advertisement


Budget Royd speakers of old

Hazelberry

Hazelberry

sister
Thinking of the Sevens, A7, Coniston. I haven't seen much mention of them among the classic budget speakers of the 80s and early 90s. They rarely come up for sale in my part of the world and when they do, they tend to be priced relatively highly. What characteristics are they known for? How do they rate among themselves? How do they compare to, say, your contemporaneous Diamonds 1 & 2; JPW Sonata & Mini Monitor; MS-10; Mission 700; whatever else of the period - most of which are also ported and have the Audax TW010 tweeter in common?
 
Royd routinely got poor press reviews. However, myself and plenty of people love them. Fast, dynamic, fun to listen to they knocked all the other speakers you mention into a cocked hat, in my opinion. Not so many around, hence the high prices. Great speakers!
 
Last edited:
I've never heard a bad Royd yet!
I think a lot have been skipped due to foam degradation so they're in short supply, look out for the drivers with rubber surrounds.
The real bargain imho is the Rega ela mk1 i'm told it's an Eden on top of a transmission line enclosure,whether that's true i don't know my opinion is that they are like a grown up Minstrel.

I picked an immaculate pair up quite recently for £50 the only caveats being black or black and their perceived low waf ..that said my bride quite likes them.
 
Thanks for your views, everyone. I have a pair of Conistons on the way, rubber surrounds and all.

retrospective said:
I've never heard a bad Royd yet!
I think a lot have been skipped due to foam degradation so they're in short supply, look out for the drivers with rubber surrounds.
The real bargain imho is the Rega ela mk1 i'm told it's an Eden on top of a transmission line enclosure,whether that's true i don't know my opinion is that they are like a grown up Minstrel.

I picked an immaculate pair up quite recently for £50 the only caveats being black or black and their perceived low waf ..that said my bride quite likes them.
Click to expand...

Congratulations on all fronts! :)

I've long liked to try transmission line speakers. I didn't know about the Ela and will keep an eye out. Thanks for the tip.
 
+1 for the Mark 1 Rega ELA. The Royd Apex was essentially the same speaker in a better finish with a more complex crossover.

The Mark 1 ELA used the Royd bass/mid driver and when I auditioned a pair I preferred them to Naim SBLs.
Mark 2 versions (see the Royd website for details, & reviews of Apex & ELA) used Rega's own version of the bass unit when demand exceeded Royd's capacity to produce them.
It has the advantage that Rega can still supply the drive unit (at a modest price) whilst the Royd driver is only available, and very rarely, second hand.

The ELAs (and presumably the Apex) are very forgiving regarding position in the room and work well close to walls and corners as well as in free space.
 
Having just posted this I looked on eBay and there's a pair of Apexes!
See post on eBay auctions in classified forum.
 
Looks like a tweeter's been pushed in and someone's tried to remove the tweeter and cocked it up so given up and chucked it out.
Seller says it's all working so maybe it's only cosmetic damage to the cabinet.
Sounds like the tweeter is sealed to the cabinet quite firmly!
Might be worth a low offer if you feel brave?
 
The Conistons arrived yesterday. I like them! Here's a wee review.

I have them sited on spikes on a sideboard in a small lounge. I've been pleasantly surprised at how well my assortment of small speakers have performed on this as I've only ever used stands previously. Source is an HP Elitebook 8570p streaming from the line out; amplifier is an A&R A60. The HP has a very good inbuilt DAC and makes for an excellent streamer.

Initially one of the drivers was silent at low volume and when it sounded, farted with every bass note. Stink! However, within an hour it worked perfectly. I've read that this can be a characteristic of Royds that have lain fallow for some time. Gumming or something.

They're fast, detailed little buggers! Open sounding with an emphasis on leading edges. Bass is tighter than a gnat's arse. They're the least ported sounding ported speakers I've heard. The differences between well mastered recordings and poorly mastered ones are very obvious, but the Royds make the best of each. A good master sounds superb.

They're the first speakers I've heard that sound ok with the grilles on, maybe even better in some ways. The grilles - cloth over a frame, not the later foam that disintegrated - also improve the appearance.

Overall, I'm very happy with these speakers, well worth the small outlay. :)
 
I remember demo'ing Minstrels and Rega ELA back in the day. Minstrels great fun, ELA not dissimilar but bit less fun bit more grown up, but a fair bit more money, my memory is £200 mark for Minstrels and £300 mark for ELA? For me it was easy choice, bang per buck for fun Minstrels every time. I was young, wonder if I would make the same decision now? Either way, neither a patch on SBLs, nor should they be, SBLs were an order of magnitude more than either at about the £2000 mark at that time. Still have a soft spot for the Minstrels though, and if I were setting up a second system and could get a pair in decent state I would not hesitate just for the blast down memory lane. Add say a suitable budget deck and integrated amp from the era and enjoy.
 
A Minstrel story.

Years ago I had a pair of Cherry veneered Minstrel SE speakers. I thought they were amazing and one day I took them half way across the country to a friend's for a comparison with Naim SBLs ...

There were three of us, each with our own favourite music to share. A very broad selection followed. The amplifier was a NAP 200, which on the SBLs was paired with another for Naim's idea of active cross-over driving.

On the Minstrels just the one 200 was used without the active cross-over as the Minstrels are single full-range input only.

The funny thing was that we started for about half an hour with the SBLs, which were as expected and very fine. After a short while simplifying the amplification, we set off with the Minstrels. We listened for hours without reverting to the SBLs. Nobody missed the extra that the much bigger SBLs offered.

I had the greatest difficulty persuading my friend that he did not want to buy my Minstrels! Nowadays I use a Quad ESL, but the Royd Minstrel was my favourite non-ESL speaker set ...
 
Last edited:
nobeone said:
I remember demo'ing Minstrels and Rega ELA back in the day. Minstrels great fun, ELA not dissimilar but bit less fun bit more grown up, but a fair bit more money, my memory is £200 mark for Minstrels and £300 mark for ELA? For me it was easy choice, bang per buck for fun Minstrels every time. I was young, wonder if I would make the same decision now? Either way, neither a patch on SBLs, nor should they be, SBLs were an order of magnitude more than either at about the £2000 mark at that time. Still have a soft spot for the Minstrels though, and if I were setting up a second system and could get a pair in decent state I would not hesitate just for the blast down memory lane. Add say a suitable budget deck and integrated amp from the era and enjoy.
Click to expand...

I've owned both and wholeheartedly agree with your description.
If memory serves i paid £180 new for the minstrels and £400 the Ela.

The minstrels i practically gave away and as much as i would like a pair again i begrudge paying as much if not more for a decent used pair as i paid all those years ago for a new pair!
 
Lots of love for the small floorstanders, I see!

I listened to Minstrels at a dealer when they were current. Liked them lots. On the end of a grunty Naim system, they could fill a room with ease. Like all British speakers, they were much more expensive in NZ than in the UK - fairly sure the equivalent of GBP 500! Far beyond my budget. You couldn't get any decent speakers for less than GBP 200. Diamond 3s retailed at GBP 300 in the late 80s! Amazing.

Don't see many Minstrels come up for sale second hand, and those that do tend to have gummed drivers, sun fading, and other damage. My Conistons are pretty tidy for their age.
 
I've had a pair of Abbots since the mid 90s and after taking them out of service about 15 years ago they've been sitting in a closet because I cannot bring myself to part with them. The Abbots were never the last word in refinement, detail, bass or any other hi fi term, but when it comes to sheer fun they excel to the moon and back! Absolutely love them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top