Congrats. I've always wanted a regal Italianate with high ceilings and a pair of Kensingtons.
Tannoy Stirlings on the way!
Hi, everybody. Longtime member, first time caller.
I just ordered up a pair of Tannoy Stirling GR floorstanders, and, frankly, I'm looking for people to rejoice with!
I'm a speakers guy, through and through. I've got Dynaudios, Focals, B&Ws, Totems, Wharfedales, Klipsches, and even my old Polk 5Bs, the first speakers I ever bought, way back in the '80s. I wanted to try something very different, and the Prestige line Tannoys really spoke to me. The coincident drivers, the old-school-ish paper cone, the old-school cabinets and ports. I'm really looking forward to hearing how they soundstage!
I thought about getting the Turnberrys, but the Stirlings should be just about the perfect size for my [extremely irregular] room. Especially since I already have a pair of subs.
I'm pretty chuffed.
I just ordered up a pair of Tannoy Stirling GR floorstanders, and, frankly, I'm looking for people to rejoice with!
I'm a speakers guy, through and through. I've got Dynaudios, Focals, B&Ws, Totems, Wharfedales, Klipsches, and even my old Polk 5Bs, the first speakers I ever bought, way back in the '80s. I wanted to try something very different, and the Prestige line Tannoys really spoke to me. The coincident drivers, the old-school-ish paper cone, the old-school cabinets and ports. I'm really looking forward to hearing how they soundstage!
I thought about getting the Turnberrys, but the Stirlings should be just about the perfect size for my [extremely irregular] room. Especially since I already have a pair of subs.
I'm pretty chuffed.
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I've wanted to hear Tannoy GR speakers forever and never have. I hope they are your last speakers! I haven't heard them, either, jond. You would think Memphis, of all places, would have some decent hi-fi dealers. Nope. Our last one shut down about 10 years ago. At this point, I live in the middle of a big hi-fi desert. I just have to do a lot of research, then buy online and hope. These definitely won't be my last speakers. :) I'm too much of a speaker slut. That doesn't mean I won't keep them in the collection forever, though. We'll see about that. |
As an owner of the Tannoy Legacy Arden I’m confident you will love the Stirlings. So classy. Congrats! Thanks, yakbob! I looked pretty hard at the Cheviots, too. That Legacy line seems like it's got something special. In the end, it came down to the throwback looks of the Prestige line, as much as anything. The toe-in thing is going to be a bit interesting in my current room. I'm practically nearfield. We'll have to see how it all works out. |
“These definitely won’t be my last speakers. :) I’m too much of a speaker slut. That doesn’t mean I won’t keep them in the collection forever, though. We’ll see about that.” @trentmemphis, As you said, it’s a adventure! I don’t know if anything is ‘forever’ in this crazy hobby, but I do see myself living with my Tannoy Canterbury’s for a very long time. Once they are in your possession, you may realize that they are built to very high standards and worth every penny to hoard them in your permanent collection :-) https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8046 |
As you said, it’s a adventure! I don’t know if anything is ‘forever’ in this crazy hobby, but I do see myself living with my Tannoy Canterbury’s for a very long time. Once they are in your possession, you may realize that they are built to very high standards and worth every penny to hoard them in your permanent collection :-) Wow, my room wants to be your room when it grows up! Those Canterburys must throw an incredible soundstage in that space, with lifelike dynamics, to boot. I'm hoping to start building a house in a few years. I've got a listening room in the drawings. For now, it's the living room. I'll be using REL subs with my Stirlings, as well. A pair of T9i, in my case. REL seems to have the reputation of being able to pair well with most anything, so they seemed like the right choice for somebody like me. :) They've been working well with my Lintons. My electronics are SS McIntosh, fed from Qobuz (via Roon) and a Michell Gyrodec SE. |
The Stirling’s look similar in size to my Berkeley’s, but with better cabinets. I have to put mine on small wooden benches to get the tweeters up to ear height, at around 6 inches from the front wall. If they have that classic in-house Tannoy sound they should sound more like real music than any of your previous speakers. They’ll never be the most accurate speakers or the ones that image or disappear best, but they should be amongst the easiest to relax and listen into. To my ears there is something so correct about the Tannoy ’olde worlde’ paper coned dual concentric presentation that is very difficult to find elsewhere. At any price. |
The Stirling’s look similar in size to my Berkeley’s, but with better cabinets. I have to put mine on small wooden benches to get the tweeters up to ear height, at around 6 inches from the front wall. I asked the dealer about that very thing -- the tweeter axis. He at first said, yeah, he'd try to help me find a pair of stands of suitable size. The next day he called back and said the feet had enough adjustability to tilt the speakers to the proper axis. That sounds okay to me, since the drivers are coincident. If they have that classic in-house Tannoy sound they should sound more like real music than any of your previous speakers. That's kind of what I wanted. Something very different from what I have, and easy to kick back and luxuriate in. I do care a lot about imaging/soundstage, though. For me, that musical illusion is a huge piece of the enjoyment. From what I've read elsewhere, it sounded like Tannoys are rather excellent at that, due to the driver design. That's not your experience with your Berkeleys? |
Wow! Great choice! I’m sure you will love them. I own the Tannoy Legacy Eaton standmounters, the biggest stand mount speaker I’ve ever seen lol. Man, they sound terrific, especially paired with a nice class A amp/integrated. Try the sugden A21 SE if you have the opportunity, it’s a great match. My eatons will most likely be my rest of life speakers..I still have my wharfedales, but these tannoys are in another world or league. Made and designed in the UK, Scottland. This is an excerpt from a review of the Tannoy Eatons, which will most likely apply to your tannoys as well.... "in Ravel’s Nocturn from Daphnis and Chloé (Serge Baudo, Czech Philharmonic) the view of the pastoral landscape was portrayed so seductively that I froze in the listening chair - the space was literally walkable for hours." And another.... "And I especially fell in love with its depth - imagine deep and absolutely clear water, everything is moving, smoothly and continuously, you see colors and clear outlines to a depth of a few meters and you have an immense desire to dive to that depth." |
I went from the Tannoy XT8F and wanted the Arden’s, but the shop I bought from asked me as many questions as I asked them. Finally, we determined the Turnberry GR would be a better fit for me than the Ardens. I’m must admit I’m happy as a Lark. The imaging is fan-frickin-tastic. Phantom center is locked-in. Great depth and throws a big soundstage. I think these do all the "tricks" rather well. Someone mentioned toeing them in. I tried none, a little and a little more and they do sound better with some toe-in. I’m not sure where you got them from, but hopefully they told you they need a long break-in. When I got mine, I thought I made a very expensive mistake. They sounded very thin and no bass, but after 50 hours or so of listening, they came alive! Now they just get better and better. I was gentle on the break-in and just let music play even when I was in the next room. I did notice after 10 hours, the sound was much improved and keeps getting better. I think I probably have about 200 hours now. Next project is I’m going to make some nice stands to get them right at ear level. They sound great, but I think ear level will be better. I hope someday I can step up to the Canterbury, but if not, these are just fine and I’d be happy with them. Congrats trentmemphis! I hope you enjoy them Tannoy’s as much as I do mine. |
Wow! Great choice! I’m sure you will love them. I own the Tannoy Legacy Eaton standmounters, the biggest stand mount speaker I’ve ever seen lol. Haha. Yep. The Eatons are actually where my Tannoy shopping started. Like I said, I was looking for something different, but I have limited space, and if I turned my Linton stands sideways, the Eatons would fit just about perfectly. :) Then I eyed the Cheviots. Then I thought, "Hm, it wouldn't be TOO much trouble to just move those Wharfedales..." Man, they sound terrific, especially paired with a nice class A amp/integrated. Try the sugden A21 SE if you have the opportunity, it’s a great match. My eatons will most likely be my rest of life speakers..I still have my wharfedales, but these tannoys are in another world or league. Made and designed in the UK, Scottland. I imagine I'll be sticking with my MC152 for a while. Haven't had it long. I've avoided McIntosh gear for a long time, but I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about, and got the 152 and a C49. This is an excerpt from a review of the Tannoy Eatons, which will most likely apply to your tannoys as well.... I'll have what those guys are having! I liked the one at AVSForums (I think?), where the guy said he felt like he could get up and walk around the lead singer. |
I went from the Tannoy XT8F and wanted the Arden’s, but the shop I bought from asked me as many questions as I asked them. Finally, we determined the Turnberry GR would be a better fit for me than the Ardens. I’m must admit I’m happy as a Lark. The imaging is fan-frickin-tastic. Phantom center is locked-in. Great depth and throws a big soundstage. I think these do all the "tricks" rather well. Someone mentioned toeing them in. I tried none, a little and a little more and they do sound better with some toe-in. I’m not sure where you got them from, but hopefully they told you they need a long break-in. When I got mine, I thought I made a very expensive mistake. They sounded very thin and no bass, but after 50 hours or so of listening, they came alive! Now they just get better and better. I was gentle on the break-in and just let music play even when I was in the next room. I did notice after 10 hours, the sound was much improved and keeps getting better. I think I probably have about 200 hours now. Those Ardens seem like big boys. The dealer did not mention a particularly long break-in. I pretty much ignore most of what I hear from a new pair of speakers for a good while. Like you, I'll be playing them in the next room a lot. Easy to do when I'm locked up at home. VERY happy to hear about the imaging/soundstage. Next project is I’m going to make some nice stands to get them right at ear level. They sound great, but I think ear level will be better. As mentioned above, I asked the dealer about that very thing. They told me the feet adjust to provide a backward tilt that should be enough. Are you finding that's not the case? I hope someday I can step up to the Canterbury, but if not, these are just fine and I’d be happy with them. Why stop there? Westminsters for everybody! Congrats trentmemphis! I hope you enjoy them Tannoy’s as much as I do mine. Thanks! And congrats on yours, as well. |
“Why stop there? Westminsters for everybody!” @trentmemphis, Westminster are beasts! I can only imagine the incredible soundstage. For my room, Canterbury’s are perfect. If this is going to be your first experience with a single driver, make sure you play with front feet adjustments to give you that required ‘tilt’. Depending on the height of your listening chair, the height of the mid-section of the Dual Concentric driver should be at your ear level. I was able to obtain better treble tonality and imaging with a slight upward tilt. If you want dead center pin-point imaging, toe-in your Stirlings. Where is your electronics rack? It was my observation that placing equipment rack beyond 22” height in the middle of speakers ‘interfered’ with imaging and messed with my illusion of DK playing in my room with her piano :-) |
FSM model from the mid 80's Ah, the '80s. That's just about when the audiophile bug bit teenage me. I'd been reading Stereo Review for a while, then I discovered there was another magazine called Stereophile and laid my hands on an issue. (I don't remember how. Did they advertise in the back of SR?) There was this whole world of gear I'd never even heard of, much less heard! Heady times. |
Westminster are beasts! I can only imagine the incredible soundstage. For my room, Canterbury’s are perfect. If this is going to be your first experience with a single driver, make sure you play with front feet adjustments to give you that required ‘tilt’. Depending on the height of your listening chair, the height of the mid-section of the Dual Concentric driver should be at your ear level. I was able to obtain better treble tonality and imaging with a slight upward tilt. If you want dead center pin-point imaging, toe-in your Stirlings. I do indeed want pinpoint imaging, but I don't want EVERYTHING shoved to the middle, like a mono recording. I've found a bit too much toe-in can cause that, so I generally apply toe-in in very small increments over the course of weeks. My current Lintons are ever so slightly toed in, and I find they can do rather better than advertised (or reviewed) at imaging and soundstage, with the right recording. Where is your electronics rack? It was my observation that placing equipment rack beyond 22” height in the middle of speakers ‘interfered’ with imaging and messed with my illusion of DK playing in my room with her piano :-) I'm set up in my living room, so the 2-channel has to share space with the tv, etc. The rack for my 2-channel equipment is more or less behind the left speaker, then there's a credenza next to it that stretches across to the right speaker. All of this is about 2 feet from the backs of the speakers. |
I've had a bit of a wild hare thought. What do you guys think of the DecWare Zen Triode as a match to these guys? Or perhaps a pair of them? |
Tannoys and tubes are a great match. However, you may be limited in how loud they will play based upon the tube amps output. The Tannoys are pretty sensitive, say 89 to 91....but no where as sensitive as say a klipsch. I went with a single ended 30 watt class A (40 w into 4 ohm) by sugden which to me sounds awesome. It goes plenty loud, although most of my listening is not loud. The Tannoys, at least the eatons, sound great even at a low volume. |
“The Stirlings are rated 91, which in my room should make the Zen sufficient on the wattage front.” I would not recommend any amp with <30watts in pure class A. Bring in the Zen, you’ve got MC152 on hand for comparison. No doubt you would appreciate tube’s rich harmonics and intoxicating mid-range through Stirling’s but you may crave for more power in the low end region. It’s a journey you will figure it out :-) |
I have never heard any Tannoy’s but am truly excited for you. New speakers are always a blast. Like you, I cannot part with most of my older friends- Bose 901 series 1, Klipsch Heresy and Chorus, Infinity Preludes, Ohm’s and Thiel, NHT’s.......let us know how the Tannoys sound. My wife might require a thinning of the herd but a new speaker sounds pretty exciting. Good for you and enjoy. |
Good to hear, @foschino.
Bring in the Zen, you’ve got MC152 on hand for comparison Exactly. It's not like the 152 is going anywhere. I've also got an old (vintage?) Acurus A150 that's not doing anything at the moment. I might try that with them at some point, too. The thing that interests me about the Zen is the soundstage depth, which everybody seems to rave about. I have never heard any Tannoy’s but am truly excited for you. New speakers are always a blast. Like you, I cannot part with most of my older friends- Bose 901 series 1, Klipsch Heresy and Chorus, Infinity Preludes, Ohm’s and Thiel, NHT’s.......let us know how the Tannoys sound. My wife might require a thinning of the herd but a new speaker sounds pretty exciting. Good for you and enjoy. Thanks! That's a nice collection. I kinda wish I'd snagged a pair of NHT monitors, back in the day. Just didn't have any money at the time. |