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Tannoys

W

wacko

pfm Member
Quite a few speakers in the Prestige range: which are the standouts or is it simply the biggest/more expensive you can fit in your room/afford the better ?
 
Not so. Big has certain obvious advantages but what the smaller ones (still relatively big in the grand scheme of things) may lose out a little in scale, attack and bass extension below that required to reproduce most musical instruments, they gain in coherence, texture and midrange articulation.

My favourite of all the Tannoy Prestige range is the Kensington SE with the 10 inch DC driver, Alnico magnets and Pepperpot Waveguide tweeters.

A more affordable option is the Turnberry SEs that I own.
 
If cost were no object the one I'd most like to hear would be the Yorkminster. A lot of hardcore Tannoyistas feel the 12" driver has always been the hot-spot of the range, the 1950s 12" Silver allegedly being the best Tannoy ever made (very light cone, very minimal crossover), followed by the 12" Red. I'd be most interested to see how this theory translated into the modern range. One would certainly expect the middle-sized driver to offer some of the heft and ease of the 15" with some of the sharper presence region of the 10". It's also by far the nicest looking of the Prestige range and actually manages to look like a 'proper' Tannoy. They are sadly very expensive!
 
12" Canterburys and Yorkminsters are great, but 15" Westminsters are greater. I've heard all of the current 10" range and didn't much rate any of them.
 
wacko,

I haven't heard that many Tannoys, but I prefer the big 'uns overall.

If the drivers are older (Monitor Gold, Red, Silver or Black) driving them with a good valve amp might be preferable to anything silicon-based.

Joe
 
Steven Toy said:
Not so. Big has certain obvious advantages but what the smaller ones (still relatively big in the grand scheme of things) may lose out a little in scale, attack and bass extension below that required to reproduce most musical instruments, they gain in coherence, texture and midrange articulation.

My favourite of all the Tannoy Prestige range is the Kensington SE with the 10 inch DC driver, Alnico magnets and Pepperpot Waveguide tweeters.

A more affordable option is the Turnberry SEs that I own.
Click to expand...

I have the privilege of owning a pair of Kensingtons. I have owned 12inch golds, my father owned 15 inch golds before buying the Kensingtons shortly before his death (he really knew his stuff and said the Kensingtons were an almost perfect compromise speaker). I have to say I cannot fault them and although expensive they trounce almost all the exotica I have heard at many times the price. Although not an easy load they are not an appalling load, or very inefficient, so are drivable by amps a non-millionaire can afford. I would however recommend SS not valves (long story). The great advantage over the larger Prestige drivers is cost and to be honest I don't want a speaker much bigger. Their bass is of outstanding quality, but it isn't "vibrating your stomach" intensity. I much prefer the bass to larger coned Golds, but haven't heard larger coned Prestiges. Listening to a live Radio3 broadcast through a NAT01 (fed by a Galaxy17), TEAD Vibe / Pulse2, Hovland Radia, I do wonder how much better anything could sound.

Nic P
 
Tks Nic P. The more i learn about this daft hobby the more sure I become that there has been no progress in sq over the last 50 years. Garrard 301/401, SME arms, Decca cartridges, Quad amps & speakers, Tannoy or JBL or Klipsch speakers and various old tube amps seem a better bet than any new 50k quid modern system for listening to music rather than hifi.
 
Nic P said:
I have the privilege of owning a pair of Kensingtons. I have owned 12inch golds, my father owned 15 inch golds before buying the Kensingtons shortly before his death (he really knew his stuff and said the Kensingtons were an almost perfect compromise speaker). I have to say I cannot fault them and although expensive they trounce almost all the exotica I have heard at many times the price. Although not an easy load they are not an appalling load, or very inefficient, so are drivable by amps a non-millionaire can afford. I would however recommend SS not valves (long story). The great advantage over the larger Prestige drivers is cost and to be honest I don't want a speaker much bigger. Their bass is of outstanding quality, but it isn't "vibrating your stomach" intensity. I much prefer the bass to larger coned Golds, but haven't heard larger coned Prestiges. Listening to a live Radio3 broadcast through a NAT01 (fed by a Galaxy17), TEAD Vibe / Pulse2, Hovland Radia, I do wonder how much better anything could sound.

Nic P
Click to expand...

A good valve amp will drive them with ease, effortless, delicacy and neutrality. I have heard the following valve amps drive them as described:

Air Tight 300B SET

Tube Distinctions Soul monoblock KT120 Single Ended hybrids.

Audiophile Technologies EL 84 push-pull

My own Tube Distinctions KT120 push-pull Copper amp.

Admittedly the cheapest of the above is £4.5K and the most expensive are 15K for the pair.
 
Just to add my own experiences, I had the Kensingtons and could not live with their set of compromises.

The Tannoys I've enjoyed have been the really big ones. Whether a fussy b***er like me could live with those long term I don't know but I'd definitely aim above the 10" speakers. I was surprisingly underwhelmed.
 
Almarro 318B (18 wpc SET) works for me with my Westies. Subjectively much better match than previous Naim 202/200. Tried an 8 wpc Chinese 300B SET as well, and thought that too sounded good.
 
One thing I should have mentioned is that the Prestige drive units take a very very long time to run in. Mine improved for about 6 months!!

Nic P
 
I used a TEAD Linear A SET, which has a good reputation, for 3 years but a good SS amp is very much better. The Linear A was however better than biamped Naim 250s ... just personal experience, so others views may outweigh mine.

Nic P
 
I have no idea if early Monitor Reds take ages to run in, but the GRFs were 50 years old when I bought them so I hope so.

Joe
 
This thread got me all into and in love with my Tannoy Sterlings again. Waxed them for the first time ever. Waxed at the factory when new 3 years ago before that. Any waxing tips at all? I seemed to have done something wrong as they came out with an uneven sheen when in sunlight, shiny in some spots, dull in others. I tried buffing aggressively but I can't seem to smooth it out. I then rewaxed and that didn't help either, maybe even worse now. I guess I was just wondering if this is normal? or if I did something wrong. I rubbed kind of hard and fast when buffing... could I have marred the finish?

My technique was..

1. Apply Tannoy branded (WW5) wax using a new 100 % soft cotton cloth across one
surface.
2. Let it dry on for exactly 3 min.
4. Buffed off surface with clean cotton cloth

-jazzy
 
Most modern wood finishes don't require any wax at all: just dust with a slightly damp cloth. The worst you could do is spray wax and silicone which eventually builds up into a sludge. I guess you have put on too much wax. Just keep on polishing with a cotton cloth.
 
Nic P said:
One thing I should have mentioned is that the Prestige drive units take a very very long time to run in. Mine improved for about 6 months!!
Click to expand...

I've heard Canterburys sounding like a pair of giant transistor radios.

Running in? I'll pass.
 
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