Tannoy owners

[Zappadaddy]

You know I have seen Tannoys totaly killed by presentation on hifi show in Prague, absolutely inadequate gear which made a bad name for Tannoys, and all that just because the studio was presenting their stuff with Tannoys thinking it will sell better. Tannoy Westminster are very picky on everything. Like every other speaker they might sound great or just not as great ....depending on audio equipment used.

 

[Scott Naylor]

But Beautiful by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis from album Jaw´s blues 1981

A great selection to show a glimpse of a wonderful system. Note envelopes akin to the real thing. Natural even. Thanks for that, Zappadaddy!

Btw Horace Parlan plays keys on that album and he and Davis have a creative connection that is qunite special. The Enja and Steeplechase labels - just to name two - have a great deal of fine recordings by elder statesman of jazz during that time. Check out Archie Shepp and Parlan “Trouble In Mind” on Steeplechase if I may be so bold?

 

[Zappadaddy]

A great selection to show a glimpse of a wonderful system. Note envelopes akin to the real thing. Natural even. Thanks for that, Zappadaddy!

Btw Horace Parlan plays keys on that album and he and Davis have a creative connection that is qunite special. The Enja and Steeplechase labels - just to name two - have a great deal of fine recordings by elder statesman of jazz during that time. Check out Archie Shepp and Parlan “Trouble In Mind” on Steeplechase if I may be so bold?

I love Archie Sheep, this year there a new album Let my people go, and on the first track he signing in the end so beautifuly, it is very emotional piece of music - Sometimes I feel like a motherless child

 

[jespera]

But Beautiful by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis from album Jaw´s blues 1981

Now you can compare:

Nice flute approx 2:10 in.

Different room and iphone. You need headphones. Fwiw.

 

[rob]

One of the biggest problems with the Westminster Royals is all the internal push connectors used for the wiring and crossovers. They make the sound dull and inconsistent and only get worse with time.

After removing them and soldering the connections, sixteen push connects can be removed from the signal path. Also bypassing the front panel treble settings with an internal jumper on the H.F. crossover board saves going thru those wonky connectors, improving treble clarity.

Doing this makes a HUGE difference in treble clarity openness and consistency. It’s a must do if you own them.

Also, the three point mounting system with one foot under the center of the front baffle leaves the front baffle flapping in the breeze. They need a four-point mounting system so the front baffle is “grounded”.

Another problem is cabinet ringing. The cabinet needs to be damped to keep all the panels from resonating to the low frequencies. There are some large empty (unused) spaces inside the cabinet that create the folded horn shape. These need to be filled with sand in order to dampen the cabinet resonances. And yes it turns a 300lb speaker into a 600lb speaker.

Bi-amping with an active crossover and connecting the amps directly to the drivers makes the biggest improvement of all. They take on an electrostatic type of openness and clarity.

Westminster Royals can be great speakers but you have to work at it. My late friend Harvey “Gizmo” Rosenberg used to compare it to working on hot rod cars. He had a point.

Cool photo.

 

[Zappadaddy]

Now you can compare:

Different room and iphone. F

Now you can compare:

Nice flute approx 2:10 in.

Different room and iphone. You need headphones. Fwiw.

The room would need some accoustical treatment, hearing distortions, what amps and setup do you have?

 

[jespera]

hearing distortions,

i dont.

I do hear a bit of peakyness which I dont hear in real life. Sure its the phone. Also hear in the tannoy silver video.

In your video #58 i could frankly do with some more details, openess, definition. air. Some hifi tbh. Maybe you need more watts. ;-)

what amps and setup do you have?

look in my profile.

 

[OldKraut]

Hi Bonzo75 !

I had some Tannoys over the Years and i think they are fun and of course important - many studios used them, or still use them…many records i love were made „on“ them. BUT i think they do not reach the levels of resolution that is possible with todays top gear. Of course for some music these levels dont work anyhow! So yes they work for lots of music but especially what was once called Rock/Pop. I tried to really get everything out of them in my last Tannoy configuration, where i played Tannoy Buckinghams new wired internally with an Trinnov Amethyst, using his digital crossover AND the very fine room correction. Amped by 2 Ayon Monos for Hi/Mid and WBE Fusion 900 for the Bass. So a complete Mix up Hitech/Classic gear.
I loved it! Now i went on, but can/will never sell the Tannoys…

 

[jespera]

Tannoy mg 10”, leben, abbas and dexter gordon.

Not the worst if you have to get by with 10”. Use headphones. Fwiw.

 

[F456GTM]

I have a most unique pair of Martin Hannett Tannoy 12 inch Monitor HPD from his home studio wall of speakers- built specially for him by Tannoy in 1978.

He was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. These speakers belonged to the man that produced records by Joy Division, John Cooper Clarke, U2, Buzzcocks, Nico, New Order, Magazine, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and many others. Martin died in 1991.

Nevertheless, they are for sale now.

 

[Zappadaddy]

Tannoy mg 10”, leben, abbas and dexter gordon.

Not the worst if you have to get by with 10”. Use headphones. Fwiw.

nice, and Leben

 

[Zappadaddy]

I have bought some cables Jorma Prime speaker cables, Prime jumpers, also Stealth Sakra V8 rca, another power cable Sroll Quantum, also bought Moon preamp 740P and xlr cable AAI Maestozo 2 from Mola to 740P. Wow what an improvment. Incredible tember, 3d soundstage, intimacy and musicality. I am in disbelief. In couple of weeks my Tannoy will go through crossover and wiring upgrade and I am kind of afraid of the outcoming result. I am very happy with sound, hearing this like never before, so many emotions and joy.

 

[F456GTM]

Hi, I'm the chap Kedar referred to earlier.

I've tried literally dozens of amps (around 40 at last count) with Tannoys, having owned quite a few different set of tannoys in many different cabinets, including 12in and 15in Golds and 12in and 15in HPDs. I've heard many modern Tannoys as well, though prefer the vintage ones, properly executed.

300b push-pull can work ok for Golds but you have to be careful of high output impedance which is often an issue with 300b designs. At one point I had four Audion 300b monoblocks running 15in Golds, used both active and passive with a split crossover. Generally speaking I found pentode amps worked best (has a few of those as well, the better ones were the Radfords above and some Jadis monoblocks). I wouldn't use them with HPDs which need more grunt to work properly compared to Golds. With all these vintage Tannoys you are balancing the need to have a decent of damping factor to keep the big cones under control, without going overboard and sucking the life out of them.

Different people have their view on Tannoys, having owned them for almost a decade I totally get the romantic appeal of 15in Golds and they do most things beautifully, but I concluded having owned both Golds and HPDs simultaneously that ultimately more of just about everything can be got from 12in HPDs. (15 HPDs have the down sides of 15in Golds - all mainly the consequence of a fairly high crossover point for such a large cone - but without that sweetness which is the Golds' big plus point). I consider the essential choice to be between 15in Golds and 12in HPDs - HPDs need more power but in the right cab go just as deep as 15in Golds, and being 12in rather than 15in suffer fewer woes around the crossover point. But I don't really argue the point - its mainly a personal preference. HPDs were the final point in the evolution of the Monitor series going back to Black and Silver iterations - in my view Tannoy never again made a driver that was quite so successful in a musical sense.

The Silvercores have shaken a lot of what I thought I knew but I've taken a decision not to ask too many questions and just enjoy them. There must be something in their design that provides the neccessary control as the bass control, depth and overall quality on them is exceptional for single ended amps.

Hi Mate,

Oliver - Bigman80 - mentioned that you got Angus PM 1010 tonearm. He is shipping one to me for my Ray Clark's 401. Cheers.

 

[montesquieu]

Hi Mate,

Oliver - Bigman80 - mentioned that you got Angus PM 1010 tonearm. He is shipping one to me for my Ray Clark's 401. Cheers.

I haven't had one for quite a few years, I used one for a bit on a 401 I had alongside the TD124. The 1010 is a wee bit light for the lowish-compliance cartridges I generally use.

 

[Zappadaddy]

We upgraded condensers in high/mid section for Jupiter Super-Z, there was alot more resolutuion but the sound was kind of clinical, now tried Jupiter cooper condensers and never heard music out of Tannoy so beuatuiful, just incredible difference...you can hear it even when recorded with celluar phone and replayed through Youtube, huge 3 dimmensilanl sound so natural and realistic sounding , and it is old ordinary record Reruturn to forever, no audiphile recording

 

[MisterP007]

Newbie here, thought I should join in!

Always loved Tannoys, have a pair of 15" GRF corners in my other place (no pics) but I do not like them as much as my HPD295A 10" in custom ported 105 litre cabinets. Much sweeter midrange in my opinion and in the 105 litre cabinets are not lacking in bass extension or punch either. The Batpure supertweeters added a little bit of sparkle and depth to the image (anyone guess what they are mounted in?).

As a big fan of loud rock (genisis, rush, dire straits) plus a bit of Jazz-ish (Diana Krall, Clapton etc.) I opted for solid state with the Roksan Kandy amp which really keeps a tight hold of the bass.

I listen to a bit of vinyl, a bit of CD but mostly digital so the slight warmth of the Tannoys calms down all of the edge of the digital and solid state input.

Overall, huge scale and amazing female / male voices. Puts modern sub £5000 speakers to shame and probably a few more expensive than that. Playing Genesis "Dance on a Volcano" at the moment.

 

[jespera]

Newbie here, thought I should join in!

Always loved Tannoys, have a pair of 15" GRF corners in my other place (no pics) but I do not like them as much as my HPD295A 10" in custom ported 105 litre cabinets. Much sweeter midrange in my opinion and in the 105 litre cabinets are not lacking in bass extension or punch either. The Batpure supertweeters added a little bit of sparkle and depth to the image (anyone guess what they are mounted in?).

As a big fan of loud rock (genisis, rush, dire straits) plus a bit of Jazz-ish (Diana Krall, Clapton etc.) I opted for solid state with the Roksan Kandy amp which really keeps a tight hold of the bass.

I listen to a bit of vinyl, a bit of CD but mostly digital so the slight warmth of the Tannoys calms down all of the edge of the digital and solid state input.

Overall, huge scale and amazing female / male voices. Puts modern sub £5000 speakers to shame and probably a few more expensive than that. Playing Genesis "Dance on a Volcano" at the moment.


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10” tannoys are great little speakers. Under the right conditions very decent bass and nice kick too.

As much as I like mine, I prefer my 15” grf corner horns, though.

 

[F456GTM]

These are the best super tweeters you can get, Pioneer TAD PT-9 Supper ribbon tweeters, 40W 8? 4.5 - 100kHZ, unless you know how to modify a pair of Decca London - Stanley Kelly MK II ribbons.

​

 

[MisterP007]

10” tannoys are great little speakers. Under the right conditions very decent bass and nice kick too.

As much as I like mine, I prefer my 15” grf corner horns, though.

The room is the problem where I have the 15" Corners, tiled floor, big picture windows, reflective leather furnishing, not good!

The HPD295A 10" really do have close to modern levels of bass punch if you get them away from the wall. My cabinets are extremely rigid which helps. Inside is like a cathedral and outside is two layers of kerf-cut, screwed and glued ply

 

[MisterP007]

These are the best super tweeters you can get, Pioneer TAD PT-9 Supper ribbon tweeters, 40W 8? 4.5 - 100kHZ, unless you know how to modify a pair of Decca London - Stanley Kelly MK II ribbons.

​

I was aware of the Decca ones years ago, no idea about the Pioneers, I will look them up.