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Who builds cabinets for Tannoy drivers?

rockingdoc

rockingdoc

pfm Member
I have a pair of 10" Tannoy monitor golds in mint condition, in IIILZ cabs that I have owned for 40 years. I've been listening to these seriously recently, and have been astonished by how good they sound with voices. I don't feel the need to go so loud these days, so am thinking of promoting the Tannoys to the top dog position in my main system. The IIILZ cabs are tatty and I am convinced these speakers could do better in different cabs. I would like more bass extension in particular. I know little about speaker design, so would be grateful for any advice, for example does a different cabinet require a different crossover design?

I was thinking of floor standers, possibly vented or even transmission line? Although quite competent with a soldering iron, I am no carpenter, so would be looking for a cabinet maker to do the cab build. I would be prepared to pay fairly big bucks for the right job.

Haven't found anyone offering this on a quick Google. Any suggestions?
 
If you go to Google Images and type in Tannoy IIILZ you will find a man who did exactly what you are considering.
 
I think that the problem will not be who can make them, but what cabinet design can you find. The IILZs are not well-loved. The Tannoy user group seems to suggest that you either reproduce the original design with better quality materials, or build Granada or Cornetta cabinets - good luck finding plans for those, I looked for quite some time and could not find any. I imagine that Chatsworth- type cabinets might work, but you will need someone with a bigger brain than me to work out the design parameters to get the best of of the 10" in that design.
 
As a good enough practitioner my suggestion would be to design the cabinets around the III LZ cabinet volumes, increasing the total internal volume by about 10 - 15%, the assumption is that the existing cabinets are not ported, ie totally enclosed. Within limits the cabinet dimensions are not critical provided you maintain the internal volume, if you look at the google images as suggested by PaulMB it is worth noting that the cabinet front is reduced to about the minimum to fit the speaker chassis, always a good approach. Similarly if you build floor-standers, then they need an open stand say 200mm high, otherwise the bass is usually enhanced, but distorted.
I built a pair of cases for 12" Monitor Golds over 30 years ago, and spent several months learning the basics of enclosure design, I think the simple approach is to follow the original design in terms of cabinet volume + say 10% then apply known tweaks like 20mm MDF and hardwood bracing for the cabinet + sound absorption. There is plenty of info. on the internet regarding monitor golds and the design of enclosures, but the knowledge and skill required is quite high if you wish to make major changes. Good Luck
 
The Cornetta cabs look fantastic, and as much as one could ever tell by appearance, I imagine produce a lot more bass than the small infinite baffle III LZ cabs. My ideal dream would probably be a tall, narrow, transmission line with just the 10" Tannoy at the top.
Boxes apart, are crossovers "tuned" for a specific cab, or area determined just by the drivers used? I have re-capped the original crossovers, but changing component values would be a whole different thing.
 
There's a dealer called clk230, I think on Wigwam more than here, who does just this, using nice birch ply and not charging mega bucks. I think he could help out with the design too, he seems clued up.
 
One of the Cornetta cabinets in Google images is squat and square, rather than the extravagant corner cabinet - looking more like a Lowther Acousta - for which there are designs aplenty. One person who does appreciate the IILZ is Troels Gravesen, here he mostly looks at modifying the speaker cone, but does put the considerably modified speaker in a cabinet whose configuration and dimensions appear to meet your criteria. Perhaps you could drop him a line for his plans?
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Tannoy_IIILZ.htm
 
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