Tannoy Striling v. Striling III LZ SE

@lalitk 

Canterbury GR are by far the best out-of-the-box sounding Tannoys I've every heard. No surprise to me that you've enjoyed them so long! Tannoy voiced these near perfectly. That said, my crossover experiment with Kensington GR (smaller system) has me wondering what could be done even on Canterbury. Haven't asked Mark @ mainlytannoy yet about options for other SE and GR series Prestige. His Kensington GR xover is awesome. First I bought the "standard" VSA version (Clarity ESA caps) which was excellent, and just recently got a 2nd pair with "extra-premium" all Clarity MR caps - that's even better (worth the expense ~ $1300 a pair).

I only went this way out of necessity, after acquiring a "Black Ash" edition of Kensington GR (originally sold thru Upscale) which sounded wretchedly awful stock, for some reason. Its xover was the largest part of that. If they had sounded like they should (I previously owned Kensington SE, and these GR were FAR below that level of performance), I wouldn't have gone looking. But now with the Clarity MR xovers - damn if I don't prefer some aspects of the Kensington GR's sound, past even Canterbury GR. The stock Canterbury GR are probably still better overall, but damn it's impressive what these modified Kensingtons can do. 

I also have Canterbury SE (becoming a bit of a collector lol) and those seem ripe for an xover upgrade too. They're wonderful speakers, but voiced a bit on the dark / chesty side of things versus other SE's and GR series. 

@mulveling 

Thanks for sharing the third-party crossover vendor—really appreciate it. It’s something I’ve been toying with for a while, but honestly haven’t had the courage to mess with the stock crossovers just yet. Your experience is encouraging though, especially since I don’t see myself parting with my Canterbury GRs anytime soon. Even with the stock crossovers, they sound absolutely incredible paired with my Accuphase integrated.

Have not used those specific models, but am quite familiar with that exact 10" alnico/pepperpot driver (same used in Kensington GR) versus the tulip 10". The alnico simply renders a more vibrant, brilliant sound - especially in midrange. More immersive and visceral. The tulip might actually be a little smoother and better extended up top, but alnico's midrange wins it overall. The tulips do sound very good, though.You won't notice you're missing anything, until after hearing the alnico drivers. 

Back in the UK days, these driver replacement parts cost an order of magnitude more for alnico - like $3K each, versus $300 tulip lol. The alnico material isn't cheap, and they use a lot of it. So that's the price difference.

I also have the China-made 10" alnico and it's very, very good - so no worries about that. The 3rd party crossovers from MainlyTannoy (UK) do sound much better than Tannoy's, if you're willing to do that.