New Arrivals....
RFC Corner 'Rutland' Cabinets incorporating Tannoy 12” Monitor Gold drivers.
I was running a
stunning, very heavily modified 300b Power Amp, based on the WAD design,
beautiful mesh plates, into modern Kudos C3 speakers and was a happy man.
Well I thought I was!
The Tannoy switch started after responding to a classified ad on here by Tom (
montesquieu) offering a pair of early Tannoy 12” Monitor Gold drivers. I’d read lots about other Tannoy journeys on AoS with much interest. Anyway, an itch was brewing... Damn it!
I responded to the classified that
“alas, my 300b amp wasnt up to getting the best from such drivers, GLWTS”, something I had no experience of at all, but had gleaned from others that my 300b may struggle to deliver the bass from Tannoys. I had previously purchased a 300b from
PetRat here on AoS, pricelessly because of this, his 300b struggled with his mighty Tannoy Westminsters, albeit, different drivers.
Well Geoff (
Walpurgis), promptly replied, “It would make sense to try your amp with these speakers if you have an interest, you may be surprised”. So a date was set and I headed with my amp & Mrs. Westlower to Berkshire. The speakers were in solid, but rough, Chatsworth sized cabinets and were hooked up to HPD Crossovers. We fired up the 300b, nice, very nice, but there was indeed a ‘lack’ of bass, these were sealed cabinet after all. Tom Swapped over to his Radford STA25, instantly the balance of controlled Bass, lush mids and a sweet treble came into focus. I loved the sound, and lovely Mrs. Westlower gave me that look!.. tbh, she was smitten too. Damn!
It would mean a different Power amp.
Anyway, I wanted that sound and so I purchased the speakers.
At Tom’s, the two beautiful 'RFC' Corner Canterbury speakers which sit proudly at one end of the living room are simply stunning to look at, I loved the styling and quality. Tom fired them up. I sat quietly immersed in what was coming out of these beauties. It was a game changer. My head was spinning. It was a stunning system to experience, very well thought out.
I enjoyed the rough ‘Chatsworth’ sized Tannoys back at home for a while and then commissioned some custom RFC Monitor Gold crossovers, from Paul Coupe, after hearing from others at the huge shift in performance they would bring. These were built to top quality standard and installed. The lift in SQ was night and day. More of everything and then some. Top Job, not cheap, but for what one gets, not too much either. A huge difference.
I had already made my mind up to have quality Corner cabinet made, similar to what i’d seen and heard at Tom’s place, they would need to be scaled down slightly, as my Cottage living room is not huge, and I quite like being married!
Time to speak to Paul Coupe who Tom collaborated with to design the ‘Corner Canterburys’ I’d been so impressed with.
Firstly, Paul is an extraordinarily generous man with his knowledge, experience and time. After some discussions Paul got to work on designing a similar style cabinet based around the 12’’ Monitor Golds and my living Room. A very important factor.
Fast forward a few months.... and the beauties are here.
So how are they sounding?
Buying in effect 'blind' like this is a nervous experience, you have to have faith in the designer, although a huge nod to Tom's RFC Corner Canterburys, these are a different speaker.
Well, firstly i will say they exceeded my expectations in every way.
The quality of the cabinets, the styling, the attention to the design of the construction and the tuning is just a joy. Paul really applied himself to these. Music from both Analogue and digital source simply renders me to paralysis. I sit for hours emersed in what they deliver. Every millimeter of the room is filled with sound. They don’t have to be loud to deliver detailed, textured tops, lush, unctious mids and a bass that you could read the notes with grip and feeling. With Acoustic Jazz, the Timbre is exceptional...With reggae, they go low nicely and controlled.
But Tannoys don’t do bass... Utter tosh!!
I can’t wait to get home every evening and be transported to audio bliss.
Really, they are that good. I'm a happy Jazzer.
Distributed vent tuned, RFC constrained panel design, modelled on the RFC Canterbury, scaled down to suit MG12 inch drive units. Design aims to push cab resonances out of the critical mid area and uses sub panel harmonic frequency splitting to reduce resonance amplitudes. Corner design results in stiffer cabinet with fewer direct acoustic reflections through driver, keeping out of phase reflections lower than on traditional rectangular boxes. Internally damped....panels damped for resonance as well as using acoustic damping to absorb upper mid/HF frequencies. Extra-stiff and thick laminated front baffle and base/top sections. Internally braced.
Cab Materials: Slow Grown Latvian Birch ply of various thicknesses. Sapele Wood Veneer.
Frequency response: Approx: 39Hz to 20KHz (-6dB) (Actual extension may be lower in room).
Mass: circa 50Kgs each..
External overall dimensions Approx 1200 x 600 x 420
Crossover: Externally mounted 2 pole electrical, LR4 acoustic, RFC designed, electrically compensated circuit equivalent to electrically flat autotransformer setting incorporating fully discrete point to point solid copper core wiring, high quality parts, RFC "HDF" inductors;
Internal Wiring: 2.5mm2 OFC biwire cable terminated in gold plated and sprung 4 pin tannoy connectors.
New Arrivals.... RFC Corner 'Rutland' Cabinets incorporating Tannoy 12” Monitor Gold drivers. I was running a stunning, very heavily modified 300b Power Amp, based on the WAD design, beautiful mesh plates, into modern Kudos C3 speakers and was a happy man. Well I thought I was! The...
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