@mesch
I'm not familiar with your gear. I'll have to look into those pieces. I looked pretty hard at the XA25 (or XA30), too, but ultimately went a different direction. At the time I upgraded my electronics, I was still thinking I'd probably be going with a low-efficiency monitor, like the Dynaudio Special 40 or maybe a Focal, so I went for more power. The XA25 would be plenty for the Stirlings, though. The needles on my MC152 rarely get past 1.5W.
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@bond-san
I was not able to compare to the Turnberry. As I understand it, in addition to the larger cabinets that @lalitk mentioned, the driver(s) are an upgrade from the Stirling as well. Still a 10" woofer and the tulip waveguide, but the magnets or voicecoils or something are improved. |
I auditioned the Sterlings with a 20wpc class A Luxman integrated amplifier. Drove them very well. Yes the Turnberrys have an updated
driver. If my room was larger I might have considered that model.
My BEL 1001 MK5 amplifier suits the Sterlings very well. |
What's the word, fellas? Got your Stirlings in place and making sound? |
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lalitk, you are correct. Love the Sterlings. Will be playing with placement, footers, and possibly adding a base for elevation. I will order the oil applicator your recommended. Thanks!
I will continue to keep everyone informed as I progress.
Trentmemphis, as you can see from lalitk's post I am considering tube amplification for my Sterlings. |
@mesch
I saw that, yeah. I'd never heard of Raven Audio, so I went and checked them out. Glad to hear you're enjoying your Stirlings!
In other news, my room treatments from GIK will be here Monday. Time to start experimenting all over again. |
Well after spending some time with the Sterlings I can report that I am very happy with them. Using a single word, love the presentation. Finding they exhibit a wide soundstage solid image.
Currently I have them placed such that the center of baffle is about 2.5' from front wall and 3.5' from side walls, they are 7.5' apart and 6' from my listening position. They are toed in such that the tweeter points to a spot behind my head. I think the positioning serves most recordings well. I will continue to play with toe in.
My floor is standard plywood over joists and with the speakers sitting directly on the floor (not using the spikes or footers) I am getting reinforcement of lower base beyond that I believe due to room dimensional effects. That and the tweeter hight issue leads me to consider developing platforms for the speakers to decouple them from the floor. Maybe spike or footer the speakers to thick butcher block platforms and use footers underneath. Might raise the speakers 4". I am in the process of building another home my audio room will be on a concrete slab. The bottom couple octaves will be much tighter under that condition. The new room will have somewhat larger volume and a better dimensional ratio. They were positioned on a carpeted concrete floor, in a larger space when I auditioned them.
Thanks trentmemphis initiating and maintaining a great thread and others for valued contributions!
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Hey, that's awesome, man! Congrats!
We're having pretty similar experiences, it sounds like. Soundstage and imaging are hugely important for me, and these do a really nice job at both. Mine are further out from the back than yours, and about the same from the side walls. I've also got more toe-in, with the axes crossing in front of me. I took my time, making small adjustments and living with them for a good while, but I ended up pretty much where the manual recommends. It seemed to help tremendously with the imaging.
I'll be interested to hear where you land with the stands. I'm still trying to figure that one out, myself. Have you experimented with rake at all? |
I have not played with rake angle. I will continue to increase toe-in a little at a time. My listening comes in sessions, as such is an experience in itself. |
@trentmemphis,
"I'll be interested to hear where you land with the stands. I'm still trying to figure that one out, myself. Have you experimented with rake at all?" I don't think it's worth sweating too much over such things as there's unlikely to be one position that works optimally with all recordings. Personally I think height is the big one, and then getting the fastest tightest bass, and then it gets really tough.. |
I have always considered that speaker placement was for the best position across recordings. I likely won't mess with rake, however will continue to increase toe-in. |
I finally added some rake because I constantly felt like I was peering *down* into the soundstage. I had to get it up to ear level somehow, and I didn't have a good option for stands. I just experimented till I found something that worked for me. |
"“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 :-)"
Trent probably isn't still thinking about the Zen amp, but I'll chime in...
I came across this thread as a result of wanting to read about the Sterlings. I own the SE84UFO2 and have been looking at a "final" speaker choice. I've had four different sets of speakers connected to the little Zen, and I've done some tube rolling.
Currently the speakers are two pair of stacked Large Advents, wired in parallel. I'm in a pretty small room (~10'x11' w/ 9 foot ceiling) with the equipment along the long wall.
Depending on the gain of the source unit and/or preamp, the Zen can play the Advents plenty, plenty loud. DECware has a trial period.
The Sterlings are a bit more sensitive than the Advents and my *guess* is more efficient. I would be very surprised if it weren't a good match. The Zen is a great little amp and punches way above its output, weight and cost.
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Hey, thanks, @edunbar. I still like the idea of trying a Zen amp. I'm just not comfortable doing business with a company that doesn't answer its email. |
I believe I mentioned this, may be redundant, but I auditioned the Sterlings with a 20wpc Luxman class A integrated and they sounded beautiful and provided plenty of volume in a room much larger than my 12.5 x 14.5' room.
I purchased a Line Magnetic 211ai from a fellow AGer which delivers 16wpc in triode and 32 wpc in ultralinear. Once received I will get back to you regarding this combination. |
Guys, this is a great post! I have Tannoy Canterbury SE's, using aDecware Zen Torii Mk III, 26 wpc, AVA Transcendance 8+ preamp.The tone and detail are magical! I do love power music though, andat 96db efficiency you would think they would perform well in my rather large living room...About 5 years ago I was concerned that maybe the government was going to render tubes too expensive if available at all... I talked to Klaus at Odyssey Audio about a Stratos amp and he said he could bias it intube fashion so I ordered it. He warned me it would take a long time to break in and he was right. With the Ayre break-in cd I would try it every week and hated it! Finally it came to sound like a dance club, and two weeks later it showed me the finesse that I require. 6 months! If I had more patience I probably could have tamed it in 6 weeks...Now Beethoven's Ninth, Tool, TranSiberian Orchestra and Nightwish
come through perfectly, 140 wpc.
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Well, the LM211 has plenty of power for the Sterlings in my 12.5' x 14.5' x8.5' room. Used it in both ultralinear and triode mode. Thinking I like the triode mode better. Was listening to jazz. Not knowing the non linear aspect of the volume control on the LM however I have not used it beyond 10 o'clock. |
Loving the additional perspectives! Sounds like there are some excellent pairings out there. (Six months break-in might be a bit much for me, though!)
@douger Hey, thanks! We've managed to keep it on-topic and not descend into endless debates and bickering, which seems to be a bit rare. The fact we all seem to love what Tannoy is turning out probably doesn't hurt.
@mesch I'll be interested to hear which mode you prefer as you get more time with the LM211. |
Yea, i am impressed in how the Sterlings deliver with 15wpc tube power. I have only played with the ultralinear mode for one evening, the triode mode not much more. I am going to keep it in triode mode for some time and then switch back. Possibly will come to the type of music playing, I have heard this from others. I really don't know, I bought this amp for the education I thought it would provide. I am happy with the results. |
Learning is always good, and usually fun.
I meant to ask before, since you mentioned jazz, what are you listening to? I listen to a lot of jazz, myself. Jazz, blues, folk, Americana, and rock/pop, mostly. Currently have Bud Powell's "Live at Massey Hall" going in the background. (I generally do my serious, in-the-listening-position listening late at night.)
I guess I don't want to pull the conversation too far afield, but a little discussion of what we're listening to on these speakers seems in order. |
Been a while since I posted in this thread. Thought I'd check in. Everybody still digging their Tannoys? Any new amplifier, stand, positioning, etc., suggestions?
I'm still loving my Stirlings. The things they do with well recorded choral music! Probably the best speakers I've owned -- maybe even heard -- for that. They excel with any kind of vocal, really, along with woodwinds, brass, and acoustic instruments. I wouldn't call them the greatest things with hard rock. They hold their own, but it isn't their strong suit. I don't listen to a lot of that, anyway. Nearest I get is some pretty heavy blues, sometimes.
I'm still running them in the same positions with the same rake angle and same McIntosh gear. Only change is I got a bel canto streamer several months ago to replace the DigiOne+ as my Roon endpoint. It's working like a champ. |
I also have a pair being shipped, are you still using the subs with them?
How do they sound without subs?
Thanks,
Lee |
Tannoys tend to sound best with amplifiers with medium output impedance and lowish damping factors and no or only small amounts of negative feedback.Most SS amps have low output impedance and high damping factors and high negative feedback.There are some exceptions though-Dartzeel and Bakoon SS amps for example and they sound beautiful with Tannoys.Other than them you are probably best off with a medium powered push pull tube amp.
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I think any gov't who tells it people to self Isolate for 12 months while they screw around with partial solutions to a virus is obligated to provide all its citizens with Westministers.
Who is with me?? |
@trentmemphis, Glad to hear you’re enjoying the Tannoy’s. I have been enjoying my Canterbury’s with Accuphase E-650 Integrated for almost 2 years now. Thanks to my dealer, I am going to audition darTZeel Integrated in a month or so….looking forward to this amazing opportunity :-) https://dartzeel.com/cth-8550/ |
@clweed, yes, I'm still using them with the same REL subs.
Thanks to the large-ish driver and cabinet volume, they do bass quite well on their own. That will depend a great deal on your room, though, obviously. My room doesn't have a large square footage, but thanks to a couple of partial walls, the effective *volume* of the room for bass frequencies is pretty large. The subs help drive that volume, and they add some speed.
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@lalitk
Nice! I've never heard any darTZeel gear. I'm not even sure how to pronounce it! |
I purchased a Line Magnetic 211ai from a fellow AGer which delivers 16wpc in triode and 32 wpc in ultralinear. Once received I will get back to you regarding this combination.
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Well that is a very nice amp.
But please fill us in witha better report on the speakers perforance.
So far we have nothing substance in your review.
We need the goods and the bads.
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Just got Turnberry GRs...have just over 20 hours on them. First hour the sound was polite but slightly congested. The next 10 hours were not so fun: all over the place. At 12 hours, there's a nice balance and great bass but midrange shoutiness is still an issue. Just starting to sweeten a little approaching 24 hours.
Driving them with Primaluna Evo 400 amp (running 7581a tubes) through a Don Sachs preamp. Excellent amp/preamp combo btw. On the right recording, it's truly amazing.
Try 'The Very Thought of You', Ella Fitzgerald.
On vinyl, the brass section is guaranteed 'goosebump central'. |
Congrats, @sandthemall ! Sounds like great kit, though I'm not familiar with the preamp. Will have to look that one up.
Aside from a quick check that everything's working, I never actually listen to new speakers (if I can help it). I just let them play in another room for a few days. Once they're run in a bit, that's when I sit down and start figuring out what's what. Even then, I kinda ease into it.
Hope you enjoy those Turnberrys (Turnberries?)! |
@trentmemphis
I completely see the wisdom in letting them play in.
It's been tough having them slowly break in.
The Don Sachs Model 2 preamp is outstanding...pretty much an end game preamp. And can be customized to a certain extent to play well with your other components.
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Well said.
The advantage of the never-ending Tiktoc threads
is that serve to siphon off many folks whose contributions are best
confined to the Tekton Files.
It has been two months now so we all want to know-
How Sterling are those speakers?
Tell us your thoughts please! |
Greetings from Croatia, the city of Zagreb !!!
I use Google translation, so maybe I'll write some nonsense :)
Since a week ago I have become the proud owner of Tannoy Stirling GR speakers (for the last 20 years I have exclusively Klipsch from RF, Heresy all the way to the Palladium series).
I still respect Klipsch, but Tannoy Stirling GR is a very very third dimension.
Very pleasant surprise :)
I use an Luxman SQ-N100 (10W 8Ω) amplifier and that combination works perfectly.
I know the burning time has yet to pass.
I decided to lift them to a custom wooden stand (19 cm = 7.48 inches already under construction) lined with American walnut veneer.
Do I have to worry that the sound will degrade?
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I don’t know how I didn’t see this thread before, haven’t posted much anywhere I guess. I’ve had my Stirlings since August now. So happy about them! The depth and sound stage just blow me away every time I sit down and listen. They certainly improve as I tweak the placement, but at the same time they never sound bad.
Running them with a Primaluna 300 Integrated and coupled with two REL Ti7’s. I don’t think the RELs are essential for the Stirlings at normal volumes (though they certainly don’t hurt), but at low volumes the RELs are magical. I do most of my listening in my small NYC apartment after work, so I keep the volume way down, but I turn the RELs up a few notches and increase the HF power on the Stirlings and the results are incredible. I don’t feel like I am missing anything with the volume so low.
To comment on a post a while back asking about comparison with the Turnberrys, at the dealer I spent a good while listening to both the Turnberrys and the Stirlings. I’ll also note that I was considering Klipsch Fortes at the time as well. Short story on those, the 2k jump from the Fortes to these Stirling was a no brainer. But going another 2k from the Stirlings to Turnberrys was a much closer call. To me the Turnberrys just did everything Stilrings did, but a bit better. Although the Turnberrys certainly sounded better, the improvement wasn’t so drastic that I had to have the Turnberrys, so I let my small room size take precedence over better sound quality and I went with the Stirlings that would take up a bit less space in my room.
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@grinccaffe , you’re dealing with the very problem I mentioned last year and still haven’t bothered getting a good solution to. That’s the low tweeter axis. My "solution" to this point has been a thick book under the front of each speaker, giving them a considerable rake. I’ll be interested to hear how your solution turns out. It’s what I’m planning to do at some point.
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@bobelton , I didn't get a chance to compare the two models with my own ears, but that's exactly where I ended up: in my smallish room, the Stirlings would be perfectly sufficient.
And I'm also [still] using a pair of REL T9's with them. I already had those, so that was another reason I didn't need the Turnberrys. I find the Stirlings and REL's match extremely well. REL's are supposed excel at that in general, so I guess I'm not saying anything new there.
Question: Are any of you using the 3rd binding post? If so, did you find 3-wire speaker cables, or are you using a separate wire? Do you find it actually gives your Tannoys a quieter background? |
I'm still not reliably getting notified of new posts in this thread for some reason, btw. I got no notice of grinccaffe's post, but did for bobelton's. No idea why. |
The stands are made :)
Height 17 cm (6.69291339 inches), over 10 kg (22.0462262 pounds) heavy.
http://prnt.sc/21dllbl
http://prnt.sc/21dlo8h
http://prnt.sc/21dlqed
The sound has changed though, the stand-box has added bass which is not bad but the speakers should not be too close to the listener.
My listening position is 4.5 meters away.
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Question: Are any of you using the 3rd binding post? If so, did you find 3-wire speaker cables, or are you using a separate wire? Do you find it actually gives your Tannoys a quieter background?
Higher end van den Hul speaker cables were designed for use with Tannoys. They have a third ground wire with a spade connector. My Cumulus sound fantastic on my Dalis. No experience with Tannoy.
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....is obligated to provide all its citizens with Westministers.
Who is with me??
Hear! Hear!
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@dalims4
From what I'm seeing, those VDH's are more than I'm prepared to pay for cables.
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@grinccaffe
Very cool. They even have nameplates! Are they internally braced/damped etc.?
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Moabs are the "In thing" these days. Big, flashy and Splashy.
Hell of a buy by the pound! Or so the owners report.
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"Very cool. They even have nameplates! Are they internally braced/damped etc.?"
The stands are tightened, glued and additionally fastened with screws.
If I want, there’s still room to add diving lead but I don’t think there’s a need.
Rubber wheels, hidden under the stands (it looks like the speaker is completely on the floor), allow easy positioning of the speakers.
http://prnt.sc/21i5uhy
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Very well thought out, man. Did you design them, or did the maker? Do you mind if I ask what they cost to have made?
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I designed the stands myself, and my good carpenter friend did the project.
It wasn't very cheap, about $ 400.
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@grinccaffe
Can you please post a picture of your stands?
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Stand chronology (lots of actions skipped):
http://prnt.sc/21kk6rx
http://prnt.sc/21kk967
http://prnt.sc/21kkb1h
http://prnt.sc/21kkcul
http://prnt.sc/21kkeit
http://prnt.sc/21kkg6a
http://prnt.sc/21kkhyv
http://prnt.sc/21kkkcl
http://prnt.sc/21kkvrc
http://prnt.sc/21kkxtq
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