cooky1257
pfm Member
I thank you!
Tannoy Owners
- Thread starter bonzo75
- Start date
montesquieu
pfm Member
Good thread this. I'm happy to contribute some gratuitous Tannoy pics ... first off my old GRFs, before I had the cabs braced and damped - they used to sing along quite a bit but always fun. The 7 foot harpsichord (it was a long room and that was the only place to put it) in the background was amusing especially when it was in the 'wrong' place for the music - no alternative but to shut your eyes. That Unison S8 was the most woeful amp I ever tried with Tannoys. Utterly hopeless. Garrard 401/Schick was good though. Audiosmile supertweeters.
Cabs after refurb - sounded better, not sure about the looks - with some new production Lockwood Majors. I had two sets of 15in drivers (Gold and HPD) at that time and could swap between cabs getting a sense of what worked best. The 15in Gold to my mind was clearly better than the 15in HPD, at least in these cabs. Didn't like the modern Lockwoods much - too boomy and uncontrolled - and they went back to the manufacturer. The underneath pic is the vent, which goes on the bottom of the aperiodic resistive chamber that the Lockwoods use. Nice lookers though.
Refurbed GRFs looked much better with the grilles on. Voyd TT at that point, SJS Arcadia Model 2 pre (both very nice), AN Io2 with a Kondo S6C SUT, there are two power amps I was experimenting with by-amping - 300b Audion monoblocks on the bass drivers, 2A3 SET on the horn tweeters. Tried both passive and active by-amping (though the crossovers were solid state rather than tube). Preferred going with just a single amp into crossover - just more musical and coherent, though there was more detail with the electronic crossovers. I also ran them with four Audion 300b monoblocks to see if that worked better and the amp mismatch was the issue. It didn't really help.
Vintage Lockwood Universal prior to being cleaned up and brought into use. Didn't keep these long, preferred my GRFs. Underneath the grey paint was orange Formica!
Tannoy Autographs, using the same 15in Golds I had in the GRFs. Far too big for the room they ended up in. TD124 in the ugly white plinth, Tram2 DHT preamp.
Cheviots - these are where I sourced the HPD315a drivers for my current speakers. The cabinets are a real bottleneck on these. (I also had some Chatsworths with 12in Golds, and some Lancasters with 15in Golds, but couldn't find pics of either).
Eatons - 10in HPD. I liked these, very musical indeed and the smaller cabinet seems to work well with the 10in driver.
My current Tannoy RFC Canterburys with HPD 315a and the top RFC crossover - it took me a while but these -at last - better my much-loved 15in Golds in GRF cabs - much lower, better articulated bass, the crossover point is more sensible (I always feel crossing 15in drivers at 2khz is a bit of a stretch) and the cabinets don't have the GRF's mid-horn peculiarities (fun as they are). Having said that the GRFs are still a superb speaker.
Cabs after refurb - sounded better, not sure about the looks - with some new production Lockwood Majors. I had two sets of 15in drivers (Gold and HPD) at that time and could swap between cabs getting a sense of what worked best. The 15in Gold to my mind was clearly better than the 15in HPD, at least in these cabs. Didn't like the modern Lockwoods much - too boomy and uncontrolled - and they went back to the manufacturer. The underneath pic is the vent, which goes on the bottom of the aperiodic resistive chamber that the Lockwoods use. Nice lookers though.
Refurbed GRFs looked much better with the grilles on. Voyd TT at that point, SJS Arcadia Model 2 pre (both very nice), AN Io2 with a Kondo S6C SUT, there are two power amps I was experimenting with by-amping - 300b Audion monoblocks on the bass drivers, 2A3 SET on the horn tweeters. Tried both passive and active by-amping (though the crossovers were solid state rather than tube). Preferred going with just a single amp into crossover - just more musical and coherent, though there was more detail with the electronic crossovers. I also ran them with four Audion 300b monoblocks to see if that worked better and the amp mismatch was the issue. It didn't really help.
Vintage Lockwood Universal prior to being cleaned up and brought into use. Didn't keep these long, preferred my GRFs. Underneath the grey paint was orange Formica!
Tannoy Autographs, using the same 15in Golds I had in the GRFs. Far too big for the room they ended up in. TD124 in the ugly white plinth, Tram2 DHT preamp.
Cheviots - these are where I sourced the HPD315a drivers for my current speakers. The cabinets are a real bottleneck on these. (I also had some Chatsworths with 12in Golds, and some Lancasters with 15in Golds, but couldn't find pics of either).
Eatons - 10in HPD. I liked these, very musical indeed and the smaller cabinet seems to work well with the 10in driver.
My current Tannoy RFC Canterburys with HPD 315a and the top RFC crossover - it took me a while but these -at last - better my much-loved 15in Golds in GRF cabs - much lower, better articulated bass, the crossover point is more sensible (I always feel crossing 15in drivers at 2khz is a bit of a stretch) and the cabinets don't have the GRF's mid-horn peculiarities (fun as they are). Having said that the GRFs are still a superb speaker.
ToTo Man
the band not the dog
Good thread this. I'm happy to contribute some gratuitous Tannoy pics ... first off my old GRFs, before I had the cabs braced and damped - they used to sing along quite a bit but always fun. The 7 foot harpsichord (it was a long room and that was the only place to put it) in the background was amusing especially when it was in the 'wrong' place for the music - no alternative but to shut your eyes. That Unison S8 was the most woeful amp I ever tried with Tannoys. Utterly hopeless. Garrard 401/Schick was good though. Audiosmile supertweeters.
Cabs after refurb - sounded better, not sure about the looks - with some new production Lockwood Majors. I had two sets of 15in drivers (Gold and HPD) at that time and could swap between cabs getting a sense of what worked best. The 15in Gold to my mind was clearly better than the 15in HPD, at least in these cabs. Didn't like the modern Lockwoods much - too boomy and uncontrolled - and they went back to the manufacturer. The underneath pic is the vent, which goes on the bottom of the aperiodic resistive chamber that the Lockwoods use. Nice lookers though.
Refurbed GRFs looked much better with the grilles on. Voyd TT at that point, SJS Arcadia Model 2 pre (both very nice), AN Io2 with a Kondo S6C SUT, there are two power amps I was experimenting with by-amping - 300b Audion monoblocks on the bass drivers, 2A3 SET on the horn tweeters. Tried both passive and active by-amping (though the crossovers were solid state rather than tube). Preferred going with just a single amp into crossover - just more musical and coherent, though there was more detail with the electronic crossovers. I also ran them with four Audion 300b monoblocks to see if that worked better and the amp mismatch was the issue. It didn't really help.
Vintage Lockwood Universal prior to being cleaned up and brought into use. Didn't keep these long, preferred my GRFs. Underneath the grey paint was orange Formica!
Tannoy Autographs, using the same 15in Golds I had in the GRFs. Far too big for the room they ended up in. TD124 in the ugly white plinth, Tram2 DHT preamp.
Cheviots - these are where I sourced the HPD315a drivers for my current speakers. The cabinets are a real bottleneck on these. (I also had some Chatsworths with 12in Golds, and some Lancasters with 15in Golds, but couldn't find pics of either).
Eatons - 10in HPD. I liked these, very musical indeed and the smaller cabinet seems to work well with the 10in driver.
My current Tannoy RFC Canterburys with HPD 315a and the top RFC crossover - it took me a while but these -at last - better my much-loved 15in Golds in GRF cabs - much lower, better articulated bass, the crossover point is more sensible (I always feel crossing 15in drivers at 2khz is a bit of a stretch) and the cabinets don't have the GRF's mid-horn peculiarities (fun as they are). Having said that the GRFs are still a superb speaker.
Awesome catalogue of your Tannoy journey, Tom! Did you own the GRFs and RFC Canterburys at the same time to compare them?
montesquieu
pfm Member
No I sold the GRF cabs and used the 15in Gold drivers in some Autographs I had made. But then I moved house and the Autographs were just too massive for the room I ended up in. (The plan had been to block off a door and have them in corners, but when we moved in my wife changed her mind, so the room was completely wrong for them).
So I sold those and did a ton of research into all sorts of possibilities including looking at a wide range of production models (later Canterburys, Memory GRFs, Yorks, Kensingtons among others) and ended up commissioning Paul Coupe of RFC to create me a vintage looking speaker based on the 1959 Canterbury look, but with modern bracing, damping, vent calculations etc. Paul was fantastic in discussing the various options in terms of driver, tuning point and so on (while steering me away from bad choices) and meticulous in his approach to the design. I really couldn't be happier in the end.
So I sold those and did a ton of research into all sorts of possibilities including looking at a wide range of production models (later Canterburys, Memory GRFs, Yorks, Kensingtons among others) and ended up commissioning Paul Coupe of RFC to create me a vintage looking speaker based on the 1959 Canterbury look, but with modern bracing, damping, vent calculations etc. Paul was fantastic in discussing the various options in terms of driver, tuning point and so on (while steering me away from bad choices) and meticulous in his approach to the design. I really couldn't be happier in the end.
Tigerjones
Bagpuss
Wish my wife would let me have a pair of these. Nice room, John.Here you go.
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Michael,
Here are a few resources —
http://www.44bx.com/tannoy/
http://www.hifilit.com/Tannoy/Tannoy.htm
https://www.hilberink.nl/speaker.htm
Joe
Here are a few resources —
http://www.44bx.com/tannoy/
http://www.hifilit.com/Tannoy/Tannoy.htm
https://www.hilberink.nl/speaker.htm
Joe
Marco
AoS Representative
Standard Cheviots with HPD315 drivers
Those look superb, Keith, and in a beautiful room, too! Nice one
Marco.
Marco
AoS Representative
Here are my Tannoy Lockwood Majors, fitted with 15" Monitor Golds (with modified crossovers):
Must save up for some longer speaker cables!
Modified crossovers:
Some music sharing the same space:
Same speakers with some of my other gear (and that of other AoS members) being demonstrated at one of the Scalford Hall shows:
My Tube Distinctions Copper amp (since fitted with KT150s), which drives the Tannoys:
It all makes a rather nice noise, to my ears
Marco.
Must save up for some longer speaker cables!
Modified crossovers:
Some music sharing the same space:
Same speakers with some of my other gear (and that of other AoS members) being demonstrated at one of the Scalford Hall shows:
My Tube Distinctions Copper amp (since fitted with KT150s), which drives the Tannoys:
It all makes a rather nice noise, to my ears
Marco.
Untitled
Tarzan
pfm Member
Wow some lovely looking speakers there.... can we have some more pictures please?
Wish l never asked.
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
antinchip
pfm Member
2012 Turnberry SEs for me with the 10" cones. Purchased about 3 years back to replace a pair of Castle Howard S2s. I was originally looking for suitable "big" vintage Tannoys but most were just too big for the available space in the room. I have recently moved to a house with more space in the room, so have started wondering.........
Untitled
Standard Cheviots with HPD315 drivers
Now THAT's how I want my Cheviots to look like. Could you tell us what stands they are?
KeithL
pfm Member
They were bespoke from a metal worker in the next industrial unit. They cost me about 100 quid 10 years ago.
The HPD315 drivers were reconed by Lockwood with receipt before purchase. The Cheviots cost me 700.
I was too busy then to refurbish the woodwork so I paid out another 400 to a local cabinet maker.
The HPD315 drivers were reconed by Lockwood with receipt before purchase. The Cheviots cost me 700.
I was too busy then to refurbish the woodwork so I paid out another 400 to a local cabinet maker.
Lovely job! Thanks.
John
Rack’em Up!
Here’s a couple good articles discussing the evolution of technology and techniques used to develop the drivers, enclosure and crossover.
http://www.allegrosound.com/Tannoy_Dual-Concentric.pdf
https://www.hilberink.nl/codehans/tannoy74.him
Much of that same technology can be found in the new Tannoy Arden.
https://www.tannoy.com/Categories/Tannoy/LEGACY/ARDEN/p/P0DEN#googtrans(en|en)
