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Tag Mclaren stuff

From the T32R Tuner handbook:
"Straight Line Technology.
To prevent intemodulation distortion, an amplification stage must respond to very low frequencies but block any DC. This is traditionally achieved by using capacitors, which also block some of the low frequency signal. [...] a feedback circuit eliminates DC offest voltage and allows the signal path to be directly coupled without any capacitors. This arrangement is called "straight line technology" and is common to all our high-end products."
 
Style over substance. They bought Audiolab with no knowledge of the Hi-Fi market and tried to bamboozle customers with the association to F1.

I went to a symposium for dealers, where they spent hours explaining why they chose a particular colour for the feet and how the packaging would invite the customer into the product. Questions about "performance" were batted away. They had no idea.

Audiolab is now owned by IAG and doing very nicely.
 
Not sure it was style over substance as they had very knowledgeable people in there (Dr. Udo).

I have a set of Tag Mclaren F1 speakers and so far I have not heard anything better and have been in a few shows recently..

Also their 250w monoblocs and av high end processors are still very competent comparing to today standards. This is 10 years later even just supporting the old formats.
 
Having previously owned a Tag 32R DVD/ CD transport & processor (can't remember what that was called) it certainly wasn't style over substance, it was excellent kit for the time and although Dr Udo thingamybob was a bit arrogant he was extremely helpful if you had a problem.
 
Yes but the lower-end products were repackaged Audiolabs with a few tweaks, tarted up.

The biggest change was the price.
 
Suffolk Tony said:
Having previously owned a Tag 32R DVD/ CD transport & processor (can't remember what that was called) it certainly wasn't style over substance, it was excellent kit for the time and although Dr Udo thingamybob was a bit arrogant he was extremely helpful if you had a problem.
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From what I saw their packaging was no better than Cyrus. The design of the products was a bit pedestrian for a "high tech F1 company". Keeping with Cyrus, not as good looking. No clever Cyrus like cast case or interesting stand. It can still make me wonder why Audiolab. I like Cyrus kit, not enough to buy any!, and it had a better fit in some aspects. I'm using it as an illustration company to compare. Obviously it would have been a more expensive company and probably wasn't up for sale. But do you get my points about Audiolab not being a McLareny company?
 
Associations between hi-if companies and fast motor cars never seem to end well... normally the point to sell up and run away
 
I still have the base line pre/power PA10/60P I think they called. The sound was a bit differnt to the Audiolab eqivalent c/p - the sound was a bit darker by comparison the c/p could sound a bit grey I bought mine 2nd hand @ about £270 each as the new price was silly.
 
I went to the Heathrow show where they launched Tag McLaren. They had loads of 'Courtesy Cars' driving people between hotels. They had a huge presence and a lot of 'Visual Merchandising'.

Sadly, I couldn't find any kit.

Even Audiphools aren't phooled by that sort of bullshit.

Mull
 
The buyers mistake is assuming that F1 cars must have superior electronics. Robust yes, but not designed to last more than a season and the performance does not have to be anything special, just do its job
 
fay spook said:
From what I saw their packaging was no better than Cyrus. The design of the products was a bit pedestrian for a "high tech F1 company". Keeping with Cyrus, not as good looking. No clever Cyrus like cast case or interesting stand. It can still make me wonder why Audiolab. I like Cyrus kit, not enough to buy any!, and it had a better fit in some aspects. I'm using it as an illustration company to compare. Obviously it would have been a more expensive company and probably wasn't up for sale. But do you get my points about Audiolab not being a McLareny company?
Click to expand...

I can only speak about their A/V components, but certainly the bits I had were extremely well put together. There were issues with the DVD drive they used but this was quickly rectified. In comparison with other AV stuff at the time, Tag were up there with the very best. Before buying their processor I did a home comparison with a Lexicon, supposedly the bee's knees, and the Tag was better.
 
I still have a DVD32 and an AV32Rdp here which are still performing fine

Minor heart palpitations if I ever have to switch them off at the mains mind but as a CD spinner the combo are in my mind just a bit better than my CDX/XPS. All this kit dates back to around turn of the century vintage

The AV32 is a decent preamp in its own right but I have mine feeding the AV pass through of a Naim 252 into 250 and Yammy 1000's

I used to have the processor feeing rear channels etc but I grew up and realised that I was really very happy with just the front stereo pair and a decent centre

Apart from the first gen DVD drive in the DVD32 and a possible Power supply connection issue with some AV32 models I think the Tag stuff is really well put together


eddie
 
I also have an AV32R DP. A fantastic processor even today. It's extremely well built and still looks good after all these years. The DAC in it is great and if my girlfriends stupid TV cabinet was more audio component friendly I would've had a try of it in my 2 channel system.
 
My AV32R stopped working a couple of years ago. It was quite a few years old. Well engineered.

My Calliope standmount speakers are still going strong.
I've been to shows etc, and I've come away thinking that I'd have to spend a pretty sum to get a significant improvement. Good clarity and the right amount bass for my room (4m x 3.5m with an opening to the kitchen at 2.5m to the right). I'm happy with them anyway.
 
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