In March and April we had the very first UK Tidal sales. The intial demo pieces were loaned out and demonstrated from as early as February and we couldn’t have asked from a better response from real customers in their real living spaces. It’s not everyday that in excess of £85,000 worth of equipment gets purchased and delivered and there is quite a lot involved in moving 280kg+ of kit around so here is a pictorial insight into one these early installs to a very good Lotus Customer.

Whilst the entry Piano speakers come in one single 190kg crate, the Contriva have a separate crate each which makes for easier work. It’s still a 2 man job all round though and don’t bother bringing the estate, only a van will do. The Preos pre/dac/phono is a fairly easy lift but the Impulse power amp is a beast and definitely another 2 man job. The more trolleys, dollys, and bodies you have the better. Needless to say, there always seems to be a cat of some sort getting in the way at these types of jobs. This day was no exception although it has to be said, we are big cat lovers here so no real complaints from me.

This customer has a lovely set of carbon fibre monaco racks. They seem to work sonically with the Tidal electronics and certainly match their aesthetics. The beautiful Momentus turntable with giant copper platter (not supplied by Lotus) is also well worth a few pictures. A Zorin Audio parallel tracker does the tonearm duties and on the very end the venerable Allnic Puritas MC. For the digital side Aurender’s top of the line W20 streamer fires straight into the Tidal Preos Dac. The extreme bandwidth Highfidelity Cables CT-UR wires complete the whole system. Stunning setup, a man of great taste !

First job was to get the big Focals out of the way. My customer has had these Maestros many many years and they’ve not budged. He’s been extremely happy with them for a long time and they’ve witnessed quite a few electronics changes downstream over the years.

Whilst a Contriva is actually similar money, the performance leap we experienced was not subtle; Endless bandwidth, ultimate transparency and clarity. The sound with the Tidals connected was just in the whole house and although half the size they actually sounded like a far bigger speaker. They held absolutely nothing back and completely disappeared from the get go doing full justice to the resolution and neutrality of the electronics.

Erecting each Contriva in place is best done slowly and methodically. Each speaker has to be lifted carefully out of its crate and then the piano bars and ball bearing feet then need affixing. After that it can be placed upright onto a mat and the carefully slid into approximate position.

I just love the hand polished piano bars on Tidal speakers. They epitomise the love and attention to detail that comes with this brand. The bars, feet and associated fixings are neatly hidden in a a very clever recess at the bottom of each crate with its very own lid and latch. The packaging has been very nicely thought out. The base of a Tidal speaker has a multitude of tapped threads so you can position the bars in various ways. As our customer is an engineer he felt that right angles at the front and angled backwards at the rear was the arrangement most sympathetic to the laid back slope and weight distribution of the shape.

When you look at pictures of Tidal speakers one is instantly drawn to the wood veneers, the beautiful Macassars and Mahoganys but the black is actually very compelling the flesh and to be fair unlike any other gloss black you may have seen before. Tidal varnish is several mm thick and it takes 6 weeks alone to complete this part of the process so the finish in person, black or otherwise is truly unique and special. This customer was originally 100% set on macassar but changed his mind when he saw the black finish and how it matched the electronics and his decor.

Tidal do make their own speaker cables, interconnects and digital interconnect and they are coming soon to us and to my product page. We can’t wait to evaluate them here and we get the feeling that they will be the equal of the electronics and speakers. I have to say though that the Rick Schultz Highfidelity Ultimate Reference worked very very well in this system.

That just about wraps things up. I hope you have enjoyed the pictures. I have worked with this customer for many years now and its been fascinating watching his journey. His system was fairly modest when we first met and its amazing to see him get into a full blown Tidal system and with two fabulous sources to boot in the Momentus and the Aurender W20.