Tannoy Kensington SE vs Magnepan 20.7

Interesting experience you, Larry, have with Kensington. I can recognize that Kensington have a very high transient speed in the midrange, but I have never had problems with sibilance. This may have been a problem with matching amps and cables?

Aldavis: I have had Kensington GR for one month now, so they are still burning-in. Thus, I cannot say that much yet. Before these I had Kensington SE and with these I remember a very long burn-in period. An impression is that GR sounds better from the start with just small changes during burn-in. Another impression is that they have more bass and they seem a bit smoother in the midrange. The dynamic, engaging and organic/holistic style of presenting music seems to be as good as SE. Yet, these parameters may change for the better – I can come back to it later.

S1nn3r: within the 5 weeks since last post I hear better coherence and further improvement in smoothness. My problem now is that I have a harder time remembering the SE version as the time go by and my hearing get adjusted to the GR.

For me there are two ways of evaluating hifi: firstly, I approach what I hear with my intellect and analytic competence. Secondly, and this is much more important, I try to detect how I listen to music over time; can I relax, do I listen with a lot of volume, do the music engage me emotionally etc. I can say that nothing I loved with Kensington SE is gone. It is as if the fine qualities of SE have just been further refined in the GR version.

Congratulation S1nn3r! What is the rest of your system?

Interesting experience you, Larry, have with Kensington. I can recognize that Kensington have a very high transient speed in the midrange, but I have never had problems with sibilance. This may have been a problem with matching amps and cables?

Sorry for the double posting.

Wow, S1nn3r, you have some nice gear! Manley and Tannoy are a raw combination. And, you do not need to worry about enough power. I use only 11 watts of Manley power on the same speaker:-)

S1nn3r: Yes, I use the Neo-Classic 300B, almost every time in single-ended configuration, with only 11 watt. Even if I like soul, rnb, hiphop (besides jazz, rock and sing-and-songwriter), there is seldom any problem with power reserves. The beauty with Neo-Classic is that you can tune in the optimal amount of negative feedback in the amplifier that matches your specific speaker. With Kensington the best result is driving them with 3-5 dB negative feedback. Compared to zero feedback you can hear that the bass get controlled, dynamic, fast and tuneful. And, the adverse effect in the midrange is almost not noticeable at all. However, if I use 6 or more dB negative feedback the musical experience suffer. Thus, I think Tannoy's recommendations for at least 50 watts is a general statement when you do not take into consideration how the amplifier works. Manley 300B is no problem, it is just musical bliss.