Classic Tannoys for a modest sized room
- Thread starter mandryka
- Start date
If you are going down the classic Tannoy route, you can use anything you can physically get into the room.
They are not hard to place , if seen and heard some huge Tannoys in average to tiny rooms and non of them sounded bad. Not sure if the modern variants follow the same rules though.
They are not hard to place , if seen and heard some huge Tannoys in average to tiny rooms and non of them sounded bad. Not sure if the modern variants follow the same rules though.
fraserking
Trade: custom speaker cabinets
Cooky on this site has some perfectly restored Amesburys for sale which should be perfect for that sort of space - sadly I can only accommodate the smaller 12" Tannoy in my living room or I'd be buying the myself. He's a Tannoy expert and you can rest assured you'll have something that will only grow in value .
I've had 4 different varieties of Tannoy and would not want to switch to any other brand - it's the one constant in my system. Go for it!
I've had 4 different varieties of Tannoy and would not want to switch to any other brand - it's the one constant in my system. Go for it!
mandryka
pfm Member
It was this thread that made me think that I ought to investigate the most appropriate size
https://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum...come-tannoy-edinburgh-monitor-gold-12.206012/
If someone is in touch with Cooky then please let him know that I’m interested in his Amesburys.
https://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum...come-tannoy-edinburgh-monitor-gold-12.206012/
If someone is in touch with Cooky then please let him know that I’m interested in his Amesburys.
cooky1257
pfm Member
That's jolly kind of you Fraser!
ToTo Man
the band not the dog
I'm likely in the minority, but given my experiences documented in the above thread, I'm highly sceptical of the "any Tannoy will work in any room" assertion. Through very careful placement etc, I'm sure it's possible to achieve very good results, however if you are restricted to placing the speakers close to the front wall, and your listening position is close to the back wall, then you are inevitably going to get significant room gain in the low frequencies. That said, I suspect your 22ft x 17ft x 9ft room will be more forgiving of huge Tannoys than mine, especially if you have flexibility over positioning etc.
I often wonder about our Far Eastern Tannoy aficionados who cram in the largest Tannoy enclosures possible into the corners of their pint-sized rooms with their sofa hard against the other wall. I struggle to believe that this results in anywhere near a flat/balanced presentation in which the bass frequencies are within a few of the mids. Perhaps flat/balanced isn't what their going for, which is fine, but I can tell you from personal experience that a +10dB boost below 100Hz is not a pleasant sensation when you're listening to music louder than 80dB; the bass lift pressurises the room to such an extent that it simply masks the rest of the spectrum and eventually becomes nauseating.
Tony L
Administrator
You may find they listen at less than 80db, as do I. A bit of bass boost as long as it isn’t boom just works as a loudness button and actually enhances sensible safe listening levels IME. There is no way I’d want to listen much louder than that as it is a sure fire way to further hearing loss.
PS My room is I think smaller than the OP’s and I have pretty much the largest Tannoys this side of Westminsters and it works fine, though mine are away from the front wall a little (I need access to my records which are shelved in the alcoves behind). The sofa is close to the rear wall, not due to choice, just necessity as it is a small room. My experience, for what it is worth, is that a giant pair of Tannoys will boom far less in a given room than a much smaller ported stand mount or slim floorstander. Tannoys just don’t need any stunt bass, they have the real deal, which seems far easier to house.
cooky1257
pfm Member
Some conflating of boundary reinforcement and room gain here. Room gain takes place below the lowest frequency the room will support a standing wave-never text book unless hermetically sealed(like a car cabin) and even then 12dB/oct. In real life it is often less than 6dB/oct as the room leaks and walls and doors aren't solid.. the laws of physics will apply to whatever speaker you use-its not a Tannoy problem, its physics.
Many vintage, low Qts Tannoy drivers in large boxes tuned low, tend toward EBS(extended bass shelf) alignment ie the bass goes low but 'shelves' below about 200hz, and can lessen the negative aspects of boundary reinforcement. The size of the driver is immaterial, its the loading(nasty standmount ports?) and bandwidth that governs how the speaker drives the room at LF. JBL tune their Synthesis/K2/M2 to reflect the export market, with what's called a banana curve that works with the smaller listening spaces.
Many vintage, low Qts Tannoy drivers in large boxes tuned low, tend toward EBS(extended bass shelf) alignment ie the bass goes low but 'shelves' below about 200hz, and can lessen the negative aspects of boundary reinforcement. The size of the driver is immaterial, its the loading(nasty standmount ports?) and bandwidth that governs how the speaker drives the room at LF. JBL tune their Synthesis/K2/M2 to reflect the export market, with what's called a banana curve that works with the smaller listening spaces.
sideshowbob
Champagne fascia aficionado
In your shoes I'd just go for it (it's what I did a few years back when I bought Lancasters for a modest sized room). You won't lose any money if you decide to sell (might even make some if you use them for a little while), and if you like them you'll kick yourself for waiting so long before you got them. Big Tannoys are like that; if they're your taste, nothing else will quite do. My experience is that they work just fine in smaller rooms, and they don't need to be blasted loud to give a real sense of scale and presence.
Elephantears
Trunkated Aesthete
envy
ˈɛnvi/
noun
- 1.
a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.
"she felt a twinge of envy for the people with speaker friendly rooms"
synonyms: jealousy, enviousness, covetousness, desire; More
- 1.
desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable thing belonging to (someone else).
"he envied people who had the space for big Tannoys"
synonyms: be envious of, be jealous of; More
cooky1257
pfm Member
Well, he didn't dilly or dally, we pushed them into corners, into alcoves just to play them worst case and they came out singing-Sold.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
I bought them, as I have already mentioned in another thread. What Frank isn’t saying is that he also has a pair of 15” Tannoy DMTs with crossovers for sale (see classifieds page 1) and access to a chippie who will build veneered Arden Legacy cabinets for you to put them in for a total cost of around what I paid for the Amesburys. I heard another set of his DMT drivers/crossovers in York-style cabs at his house yesterday and I honestly don’t think I could state a preference for either the DMTs or Amesburys. It’s really mainly because I’m an impatient sod and I Want A Pair Of Tannoys Right Now And Can’t Wait For Cabs To Be Built that I went for the off-the-shelf option.
Tarzan
pfm Member
Great....l have just brought some ProAc Tab 10's and l could get vintage Tannoy's in my 12 x 11f den?
Seriously could l?
cooky1257
pfm Member
It was informative just how similar the DMT/HPD's sounded. Four tracks in with the Radford on amp duty and "I'm having them" made me smile, I was expecting a much longer audition than that but the magic of that combo was hard to resist.