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.
trentmemphis

That all makes good sense.  Great stuff.

Only problem is now I want to upgrade to Kensingtons! lol  I have some kind of romantic attachment to alnico magnets.

Only problem is now I want to upgrade to Kensingtons! lol I have some kind of romantic attachment to alnico magnets.

@trentmemphis Sometimes I feel like I could’ve just been happy sticking with the Kensington SEs and a sweet sounding tube amp like 13 years ago lol. They are a wonderful speaker. Then I heard the Definition 10A, with same driver (oops - that one has the real alnico / pepperpot but it's not gold colored) but in modern cabinets with reflex loading that seem like they should be VASTLY superior acoustically, and they didn’t do it for me - bright, lost the charm? Something about those old English vented cabinets, I guess.

@trentmemphis I have the Kensingtons and and Canterbury, if you plan to upgrade to the Kensingtons, and you have the space and $ got with the Canterbury, they are all that much better. I like both of them a lot.

But at that price, you should look at Avantgrade, they are horn speakers but sound "+/- like" the Tannoy but much more open and dynamic without losing the coherency and sweetness of the Tannoy.

@mulveling I listen to the Definition when auditioning the Canterbury, and the truth to be told, I did not like them at all, tight, not the tight that goes away with time, very narrow soundstage. I was offered an incredible deal, but I would have not had them at any price. They just got my ears tired with their undertone ringing. 

English is not my language, sorry for bad grammar and use of words.

@astolfor

Agree, the Kensington and Canterbury models are both wonderful, yet I’m very happy with my upgrade to Canterbury :) And yeah, the Definition 10A was a real head-scratcher, sadly.

@jond

Sorry - I just remembered there was some discussion (audiokarma?) out there concerning Tannoy’s change over from alnico to ceramic/ferrite magnets, and I believe there actually were some Tannoy driver versions which married ferrite magnets to a pepperpot, which contradicts my prior response. I’ll try to look up what model that might have been (it was after the HPD). Looking again at the pepperpot cross section, it would probably be OK to use a short ferrite magnet with a long pole piece to make up for that...going the other way though - the tulip waveguide might not have enough room to work with the weaker & larger alnico magnets needed? Either way, the ferrite + pepperpot configuration is not made today. I'd also love to know whether that's due more to market demands (people in the market for classic Tannoy sound more often demand alnico) or due to Tannoy's opinion on the sound quality. 

@astolfor The Canterburys are too large for my space, and too heavy to be practical for a man with a bad back.  I'm not even actually considering upgrading to the Kensingtons right now.  I was only having a bit of fun about them.  I just dropped significant cash on upgrading other parts of my system.