Germany’s TIDAL Audio has announced the Piano Classic, a passive floorstander it describes as a reinterpretation of the very first loudspeaker it built back in 1999.
Pitched as the brand’s ‘entry-level’ model, it foregoes the exotic materials typical of TIDAL’s lineup: diamond and ceramic driver arrays, TIRADUR composite cabinet shells, and heavy stainless steel structural components. The trade-off is a more accessible price point while retaining the core engineering philosophy.
Why so costly? One contributing factor is how TIDAL’s loudspeakers are designed, engineered and built entirely in Germany at a 2,000-square-meter production headquarters in Erftstadt, just outside Cologne.
Drivers
Each Piano Classic cabinet runs two 7″ black Crystalid mid/bass and bass drivers, plus a single 1.2″ black-ceramic tweeter. The drivers are custom-built to TIDAL’s proprietary specifications by fellow German specialist Accuton, then assembled and tuned at the Erftstadt facility. The tweeter is mechanically decoupled from the main cabinet, sitting in its own stainless steel housing with a velvet-coated aluminium front plate. The bass drivers are secured via an aluminium clamping construction.
Crossovers
Managing those drivers is what TIDAL calls the Uno-Pulse crossover. At 13kg, this passive network lives in its own hermetically sealed, microphonically isolated chamber inside the cabinet, assembled, like the drivers, entirely in-house at Erftstadt. The parts list is serious: Supreme capacitors, Supreme resistors, low-resistance air-core inductors, ultra-resistance bass inductors.
On the rear, a Vario-terminal offers three tuning positions. Pure 2-way suits smaller rooms; linear 2.5-way targets medium-sized spaces; the gained 2.5-way setting adds bass output for larger rooms or wherever the room is asking for more low-end.
Nominal impedance reportedly sits at 4 ohms, with the lowest impedance registering at 3.2 ohms. TIDAL recommends a minimum of 30 watts from the partnering amplifier.
Cabinets
Silver binding posts accept the signal from the amplifier, and the entire enclosure is a multi-chamber, waterproof HDF design, with its high-gloss piano lacquer finish applied by hand at the Erftstadt factory. Eight black-coated aluminium trigger bars run the length of the cabinet. Floor isolation comes via TIDAL’s own stainless steel feet.
Each cabinet measures 46″ H x 9.4″ W x 14″ D, rising to 47.6″ once the feet are fitted. At 52kg (120lbs) per loudspeaker, positioning them will be a two-person job.
Price and availability
The TIDAL Audio Piano Classic is priced at US$31,990 per pair in midnight black piano lacquer and is available to order now.
Further information: Tidal Audio
