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Tangent RS4 speaker users?

rontoolsie

rontoolsie

pfm Member
The first pair of speakers I bought after slaving away at the ITT factory in Sidcup in 1978. Purchased at Billy Vee after doing several days of comparative demos vs Bose 301, RAM, Swallow, and the other Tangent brothers (TM1, RS2).

They survived every upgrade starting with Michel Focus 1/GH228/Sonus Blue/A60E all the way through 42/Hicap/135 and even when the 135 were replaced with an Audio Research D70mk2. The final iteration with LP12/Ittok/Asak, 42/Hicap/D70mk2 until this day was one of the most satisfying system I have heard.

I home demoed many speakers next to them including Kans, Gale 401, Maggie SMG, Saras, Celestion SL600 and in every case I preferred the RS4 by a wide margin.

Any other afficionados out there?
 
I too am a great fan of Tangent RS4's to the point that I now own three pairs of them! I have had my originals since the early 80's and have never since had any wish or desire to change them! They are very inefficient so need a powerful amp (80-100wpc) to drive them but are also quite fragile so not at full output!
 
A massive improvement for the RS4 was replacing the rolling castor flimsy stands with some 50UKP Heybrook stands that placed the tweeters at ear level.

If I still had the RS4, I would rebuild the basik crossovers with much better parts.

But I remember I got a big sonic boost by soldering NACA4 speaker wires directly to the xo, and using the same wires from the xo to drivers.

I tried buying a set of 800 UKP (1985 price) Celestion SL600s that were inferior in every way to the RS4s, that I had to return them.

I only sold them because I moved from the UK to the US....I wish I took them with me!
 
Heard a pair at a friend’s house not long after buying my Spendor BC1s.
I was very impressed with them.
I’ve always wanted a pair, but two pairs of 2 cubic foot cabinets would be domestically unacceptable.
 
I spent my teenage period among Tangent TM1 speakers listening to classic rock.
Turntable was a Connoisseur and the amp a Sugden A48 beige and orange.
Those Tangent were probably not as good as yours but they certainly created an addiction !
 
I had some for a while after coming across a pair that were fairly local and liked the look of them. I thought they were really nice and right up my street, relaxed and expansive, but I did pick up on that recessed mid range thing. I can't quite remember what ousted them but it may have been my second pair of Rogers Studio 1 which I know I was searching out around that time.
 
Yes, that’s right.
After looking it up I realised I was involved in a discussion on PFM.
Which I had completely forgotten about...
 
I remember Frankland recommending TM4s along with a rega planar 3, orange and brown Sugden in Popular HiFi, I think. I got as far as the amp but Tangents were difficultto find in the Canaries and I eventually opted for HB2s and stands. Still got the speakers and amp in store.
 
rontoolsie said:
The first pair of speakers I bought after slaving away at the ITT factory in Sidcup in 1978. Purchased at Billy Vee after doing several days of comparative demos vs Bose 301, RAM, Swallow, and the other Tangent brothers (TM1, RS2).

They survived every upgrade starting with Michel Focus 1/GH228/Sonus Blue/A60E all the way through 42/Hicap/135 and even when the 135 were replaced with an Audio Research D70mk2. The final iteration with LP12/Ittok/Asak, 42/Hicap/D70mk2 until this day was one of the most satisfying system I have heard.

I home demoed many speakers next to them including Kans, Gale 401, Maggie SMG, Saras, Celestion SL600 and in every case I preferred the RS4 by a wide margin.

Any other afficionados out there?
Click to expand...
Similar story to you in that I bought a pair of RS4s when I was a uni student and managed to save enough from my holiday job in a paper bag factory.They were part of my first system together with a Dynaco Pat 4 preamp,Dynaco Stereo120 power amp and a Thorens TD160 with Stanton 681EEE cartridge.That was a great sounding system.The RS4s just had something magical about them.Van Morrison sounded especially great on them.
 
I bought a pair of a Tangent XLR2 in 1983. By brother had them re-foamed by Wembley Loudspeakers in the mid 90’s and they’re now still going strong in a friends system. Tangent made some great speakers.
 
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