizing fidelity.
To prevent interference the remote control functions and front panel display utilise direct-current based operation.
Further Reading
Further demonstrating TAD Labs’ attention to detail, each of the pre-amp’s two line outputs have their own dedicated amplifier circuits.
This is to eliminate output circuit signal branching and interference from connected equipment that might cause sound quality deterioration.
In order to transmit music signals as simply and accurately as possible, a monitor switch is not included, due to its potential effect on sound quality.
Moreover, the TAD C700’s audio pass-through function sets gain to unity, without introducing additional switching circuitry, to maintain maximum signal purity and absolute fidelity to the music source.
Connectivity
Six line inputs are provided: 3 balanced (XLR) and 3 single-ended (RCA/phono sockets). There are 2 balanced and 2 single-ended outputs, plus two fixed-level ‘record’ outputs (1 x XLR and 1 x RCA).
TAD C700 Specifications
- Analogue Inputs: 3 x Xlr, 3 x Rca
- Analogue Outputs: 2 x Xlr, 2 x Rca
- Analogue Recording outputs: 1 x Xlr, 1 x Rca
- Max input voltage 20V (balanced), 10V (unbalanced)
- Max output voltage 20V (balanced), 10V (unbalanced)
- Gain 12dB
- Rated distortion 0.0015% (balanced output, 1.6V, 1kHz)
- Frequency response 10Hz-100Khz (-1dB)
- S/N Ratio 120dB (IHF-A, short circuit)
- Power consumption 52W
- Stand by by power consumption 0.5W
- Main unit size 450mm X 150mm X 440mm
- Power supply size 220mm X 185mm X 430mm
- Weight main unit 29kg
- Weight power supply 15kg
Price £47,495
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