Big Tannoys

I've started perusing the market for a long term speaker purchase and one possibility I'm considering is a set of Tannoys. When I bought my WAD amp, the guy who sold it to me had a pair of Kensingtons and I though they sounded pretty fab, even with a fairly modest (TAG) CD player. However, I have no real basis for comparison having only ever had 2-way standmounts. I wouldn't be able to stretch to this kind of spec or bulk, but Sandringhams or Stirlings would be a possibility (£2K-ish). Anyone got any experience with these boxes or alternatives at a similar price. I need 90+ db/w at least and nothing bigger than a 400mm square footprint / ca 1m tall. Any advice?

 

The rule with Tannoy is very simple, the bigger the better. The driver should ideally be 15" DC but certain vintage 10" are also good, particularly for nearfield listening. For £2k or less I'd look at second hand Golds. Avoid HPD, they are not as good, even though they have greater power handling capability.

Something like these in a large box like Lancastors' is ideal.

More information about vintage Tannoys here.

My own experience of Sandringhams wasn't very good. They were a bit bright/forward, which is not generally what I find with Tannoys. It could be the source or room, but they just didn't click. Your valve amp may tame the brightness (if it was the speakers).

If you want new rather than second hand take a look at their new Glenair 10. I think they're about £2.5k.

P.S. If money is no object I have no hesiation in recommending the Westminster Royals. One of the very best speakers I have heard at any price.

Edit: I see the Glenairs are £3k list.

 

Cheers for that. I hadn't considered vintage / doing a cabinet build - probably beyond me anyway. I've seen some new (ex display) Sandringhams for just under two grand and new Stirlings for 2 and half, but Sandringhams have bigger drivers for the same footprint (10" rather than 8"). There was certainly no hint of brightness with the Kensingtons I heard (mind you, at 6 and a half grand it would be cheaper to hire the musicians).

Re your bigger is better comment: Is this a property of the dual concentric driver? ie. Do you think the technology works better with a bigger cone? Or are you just expressing a general preference for massive drivers in big boxes a la Yorkies / Westminsters?

 

I don't know why but for some reason size of the cabinets as well as the drivers really matters with Tannoys. IMO the best modern Tannoys are the Westminsters or Canterburys.

 

Hey Dev, those drivers look suspiciously like 15" HPD385's but with grey magnet covers instead of the normal beige ones - they certainly have the ribs on the rear of the cones that the HPD's have and the basket is the right shape and finish. IME the HPD's are actually pretty good, but the deteriorating foam surrounds always plays on your mind (and eventually wallet)! Several slightly later models also have foam surrounds that suffer from the same problem. Saying that, allegedly the doped surrounds from earleir models (golds/reds etc) actually stiffen slightly with age and so don't perform as new either, so you take your chances with all the vintage models!

 

size is relative john... if you want what a big speaker does, you'll have to bite the bullet!

here's a pair on ebay. The auction start price is pretty reasonable.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/vintage-tanno...7QQihZ017QQcategoryZ14993QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

You may be right LT. They didn't seem quite right to me. But my point was that 15" DC (ideally Gold) in a large cabinet would be great. In fact let me re-phrase it and say look for a pair of Lancasters or GRFs.

The HPDs had a issue with the foam being less compliant and having shorter lifetime as you say. I thought the aging of the surrounds was a lesser problem with Gold/Red. Again I agree, with vintage speakers (of any make really) there is an element of luck involved.

 

Cheers Chris, you found a much better example of what I'd go for.

BIN price seems a tad optimistic.

 

Talk to this guy, he sells very well refurbed vintage Tannoys at reasonable prices:

http://www.bigearsaudio.org.uk/8.html

£1500 for a pair of 15" Monitor Golds in Lancaster cabinets is a good starting point, I bought a pair from him about 18 months ago and have felt no need to even think about changing my speakers since then. Good news is, the speakers I bought are now worth more than I paid for them too, vintage Tannoys seem to be getting more expensive every year

I wouldn't bother with anything less than 15" unless it's a 12" in a Canterbury cabinet. Although some of the 10" monitors are very nice speakers, the better 15" designs are a speaker for life, amongst the finest speakers you will ever hear. Modern Tannoys are beautifully made, but you pay a large premium for them, refurbished vintage models are a much better bet. Horn loaded cabinets are the best, but the sealed box Lancasters are still terrific speakers. The drivers can always be reused later and put into a DIY horn cabinet when you feel like an upgrade too. I was going to do this, but, frankly, they're so good as they are that I've given up even thinking about upgrading.

-- Ian

 

I sold my old Lancaster cabs to 'bigears' via ebay, seemed an alright bloke.

The Emporium has a pair of corner Lancasters with 15" Golds as well for £1700, I always liked the look of the corner versions but they're relatively rare and so slightly more expensive than the rectangular cabs - but maybe they might shift a bit on price?

Prices for 15" golds seem high at the moment, this time last year most were selling for between £800 and a grand on ebay.

 

there is a pair of something called M3000 SRM (studio red monitor) written all over the baffle? google doesn't help much -the owner told me that it's apparently produced between 84 and 87, instead of 3 bass reflex holes it has a big square hole that sounds like a horn mouth, could it be? any idea if this is a good one? the asking price is £1000, could be that i can bargain it down a bit.

 

Don't know them at all. £1K seems high for something so little known. What drivers do they use?

-- Ian

 

Is it similar to the SRM 15x apart from the ports? If so then the price might be about right as long as they're in good nick (see http://www.hilberink.nl/codehans/tannoy40.htm). I had a pair of Little Red Monitors (SRM 12B) from the same series, very nice but I actually preferred my Cheviots with 12" HPD's, but that's just my personal taste I think (the Cheviots seemed better all rounders in my domestic setting, better bass, slightly warmer delivery).

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever seen a Tannoy studio monitor with horn cabs, so I'd guess that the rectangular opening is just a big port (?).

 

Ian - Thanks. It seems that for about £1.5K, give or take, I can get myself some almost new Sandringhams (8" drivers) or 30 yr old Lancasters (15"). The Sandringhams meet with full GF approval, can be sited near a rear wall and are almost certain to do all that will be required of them unless I'm taken rich enough to buy a detached house. OTOH The Lancasters have been voted a bit meh (appearance wise) and tbh I not entirely sure about siting them either (stands? Direct on the floor?). How physically large are they - I'm guessing about 20" wide)? Will the bass scare the s**t out of my neighbours at routine listening volumes?

Whatever, I assume either will be a substantial improvement n 2-way standmounts with 5" drivers!

= John

 

John, I wouldn't buy the Sandringham without listening to them first. Ian and I both heard the Kensingtons (one up from Sandringham) at Walrus and they didn't sound like typical Tannoys. Like I said before it could be the room or the electronics but why take the chance? It might be your ideal speaker but it could be an expensive mistake if it isn't. With the Lancasters you'd not lose much money, in fact you might even make a profit if you buy well.

 

Direct on the floor. Some people like to put cones or spikes underneath them, I have a solid floor and haven't found it necessary.

About 35" high x 20" wide x 12" deep. They can go close to rear and side walls. Here's mine, if they're in alcoves like this they don't take up much more space than a large standmount would:

Absolutely not. They're not bass monsters (Westminsters are what you want for that). It's the midrange where Tannoys excel.

My honest opinion is that small Tannoys are simply not the same thing as those with 12" or 15" drivers. A different game entirely. When it comes to Tannoys, big drivers and big cabinets give you effortless scale, but also tremendous subtlety. I can think of quite a few smaller standmounts I'd prefer to Sandringhams and the like, but almost no loudspeaker that I would prefer to larger Tannoys, from Canterburys upwards, and I'm far from unusual among Tannoy fans in holding that opinion.

-- Ian

 

Westminsters are not bass monsters, just perfect.

P.S. How much improvement in sound did you notice with the Budda?

 

12.3%, but only in the right channel

-- Ian

 

I guess I'm stalling a bit because of the age of the drivers in the Lancasters I've seen. I don't know what kind of guarantees bigearsaudio offers (will check of course) but with the best will in the world, a 40 year old driver could have had all kinds of evil done to it! I rather liked the Kensingtons I heard (with my amp, anyway). Very natural sounding, but six grand is a lhell of a ot of dosh. This is more or less what led me towards Tannoy in the first instance. So, what do 'typical' Tannoys sound like that a Kensington doesn't deliver?

 

Everything he sells has been refurbed or given a good look over, and there are plenty of other people around who can service old Tannoys too. The Emporium is another good source. TBH, a pair of serviced old Tannoys from any vintage specialist is likely to outlive you.

Where are you based? The best thing is to try to get to hear some. If you're in Norwich rather than just from Norwich the Emporium is not far from you.

-- Ian