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Falcon LS35a to Tannoy Eaton

Not sure if you've heard any Audio Note or Snell type speakers,if so how do Tannoys compare? I find AN Type k/j a bit on the lean side, which emphasises the treble, so at times they sound bright and hence fatiguing, also not great which big orchestral.
yes I have Snell type drivers in my impulse taus I think . They are horns which are a bit more transparent than the Eaton but thats not always a good thing .

I like the Eaton as they are more forgiving than the big horns and I could probably listen 5 times longer to them due to that

When I had the sugden a21se with the eatons that was an exceptional amp I must say but the bc pre 3 and class d has better remote and 96 % as good as the 3k sugden
 
One minute I’m for the Falcons and another the Tannoys and then maybe Kudos super 10, maybe more suited to Naim.
It’s a tough call especially with dealers closed and no chance to hear.
I think I’ll take all three!
Seriously from what I’ve read and Tony’s input I do think the Falcons would suit my room dimensions and configuration and the Tannoys to a degree as they may work reasonably close to a rear wall than most ported speakers.
If the Falcons don’t suit I don’t think I’d lose out too much and have to sell on, and maybe easy to sell on, but I just love the look of those Tannoys.
 
Your head's telling you Falcons, but your heart it's the Tannoy's, so if I were you, you must at least try the Tannoy's or you will be forever doubting your decision


Sorry :oops:
 
How close do you plan to listen? If far-field go big, if nearfield go small. Listening level plays a part too. Close up at moderate levels the LS3/5A are astonishingly good. Good enough not to want more, but loud and large room-filling they are not (though they do better than one would expect).

PS FWIW I don’t think your amplification would be a great match for either. Nothing wrong with it, I’d just choose different speakers to match with it. I briefly tried some old-school Naim with my Tannoys and didn’t like it at all. The combination did neither what I like about Tannoys or Naim! By saying that if this is a direction you want to pursue speaker-wise you could easy flip the Naim for say a Sugden (which will be a great match with either) and sick a fair wedge of cash away in the process.
FWIW, tony, I don't think the modern dual ferrite/tulip Tannoys are nearly as picky with a naim as yours. Yours, I know, sound like crap. But moderns I think are fine.
 
To the OP, I think either would work well in a small room, TBH. I would definitely try the eatons. You may feel you need to go no further in your search.
 
It’s probably the near field thing with the Falcons that a bit of an issue, will I listen close enough and will I always want to sit close as for listening to radio or watching TV I don’t.
I would imagine the Legacy Eatons are more forgiving of driving amp than say the Falcons going by what I have read.
We’ll see.
 
FWIW, tony, I don't think the modern dual ferrite/tulip Tannoys are nearly as picky with a naim as yours. Yours, I know, sound like crap. But moderns I think are fine.

FWIW I’ve found Naim to sound sub-optimal with every high-efficiency speaker I’ve ever heard them drive. They seem to prefer to work a bit, push heavier drivers etc. I guess the crossover region down in the low mV range (which is what you are listening to much of the time with Tannoys etc) is not their strongest suit. What I hear has been consistent between several high efficiency speakers, e.g. a dry, lean, small and flat/2d sound compared to using the same speakers with valves or a very good class A solid state amp. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Naim with the speakers they are more typically partnered with. 40+ years of playing around has left me a very firm believer in system synergy! Some stuff works stunningly well, other stuff just doesn’t. I’d not drive a pair of Saras with a SET!
 
One minute I’m for the Falcons and another the Tannoys and then maybe Kudos super 10, maybe more suited to Naim.
It’s a tough call especially with dealers closed and no chance to hear.
I think I’ll take all three!
Seriously from what I’ve read and Tony’s input I do think the Falcons would suit my room dimensions and configuration and the Tannoys to a degree as they may work reasonably close to a rear wall than most ported speakers.
If the Falcons don’t suit I don’t think I’d lose out too much and have to sell on, and maybe easy to sell on, but I just love the look of those Tannoys.

yes 2 lots of falcons sold recently very fast . strangely prices are not far off . tannoy can be got for about 2.6 or less and falcons about 2k .
 
It’s probably the near field thing with the Falcons that a bit of an issue, will I listen close enough and will I always want to sit close as for listening to radio or watching TV I don’t.
I would imagine the Legacy Eatons are more forgiving of driving amp than say the Falcons going by what I have read.
We’ll see.
yes as i mentioned i have tried at least 12-15 amps with the eatons so far , very few have been unsuccessful . sn2 was ok , lavardin very smooth and needed a bit more bite , sugden a21se 100% stunning, and many more .
 
Unfortunately I'm also skeptical about the Eatons with Naim amps, but perhaps with the legacy Eatons it might work ok. I heard mine with a Supernait briefly and didn't like it, but that was before I had essential mods done. The original Eatons are very studio-like in their FR balance and really need some attention to a notch between 3-4Khz. So it might have been that this was the worst possible match with Naim, which I think tend to add a little spice in the presence region. From what I've read about the Legacy Eatons, and the graphs I've seen, they seem to be a little subdued in that region, IIRC.
Andrew, did you measure the in-room FR of the Eatons before RFC modded the crossover to reduce the response between 3kHz-4kHz? I'm just curious if their stock response was flat or actually humped at these frequencies? Your ESL 63s measured more or less ruler flat across these frequencies (graph here) so it's interesting that you found the Eatons too studio-like in their tonality.
 
yes 2 lots of falcons sold recently very fast . strangely prices are not far off . tannoy can be got for about 2.6 or less and falcons about 2k .

The beauty of the Falcons (or any LS3/5A) is they are tiny, pack up in a tiny box, so one can easily justify having them as an alternative to dig out whenever one fancies. Many of the serious Japanese, Hong Kong, South Korean audiophiles (with whom I seem far more aligned than the current UK mindset) tend to have a huge pair of Tannoys, JBLs or whatever, plus a pair of LS3/5As for an alternative perspective. Makes total sense to me. Far, far easier to store than a pair of ESLs too! The thing that is so great about the LS3/5A (and JR149) is that they work superbly on the same type of valve amp as the huge speakers, and I’m certain that is a big part in their cult following. The only thing I don’t understand is why similar period 149s avoid the crazy second-hand price tag! They are certainly different, but no worse IMHO.
 
I originally had a Naim 72/180 driving my Tulip Waveguide Tannoy D700's and found them to be a bit in your face and tending toward slightly edgy/fierce.
Remedied with a switch to a warmer sounding Musical Fidelity F18/F22 pre power.
This particular Naim pre power was not a good march for the Tannoys, probably combination of lean 'fast' amp into already quite lean DC's.
 
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yes 2 lots of falcons sold recently very fast . strangely prices are not far off . tannoy can be got for about 2.6 or less and falcons about 2k .

The beauty of the Falcons (or any LS3/5A) is they are tiny, pack up in a tiny box, so one can easily justify having them as an alternative to dig out whenever one fancies. Far easier to deal with than say a pair of ESL57s! I’m sure this, and the fact they favour the sort of valve amp that sounds so good with huge vintage Tannoys, Altecs etc, accounts for much of the cult following, i.e. the owners of such speakers can have a pair as an easy to switch-in alternative perspective.
 
Andrew, did you measure the in-room FR of the Eatons before RFC modded the crossover to reduce the response between 3kHz-4kHz? I'm just curious if their stock response was flat or actually humped at these frequencies? Your ESL 63s measured more or less ruler flat across these frequencies (graph here) so it's interesting that you found the Eatons too studio-like in their tonality.

No, the ESL63s were amazing in this region. The Eatons has a spike. Although I have taken many REW measurements, in this case I used test tones and it was quite clear. I had a friend in to help with the testing.

I understood that a horn resonance in this region was not uncommon with Tannoys. Have others not experienced this?
 
No, the ESL63s were amazing in this region. The Eatons has a spike. Although I have taken many REW measurements, in this case I used test tones and it was quite clear. I had a friend in to help with the testing.

I understood that a horn resonance in this region was not uncommon with Tannoys. Have others not experienced this?
Perhaps it's due to the geometry of the horn flaring into a 10" cone instead of a 12" or 15" cone as none of the larger Tannoy DCs I've had exhibited an objectionable forwardness in the upper midrange. My MG12 do produce more output between 3kHz-4kHz than any of the three pairs of MG15 I've had, but I'd say the MG15 were a little a bit recessed in this region similar to my Ditton 66. IME the strongest area of output from both MG12 and MG15 tends to be between 500Hz and 1.5kHz, this is part of the Tannoy tuning but is also influenced to some degree by the way the driver is mounted in the enclosure.

PS - Using test tones to 'hunt' for objectionable peaks in the response can be misleading, especially at higher frequencies, as the spike may be so narrow in Q and position-dependant that it isn't noticeable to the ear when playing music (it's like looking at a FR graph in REW with no smoothing applied). Presumably you tested a large number of frequencies between 3kHz-4kHz and noticed a consistent pattern of them being louder than the rest?
 
yes 2 lots of falcons sold recently very fast . strangely prices are not far off . tannoy can be got for about 2.6 or less and falcons about 2k .

2k seems about the going rate for Falcon, Nintronics had a pair @£1950 at the moment and they also have a demo pair of Eatons for 3k and a pair of Eatons B stock rated unused, but am unsure about the B stock as they say they can’t open them to look at even though the eBay listing says open box but never used. It’s a bit risky to stump up 3k to find they’re physically damaged. I don’t mind slightly imperfect.
I bought a pair of Ruark B stock speakers about ten years back and I couldn’t find a mark on them but I did get to hear and see them before purchase.

I’ve not seen any used Eatons for £2.6 for sale though.
 
The beauty of the Falcons (or any LS3/5A) is they are tiny, pack up in a tiny box, so one can easily justify having them as an alternative to dig out whenever one fancies. Many of the serious Japanese, Hong Kong, South Korean audiophiles (with whom I seem far more aligned than the current UK mindset) tend to have a huge pair of Tannoys, JBLs or whatever, plus a pair of LS3/5As for an alternative perspective. Makes total sense to me. Far, far easier to store than a pair of ESLs too! The thing that is so great about the LS3/5A (and JR149) is that they work superbly on the same type of valve amp as the huge speakers, and I’m certain that is a big part in their cult following. The only thing I don’t understand is why similar period 149s avoid the crazy second-hand price tag! They are certainly different, but no worse IMHO.

Snap, Cheviots and MkI Kans here... I don't even have to move cables when swopping between them as the terminals are in very similar positions.
 
Perhaps it's due to the geometry of the horn flaring into a 10" cone instead of a 12" or 15" cone as none of the larger Tannoy DCs I've had exhibited an objectionable forwardness in the upper midrange. My MG12 do produce more output between 3kHz-4kHz than any of the three pairs of MG15 I've had, but I'd say the MG15 were a little a bit recessed in this region similar to my Ditton 66. IME the strongest area of output from both MG12 and MG15 tends to be between 500Hz and 1.5kHz, this is part of the Tannoy tuning but is also influenced to some degree by the way the driver is mounted in the enclosure.

PS - Using test tones to 'hunt' for objectionable peaks in the response can be misleading, especially at higher frequencies, as the spike may be so narrow in Q and position-dependant that it isn't noticeable to the ear when playing music (it's like looking at a FR graph in REW with no smoothing applied). Presumably you tested a large number of frequencies between 3kHz-4kHz and noticed a consistent pattern of them being louder than the rest?

The problem was obvious in a variety of music; that's why I did tests. Remember this is the presence region, not the upper mid-range, and the slightest difference can have a very significant effect. I had the crossovers modified to take the region down only -1.5 dB, and this transformed the speaker from unliveable with, to one of the most neutral all-rounders I've had in this room. This is why sticking up REW graphs on a forum is rather limited in what it can tell people, I think: aside from generally telling more about the user's room than the speaker, they are often so heavily smoothed that these niggling but crucial spikes are invisible.
 
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Two very different speakers, what amplifier are you using?

Naim Atom which does a great job with both speakers. I took it with me to listen to the Cheviots, and both the seller and I concurred that it was more than capable of the job...
 


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