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I need help: Tannoy Arden Legacy, Arden (HDP), SGM 1000, Canterbury SE

Chris81

pfm Member
Good Morning,

I'm interested buying a 15" Tannoy speaker. Unfortunately I have not heard any bigger Tannoy speaker only a Turnberry GR which was a bit to warm to my taste in the bass.

Has anyone compared the Legacy Arden to the original Arden (HDP).
I also have the opportunity to buy a used Tannoy SGM1000. I don't know how good the SGM 1000 was compared to the Arden (HDP), most of the time I have seen post about Gold monitors or Ardens.

Maybe I can stretch my budget up to a used Canterbury SE. Are they better because of the Alnico Magnet and the pepper pot?

I'm from Germany so the used market isn't really big.

I'd like to use my Unison S6MKII SEP valve amplifier with them but also there most of the owner seem to use solid state amplification.

Every advice about 15" Tannoy speaker is welcome. Thank you for your effort.
 
I haven't heard or seen frequency response graphs for any of the Prestige GR range, so I realise I'm making a big generalisation here, but I suspect that if you find the 10" Turnberry GR has too warm bass, the same will be true for the larger drivers in the Prestige GR range.

Regarding the Legacy range, again I haven't heard them but you can see frequency response graphs here, all three models appear to have a gently elevated bass response around 100Hz.
 
@ToTo Man : Thank you, I know the graphs. I don't think that it is possible to derive (?) the sound from one speaker to another. Frequency response isn't everything.
 
My pennyworth.. SGM1000 is definitely leaner sounding than most of the domestic DC's, rolling off a lot earlier low down. Being the later ceramic magnet they have much greater power handling and less coloration than the earlier Alnico DC's. The Arden HPD you mention is much warmer sounding with more colouration and fatter, less controlled bass, some of this down to the less stiff cabs. The Legacy's have better made cabs. I cannot comment on the Prestige range. Many different thoughts on amplification, depending on tastes but you need an amp that will take some control over that big bass driver so if its a P/P valve a low output impedance is preferable. The Unison may prove wanting here, especially as the volume goes up.
 
I wouldn't put the sgm in the fight, I don't think it's as entertaining a speaker as the rest.

The legacy Arden is better than the stock original hpd, but I would put that down to crossover and box. A heavily upgraded Arden i couldn't say.

The Canterbury is a different league but it's much bigger, and has a very different presentation. It's a huge price differential as well.

My pick would be the legacy Arden. I heard them and they surpassed my expectations. Great, enjoyable loudspeaker and quite technically refined as well.
 
If the Legacy Ardens are anywhere near as nice as the DMT15’s I’d have a pair in a heartbeat other than the cost.
 
I’d go with the Legacy Ardens too - I spent an evening listening to Cookys clones (system 15” driver with TW tweeter in same size box) and don’t think I’ll ever hear better. My HPD 12s in 100l come close , maybe 80% of the scale , but they were stunning- would have bought em if I had the space but someone else from here got them ☹️ Also pretty much everything else apart from current drivers has no spares at the moment - worth considering.
 
I have 15” HPDs but haven’t heard any other 15” Tannoys to compare.
Roy S on Art of Sound forum recently changed his old mk.2 Ardens for the new Legacy model and had this to say about them -

“The sound (of the Legacy) is tighter & more focused, they actually sound 'newer' if that makes sense. The bass seems more powerful, that may be down to the larger ports and/or the rubber cone surrounds (my old Ardens had had fabric surrounds fitted).”
 
The bass seems more powerful, that may be down to the larger ports and/or the rubber cone surrounds (my old Ardens had had fabric surrounds fitted).”

Larger diameter ports just means they can play louder before port chuff becomes a problem.

Fabric surrounds can go stiff after a while, so that could be the cause of reduced bass.
 
What makes me wonder is that they use a rubber surround for the Legacy Arden but a fabric surround for the Legacy Cheviot.
I (can only) guess that the 15" driver with the rubber surround isn't that easy to control for a valve amp compared to a 12" driver with the fabric surround. I guess even a 15" driver with fabric surround is easier to control.

I don't know why but I have the feeling that the Arden Legacy is a sham/downgrade (? sorry I don't know the right word) compared to the original ones because of the missing ALNICO magnet, the TW instead of the PP and the rubber surround instead of the fabric or foam surround. That isn't a fact and I'm maybe kidding/fooling myself.
 
15" Tannoys are the only thing I think could wean me off my current JBL fetish. Same scale and sense of ease, though very different in other ways.
 
I have 15” HPDs but haven’t heard any other 15” Tannoys to compare.
Roy S on Art of Sound forum recently changed his old mk.2 Ardens for the new Legacy model and had this to say about them -

“The sound (of the Legacy) is tighter & more focused, they actually sound 'newer' if that makes sense. The bass seems more powerful, that may be down to the larger ports and/or the rubber cone surrounds (my old Ardens had had fabric surrounds fitted).”

That opinion must have made some folks feel uneasy.
 
What makes me wonder is that they use a rubber surround for the Legacy Arden but a fabric surround for the Legacy Cheviot.
I (can only) guess that the 15" driver with the rubber surround isn't that easy to control for a valve amp compared to a 12" driver with the fabric surround. I guess even a 15" driver with fabric surround is easier to control.

I don't know why but I have the feeling that the Arden Legacy is a sham/downgrade (? sorry I don't know the right word) compared to the original ones because of the missing ALNICO magnet, the TW instead of the PP and the rubber surround instead of the fabric or foam surround. That isn't a fact and I'm maybe kidding/fooling myself.

The original Cheviot and Arden both used drivers with ‘Tannoplas’ foam surrounds (i.e. HPD). I don’t know anything about a ‘fabric’ surround, to my knowledge it certainly doesn’t exist in any Tannoy made before they were bought out by Behringer or whoever owns them now. Historically the proper Guy Fountain-era London-made Tannoys (Monitor Black to Gold) were all ‘hard-edge’ (i.e. treated paper) with the exception of the Monitor Gold 12RS (rubber surround), which was a special version designed for the smaller Chatsworth cabinet.

The change of ownership and move to Scotland and the HPD brought the foam ‘Tannoplas’ surround which sadly perishes and needs replacement/reconing after a couple of decades. IIRC the cabs of this era (Cheviot, Berkley, Arden etc) were used with both the Alnico HPDs and later with ceramic 38xx series, all ‘Tannoplas’. Some of late-70s-early-‘80s the studio monitors had hard-edge surrounds, e.g. the FSM, SRM, SGM etc. I’ve never heard of any Tannoy with a fabric surround until this thread.

PS I’ve not heard the new Legacy range yet, though I would expect them to be very good as even if the real personality and innovation of the brand has long since gone the history is just so strong reinterpretation of the past is a perfectly valid strategy. They would certainly be on my shortlist if I wanted a new speaker at that price, though I personally prefer the history and investment potential of using real classics from Tannoy’s golden age. I realise it will be a lot harder to track Tannoys down for a quick listen where you are than here, but even so I’d try to hear as many as is possible. FWIW my view is they are actually far more alike than different generation to generation, the only ones that maybe need a little caution are some of the ‘70s-80s studio monitors which can sound a little fierce in environments more lively that the heavily treated studio control rooms they were designed for. Basically Tannoys sound like Tannoys, and if that’s your thing little else will do!
 
I have the clones that Fraser refers to above, and some 12 inch HPDs in 60 litre cab's (too small).

I suspect that you have to make a choice 12 inch v. 15 inch more than what 15 inch to go for.

I love the 15 inch - they are just effortless, but the 12 inch are just sharper, sweeter, more precise, perhaps.

Hopefully Cooky will give us his abbreviated tenpenneth in due course :)
 
If you can afford both the outlay and the space then go for Canterbury's, If not then life gets a bit complicated given you can find original Arden mk 1 or 2 's for 50% of the cost of Legacy's.
The Legacy driver is essentially a 3833 driver from the System 15 studio monitor so hardly a sham rather in Tannoys own words at the time 'the finest driver we've ever produced'.

Both Fraser and Leigh heard my clones alongside, in Fraser's case, 12" HPDs and Leigh's 15" HPD Amesburys, it's true they sound surprisingly similar with the PP projecting more into the room whilst the TW was generally smoother sounding. Leigh took the Amesburys, the Clones weren't for sale and were really test cabs/canibalised Yorks via TonyL but I know he really liked them.

The 12 Legacy uses the now common (m) double roll impregnated fabric surround(designed by Peavey), as does the Glenair 15 version of this driver.
Tannoys own description of the use of rubber for the 15(which has quite a light cone) is for position and cone termination properties with most of the control coming from the spider. They are excellent drivers every bit the equal of the Alnico/Pepperpots IMHO.
The 80's studio monitors are all with the exception of the (3839)M3000Classic, pretty lean and forward sounding to these ears.
One that seems pretty rare is the 3128K ceramic magnet series driver as used in the Cheviot 2-there's something just very 'right' about this driver-sounds superb.
 


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