In my living room, I have a pair of JBL Everest DD67000 and a pair of JBL 4350. They are on adjacent walls and driven independently by McIntosh and Luxman equipment. I listen to Bach organ concerti, other very dynamic orchestral music, and a little bit of rock (maybe Pink Floyd “The Wall”…) on the 4350s, Puccini, less dynamic orchestral, and mix of pop, Americana, jazz, folk on the Everests. And I added a pair of 12” Tannoys a couple of years ago. They’re Stuarts, and they sit maybe 18” in front of the 4350s but far enough to the side to not block the mid and tweeters. They are wonderful for Ella Fitzgerald/Tony Bennett/Julie London style vocals, acoustic ensembles (jazz, pop, classical), jazz club live recordings. The Tannoys are driven by Luxman, Marantz, Concept, Onkyo integrated or receivers (heresy here, right?). They don’t handle the big dynamics, but imaging/soundstage is great, and so is (what I would call) presence or immediacy. They are getting the majority of the play time since they’ve been in place. I bought them in a package and didn’t intend to keep them, but I haven’t been able to get motivated to pass them on. So they are being used as an accessory speaker, but they’ve sorta turned that on its head by commanding the most play time. They’re the only Tannoys that I have spent any significant amount of time with.
Is there Tannoy Magic / Should I buy a pair of Tannoys as "accessory" speaker?
I have a decent system, and am running JBL 4367, with either Parasound A21+ (300w solid state) or Canary M600 (50w tubes) and am Tannoy-curious.
I'm familiar with the current state of the brand, I understand that the "new" speakers aren't made at the old factory, and that much of the "shine" has worn off the brand over the last several years. I'm also aware of the newer company with much of the former Tannoy brain trust.
I have never heard a Tannoy speaker.
My room is just barely, small, at 16' wide 13' deep and 9' ceilings. It opens at the rear, almost but not perfectly symmetrically, behind the listening position, via a set of pocket doors that remain open, to a much larger room. The JBLs, with their 15" driver (thanks to a bunch of acoustic treatments) are not "too much" for the room, so I don't know that the Ardens (for example) would be, either.
I'm not saying I wouldn't get rid of the JBLs, but the plan is to buy a set of Tannoys, hopefully like them enough to keep them, and slip them in the system as desire dictates.
The JBLs do everything that I know of, that I want a speaker to do, I'm just looking to be inspired.
I think I need realistic bass, and so perhaps a 12" or 15" (I don't know, just guessing) model might suit me better.
Other than figure out how to demo some Tannoy speakers in a store like a normal person would, what do you think I should do?
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I have a pair of Tannoy DC8Ti speakers in my dedicated music listening (12’x15’x8’). I purchased them used five years ago from a local LG TV dealer right off the showroom floor (they sounded fantastic). At the time, I had a vintage McIntosh system (10 years old) and even older Pioneer system (25 years old). I hooked the Tannoy’s up to each system and, while they sounded very good, they didn’t sound as good as the store demo (imagine that I used that as an excuse to upgrade to my current system and couldn’t be happier. It took me several weeks to get them dialed in properly, but once I did, the Tannoy magic was all there. I don’t need a sub; depending on the recording, soundstage, instrument separation, and imaging is excellent and, on most songs, the speakers just disappear. My Tannoy’s are driven by a PS Audio BHK250 power amp and LTA microZOTL preamp (I sold my BHK preamp once I heard it in my system). Streaming source Innous Zenith MKII to Matrix SPDIF-X via i2s to a PS Audio DSD DAC. Vinyl source Technics SL1200G to a PS Audio Stellar phono pre. I can’t speak to the state or sound of Tannoy’s current line from personal experience, but I can tell you, the DC8Ti’s are excellent speakers. The build quality is impeccable, and, with the right gear, the sound is natural, engaging, with no listening fatigue. |
@immatthewj I've had Stirling GR's since 2019 and have no plans to change. In regard to positioning I haven't found them to be finicky at all. They are perfect for my room and I've used everything from Music Reference RM10 Mk2, Atma-Sphere Class D's, Will Vincent ST-70 and Cary SLI-80HS which I like the best. Atma-Spheres were fantastic too just different. I just like the sound of tubes and of course the aggravation and expense. |
Turnberrys here for 4 years and no desire to upgrade speakers again. Prior to these, I had Tannoy XT8-F which were also nice. I used these with: a 300B tube amp and with Atma-Sphere monoblock class D with their tube pre-amp. After some tube rolling in the Atma-sphere preamp, I'm much happier with the sound with the class D- especially bass. |
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