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Better than Tannoys...?

@Rockmeister: As a Harbeth speaker fan, and ex-owner of the SHL5, SHL5+ and SHL5+40th.A.E. and also the Compact 7 I know your speakers very well and also their advantages and flaws.

I guess you don't have them on your list but I can recommend the Rosso Fiorentino Volterra speakers (or the more affordable ones). They have everything I liked about the SHL5+40th.A.E. but in an even more coherent way. Voices are as good as with Harbeth (which I haven't heard from other brands before) but the bass is much tighter an precise and the heights are not as sharp as the SHL5+ and the 40th.A.E. can sometimes be (quite unusual for Harbeth but the newer ones, I have heard the M30.2 40th.A.E. too, are not as forgiving as the previous versions).

The Volterra MK2 was launched not long ago so I was able to buy a MKI versions for a ridiculous discount price.
 
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Hmmm. I remember them well. Those KEF bass units worked well with the TL cabinet..power I'd not heard before, but the rest was 'clean' IIRC to be polite. The design is still around today, in Kit form often as not. Presence was not one of the words I'd use to describe what they do.
JBL's would be something on those lines I think.
These would be betterer I guess.
https://www.wilmslowaudio.co.uk/wa-tl15-2089-p.asp
 
beammeup said:
How would these hold up against the Tannoys.... ? http://tvhf.blogspot.com/2012/12/imf-tls80-transmission-line-speaker.html
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I’ve always liked IMFs a lot and view them as a bit of a ‘sleeper’ on the second hand market. An amazing speaker for under £1k in a lot of cases. They do have a couple of issues though in that depending on version some of the drivers that look like Kef actually aren’t and certainly some of the mid drivers look pretty knackered now with split surrounds etc. I’d do a lot of research before making a decision as to what specific model and version is the one to land, but they are potentially a great option. Obviously compared to Tannoys you loose the point-source aspect and I think they need a fairly powerful solid state amp to keep the bass under control, so may kind of force that direction. I’ve always fancied a pair to be honest, but given where I am now system wise I can’t see it happening. I get the impression the bigger models are the ones to go for, i.e. the TLS80 and Pro Monitor or whatever it is called. It is the TLS80 that left an impression with me, I’ve heard them twice in different systems/contexts, though a very long time ago (early ‘80s IIRC).
 
Rockmeister said:
Ha!! I saw those this pm...look good and was tempted. Am 'watching' !
It's only a 700 mile round trip to collect them...Pah. :)
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I don't remember ever seeing a pair of RFC Tannoys coming up, certainly since they've been on my radar. Their owners keep them.

The only real downside of venturing into vintage Tannoy waters is making sure you're getting a good, reliable pair, in a market saturated with shabby examples at inflated prices. They often require further investment if you want to hear what they are really capable of. I ended up doubling my initial outlay to improve the cabinets, get replacement NOS HF diaphragms (one was out of spec) and install RFC crossovers. And mine really weren't shabby to start with.

That there pair should be as hassle free as any Tannoy out there, and they're effectively half price. An easy, no-loss sale if you decide Tannoy isn't for you.

Sell your granny if you have to!

I'm sure a kind London 'fish would collect them for you.
 
My current speakers are Mk1 Ardens but before that I had IMF RSPM IV's.

The big IMF's are superb speakers and I completly agree with Tony's comment on them being undervalued relative to Tannoys.

Tony is also right about them needing a beefy SS amp to make the most of them. I ran mine mostly with a Sony TA-F770ES which also worked well with the Tannoys that follwed (MG15 Corner Lancs and the Ardens).

The RSPM's bettered the Tannoys at the frequency extremes and the depth and control in the low bass was mesmerising. They went WAY lower than my MG15's or Ardens can manage and once you've had speakers that can go that low in a controlled manner it's surprising how much music you find does have really low bass. They also highlight how poorly damped and braced most big Tannoy boxes are. I was a bit shocked at first how much cabinet colouration my Tannoys had but to be honest I've got used to it now.

The areas where the Tannoys really score over the RSPM'S is imaging and that special mid-range magic Tannoys seem to have and that's a big deal for me.

Both do scale effortlessly.

Overall I do feel that Tannoys are the more musical speaker but arguably the RSPM'S were the more accurate transducers.

My future plans/dreams are in firmly in the Tannoy camp and I'd like some bigger better built cabinets one day. Every now and then I do miss the bass those IMF's could pull off though!
 
After hearing a pair of Tannoy Golds in a studio many, many moons ago I recall being very struck by the realism of the sound. At the time they were an unattainable pipe dream ( I was 17 working at Basing St Studios ), but the memory stayed with me. Since then I have owned at various times, Apogees, Magneplanar, NS1000 and 2000, open baffle, big IMF's and JBL's and Quad electrostatics among many others. We are talking decades obviously.

A couple of years back I picked up a pair of Berkeley 2's - the ones with the later 3828 drivers. I enjoyed them but was aware that the cabinets couldn't really do justice to the drive units. I picked up a pair of MG15's that I had re-coned, together with some York corner cabs and after some messing around with crossovers and aligning HF units correctly, putting some modern damping material in cabs etc I ended up within something close to that sound I had filed away so long ago.

It has also taken some amplifier changes to bring out the best, at least to my ears. I also had to add some room treatment around the corners to kill a bass boom ( it did beautifully ). There are many posts in here describing the sound of big Tannoys - Dynamic, present, etc. They are immensely listenable, will produce high sound levels and maintain dynamic contrasts, but most of all they can give a great approximation of a live sound - this is the characteristic I most recall.

I would say this though - they are very fussy of the chain, very much like the NS1000/2000.
 
You could always try some older KEF References. They are not as fashionable as Tannoys so could get a nice pair in the £500-£1,000 bracket.
 
The JBL Studio 590s stand comparison with the classic Tannoys.I have owned both.They sound different but they share many of the fundamentals like a big soundstage and a relaxed and coherent sort of presentation.So many speakers sound like they are forcing or struggling to get the sound out whereas with Tannoys and some of the bigger JBLs there is an ease to the sound that is very appealing.
 
Slightly OT but what the heck happened with Tannoy prices? Last time I looked Stirlings were £4000, they're now over £6200, similar price rises to the Legacy series from what I can see too.....
 
Hooch500 said:
After hearing a pair of Tannoy Golds in a studio many, many moons ago I recall being very struck by the realism of the sound. At the time they were an unattainable pipe dream ( I was 17 working at Basing St Studios ), but the memory stayed with me. Since then I have owned at various times, Apogees, Magneplanar, NS1000 and 2000, open baffle, big IMF's and JBL's and Quad electrostatics among many others. We are talking decades obviously.

A couple of years back I picked up a pair of Berkeley 2's - the ones with the later 3828 drivers. I enjoyed them but was aware that the cabinets couldn't really do justice to the drive units. I picked up a pair of MG15's that I had re-coned, together with some York corner cabs and after some messing around with crossovers and aligning HF units correctly, putting some modern damping material in cabs etc I ended up within something close to that sound I had filed away so long ago.

It has also taken some amplifier changes to bring out the best, at least to my ears. I also had to add some room treatment around the corners to kill a bass boom ( it did beautifully ). There are many posts in here describing the sound of big Tannoys - Dynamic, present, etc. They are immensely listenable, will produce high sound levels and maintain dynamic contrasts, but most of all they can give a great approximation of a live sound - this is the characteristic I most recall.

I would say this though - they are very fussy of the chain, very much like the NS1000/2000.
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Possibly why, of the many I've heard, only one pair remained in my memory. Pete and Tel's system at Scalford mid 2000's.
Oddly (because the story goes against the legend of what works and what doesn't) my very first Tannoy experience was back in the early 70's, when a pal at University joined the HiFi club there. That room had large Tannoys, driven by Quad pre power and a Garrad/SME/Shure front end. Bought because it was supposed to be the best of the best at that time, and although it went loud, it never did much to persuade me that HiFi and me were to be lifelong companions. Maybe that was the room. I do remember the four of us lugging it all 'next door' to a much larger room...
 
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