like it or not, certain loudspeakers are better than others with certain genres.
Some are just plain better full stop.
Well I wouldn't like it if it were true. It would mean I need over 100 speakers to play one music collection :) But it is true that some speakers are just plain better, full stop. I'm running a set of Classic Audio Loudspeakers which are 16 ohms, go to 20Hz and are 98 dB 1 watt/1 meter. The first breakup is at 35Khz, so they are fast, smooth, detailed and image great. Massive Attack, Global Communication, Fields of Nephilim, King Crimson, The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the Tallis Scholars all sound great on them.
I'm surprised this thread is still running. Ralph is absolutely right. The only thing my HPD's won't play well are the lowest pipe organ notes. All else is fair game.
I recently had my old Assemblage Audio SET 300B worked on by Paul Birkeland, the designer for Bottlehead. He replaced some bad Blackgate caps, and adjusted the filament voltage to the ideal for use with my EML XLS 300B tubes. He was surprised to learn the output transformers are Magnaquest, which partially explains why it sounds so good. It's been about three weeks since the recap, and now the bass is the best it has ever been, except when using an 845 amp hooked up to the system. That amp is now being overhauled by Paul, that will be an eye/ear opener when it's done.
Music is now better than at any time in my 45 year involvement with audio. I remember when I started getting serious about having a system that would really do it for me (when I was nearing retirement). I never dreamed it would be this good, and not a single bit of it over $5000. It can be done, especially with some DIY.
Best regards to all you Tannoy lovers, and to the rest of you as well.
Thanks for everyone sharing their thoughts on hard rock/ metal with Tannoys. I appreciate it.
The number one quality, bar none, that I look for in musical equipment is emotional connection with the music I enjoy. So I'll be curious about checking out Tannoys, as I'm under the impression that's a strength of theirs for some.
One thing I didn't hear though...are Tannoys good at lower volumes? Or do you need to play them at higher levels before they come alive?
I had a pair of Precision 6.2 series. First used Caspain M2 to power them, the result was meh... Then I used Magnat RV1, bass extension became better and then used Pass Labs XA30.5 and bass was perfect so it seems they are very sensitive to feed. With all these amps, midrange was really good specially if you are in jazz and female vocal, as mentioned by others the sound stage in lower models aren’t wide and sweet spot also narrow . Btw Tannoy speakers are really good with those magical concentric tweeters and wish their higher models have a better look.
@johnrothschild, all the Tannoys I have owned MX3s (slim floorstanders), R3s (bigger floorstanders) and Berkeley’s (larger floor/standmounts) were voiced to sound satisfyingly full at low volume.
The vintage Berkeley’s are a dream at low volumes, like the R3s (but with a bigger/freer sound). It’s actually difficult to resist turning them up (unless it’s late of course). You can easily begin craving more of that sumptuous sound. Because of low distortion, you can end up going quite loud before they become ’shouty’.
Despite any obvious treble trickery, they somehow render vocalists more legible. There is some commonly used unit of measure for speech legibility, used in cinemas I think, but I can’t recall the name. Whatever it is the dual concentric HPD drivers have it in spades.
They don’t really come more alive at higher volumes like some speakers do (Ruark Prologues!). You just get more of the same. Like having 2/3 slices of cake instead of just the one.
Of course they are not perfect, far from it. I would always prefer a better transient performance/dynamics plus a smoother treble.
As for timbral expressiveness, I doubt I can ever get enough.
Tannoy legacy eatons here and loving them thus far! They are gargantuan stand mounters and have an exquisite finish and build. The midrange is to die for and the bass is fantastic. I’m running them with my sugden A21se signature pure class A single ended integrated and I think they pair very well. They are sitting on custom atacama stands 16 inches high. I have them toed in a good bit but not anything drastic...they seem to throw a soundstage twice as wide as my room, with good depth as well. I only have a few hours on them as of now, I’m sure they can only get better with time. I’m a tannoy convert! The best part? I got these brand spanking new from an audio dealer in Scotland for $3900!! They are a $6000 speaker! The story behind it is the dealer had a used pair which I bought sight unseen online. A day later, a sales person notified me that a local had come into the store the same day and bought the very same speakers. He said that noone had informed him of this! Feeling terrible about it, the same salesman ordered me a brand new pair right from the factory in Scotland! He charged me the same price as the used ones! They were shipped out to me in the states about 3 weeks later... 😁 forgot to mention, that price ($3900) included the custom 16 inch Atacama stands, also brand new! I’d say I stole these!!! The only thing extra that I had to buy was the atacama atabite stand filler, about 130 bucks for 4 7kg tubs to complete the job. I used 4 pea sized balls of blue tac beneath each speaker.
All I need to acquire now is a linn sondek turntable! I’ll then have all Scottish made components...well, with exception of my tape deck, sacd, cd players, and tuners...all Japanese.
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