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Better than Tannoys...?

early said:
A pair of NS1000's would fit that description .
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The only time I could listen to NS1000s for more than a few minutes without exiting the room sharpish, was at Scalford a few years ago, when Valvebloke was running a pair with a vintage RCA Valve amp.
 
G T Audio said:
I didn't think much of the Fynes. The newer Tannoys are not a patch on the older models of the 1960s/70s. The best sound from a Tannoy design that I have heard were the big ones Paul at RFC made a few years back with proper refurbished drivers and a special crossover. I could live with those. I think a couple of members on here might have a pair of them too.
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I have a pair of Cheviots restored to standard specification by RFC and suit me just fine on the end of an Atom firing across the narrow axis of the room.
 
narabdela said:
The only time I could listen to NS1000s for more than a few minutes without exiting the room sharpish, was at Scalford a few years ago, when Valvebloke was running a pair with a vintage RCA Valve amp.
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yes I heard those at his house with my modwright as a pre amp .
 
I heard Paul's new design with 15" Tannoy drive units about 2 weeks ago. To say they were big would be an understatement, however they sounded very good indeed.

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You can see more of these designs on Paul's Facebook page.
 
Thought I’d pitch in. Today roughly marks my first anniversary with Legacy Ardens. They’re great speakers. Not perfect - they don’t quite do the inner detail of ESL57s, and I’m not always convinced about their HF response - but they are the best overall speaker I’ve owned. Better than active Adams or ATCs (though they were great), easier to live with than ‘57s and just more musically satisfying than the Audio Physic Avanti III or various other legacy speakers I’ve had.

The conclusion I draw from them is that they are better than my room and my ears. By which I mean that I think any shortcomings are almost certainly the fault of aspects of my room (the slight lack of ‘air’ is surely due to big sofas, carpet, books etc.) and also my less-than-stellar hearing (I think I’m gradually losing HF acuity).

They’re staying. The Luxman:Arden combination is quite agreeable :)
 
My analysis after a similar length of ownership of my self build 12" monitor gold's is almost exactly as you say

First my room is 'hard' and sparsely furnished, which doesn't help the slightly too honest top end. Luckily Tannoy's crossover and the Luxman's tone controls make it east to find a solution, tho it is recording dependant. Being well off axis helps.
But otherwise? The bass is perfect. Well the best I have heard from a ported large box, and then they do what Tannoys do...you always hear the performance, it always involves you it's musical (whatever that means) and importantly rarely makes me flinch.
Comparing them to the old speakers (Harbeth 5+ Anniversaries) I'd say they are less relaxing, but clearer; Far better deep down and never overwhelming, and about = at the top in that neither was perfect but, that's my room. I love them BUT, were there a version with a sweeter top end, I'd have it! Right now I'm wondering if the really like 125watts of class AB and might be glad to receive far less from some valves. Oh and I must get grilles on them.
 
Rockmeister said:
My analysis after a similar length of ownership of my self build 12" monitor gold's is almost exactly as you say

First my room is 'hard' and sparsely furnished, which doesn't help the slightly too honest top end. Luckily Tannoy's crossover and the Luxman's tone controls make it east to find a solution, tho it is recording dependant. Being well off axis helps.
But otherwise? The bass is perfect. Well the best I have heard from a ported large box, and then they do what Tannoys do...you always hear the performance, it always involves you it's musical (whatever that means) and importantly rarely makes me flinch.
Comparing them to the old speakers (Harbeth 5+ Anniversaries) I'd say they are less relaxing, but clearer; Far better deep down and never overwhelming, and about = at the top in that neither was perfect but, that's my room. I love them BUT, were there a version with a sweeter top end, I'd have it! Right now I'm wondering if the really like 125watts of class AB and might be glad to receive far less from some valves. Oh and I must get grilles on them.
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Pics?
 
Regarding the new Malmesbury's and for those interested, I managed to obtain this information from RFC:

The Malmesbury's are unique in design in terms of their dimensions, exact materials, spec inside and out, construction, bracing, tuning and bespoke crossovers, as used by some high-end manufacturers. They only share a corner style shape in common with others and that is where the similarity ends. No-one else uses the same damping compounds, the same finite element approach to the bracing, structural design, panel resonance control. Their crossovers use custom made components made to RFC’s specification.
 
Better than almost anything: Cabasse Galion IV.
No contest. But beware: they don’t like poor recordings or Diana Krall.
They love real instruments, not so much synths (they are truly hi-fi speakers).
The active version is even better.
Might be rare in the UK.
 
One of the best sounds I heard at a show came from this speaker system:

148549117_3675206219263515_9144582318746165006_o-1.jpg

The Cabasse Atlantis fully active speaker system. They were 2.3 Metres tall (7ft 7inches) and were extremely impressive.
 
Old Shatterhand said:
@Rockmeister I didn't recognized that you sold the SHL5+40th.A.E., interesting. What exactly do you mean with overwhelming? Overwhelming in which regard?:)
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I meant that Bass is, IME, the hardest of all the frequencies to get right. We seem to have spent a decade or 2 on midband, where voices are, but bass can be either under or over whelming but rarely RIGHT. maybe it's because the driver often shares duties with mid range work. The tannoys...well these cabinets, have it pinned down in a tight grip so that it plays tunes, is present from maybe 35/40 Hz up and still integrates nicely without shouting HEY at you like some.
 
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Old Shatterhand said:
@Rockmeister and @Seanm : Interesting, I own a pair of Harbeth C7ES3 XD at the moment.
Maybe you both would be so kind and tell me which amplifier you use and the room size?
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Sure. Room is roughly 5mx4m (I think), and open onto another room about the same size. Tannoys are 3.2m apart (this I know, because I measured), more or less in corners. The C7s were much closer together - half of that, really. This difference accounts for a lot. Pic here gives an idea:

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Amp for the C7s was an Exposure 3010S2D, and with this I found them very polished and refined. The Exposure didn't seem to like the Tannoys: I'm using a Quad 99/306 combination with them, which works very well, but like Rockmeister I wouldn't say know to a little more sweetness at the top end.
 
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