I recently bought a pair of Tannoy Berkeley speakers on ebay. I decided to take a punt, having read so many good thinks about larger Tannoys on PFM.
The vendor played then for me when I collected them, and at that point I wondered what I had bought, they did not sound very good. I put that down to his set up and that they were perched on top of another pair of Tannoys at the time.
Having got them home, all 40kgs a piece, I gave Lockwood Audio a call, to see what the options were. Roger was most helpful and said that if took every out and sent it him, he would check over the drivers and crossovers FOC.
Having sent the drivers, crossovers and panel for the speaker binding posts off, I could now work on improving the condition of the cabinets.
Roger came back and told me what I sort of already guessed; the drivers had been re foamed, quite well but with the wrong materials! The HPS 385 drivers after 30 years needed re coning, and I asked to have more modern speaker binding posts fitted to take my spade terminals on my speaker cables, and some new internal speaker cable between the binding post panel and the crossovers.
Roger suggested that I remove the old plinth under the speakers and also get some stands to get the Berkeleys off the floor, suggested 12-15ins should be about the right height.
Now having got the re coned drivers back from Lockwood Audio, and the stands built, I then put the Tannoys in place.
First impressions were a significant improvement, but now some two weeks plus later and with a more than a few hours on the re built drivers, I have to say that I am amazed at what a 30 year old pair of speakers can do. Inside the cabinet there is a date stamp 31 October 1997.
They seem to have a depth of sound, a scale that I have not had before from any of the previous speakers that I have ever owned, and I can now see why some people are quite so passionate about them.
My only thoughts are if the crossovers are also 30 years old, surely there must be scope for replacing the caps and any other modifications which would further improve the sound.
Have any other vintage Tannoy owners had work done on the crossovers and how effective was it and was it worth it.
The vendor played then for me when I collected them, and at that point I wondered what I had bought, they did not sound very good. I put that down to his set up and that they were perched on top of another pair of Tannoys at the time.
Having got them home, all 40kgs a piece, I gave Lockwood Audio a call, to see what the options were. Roger was most helpful and said that if took every out and sent it him, he would check over the drivers and crossovers FOC.
Having sent the drivers, crossovers and panel for the speaker binding posts off, I could now work on improving the condition of the cabinets.
Roger came back and told me what I sort of already guessed; the drivers had been re foamed, quite well but with the wrong materials! The HPS 385 drivers after 30 years needed re coning, and I asked to have more modern speaker binding posts fitted to take my spade terminals on my speaker cables, and some new internal speaker cable between the binding post panel and the crossovers.
Roger suggested that I remove the old plinth under the speakers and also get some stands to get the Berkeleys off the floor, suggested 12-15ins should be about the right height.
Now having got the re coned drivers back from Lockwood Audio, and the stands built, I then put the Tannoys in place.
First impressions were a significant improvement, but now some two weeks plus later and with a more than a few hours on the re built drivers, I have to say that I am amazed at what a 30 year old pair of speakers can do. Inside the cabinet there is a date stamp 31 October 1997.
They seem to have a depth of sound, a scale that I have not had before from any of the previous speakers that I have ever owned, and I can now see why some people are quite so passionate about them.
My only thoughts are if the crossovers are also 30 years old, surely there must be scope for replacing the caps and any other modifications which would further improve the sound.
Have any other vintage Tannoy owners had work done on the crossovers and how effective was it and was it worth it.
