View Full Version : What Tannoys
I have a hankering to try some Tannoys, but what are the best ones to go for.
12" 15" hpd or gold's and what cabinets?
My room is pretty large L shaped 7m on the 2 long sides and 5m on the 2 short sides. spealers would be on the 4m side firing down the 7m side.
What do you think?
Reid Malenfant
20-08-2011, 18:39
Don't take this as gospel, but having done a little bit of research i reckon the golds would be better under a lot of circumstances. The later HPDs tend to have a monstrous VAS which dictates that a massive cabinet will be needed to avoid a peak in the bass response ;) The driver Q of some of them doesn't help either :doh:
Admittedly they aren't all the same, if you pick the right drivers you'll be laughing. Might take a bit of hunting though to find the right HPDs so you doen't end up needing a 300L+ enclosure (each).
My thought was golds, but also considering a pair of Devons (obviously much cheaper) just to dip my toe in the water and see if I like the Tannoy sound,
spendorman
20-08-2011, 18:54
12" 15 Ohm Silvers were nice, had those, 12" Golds and 12" very early Silvers all at the same time. The Silvers from about 1969 were best.
spendorman
20-08-2011, 19:04
12" 15 Ohm Silvers were nice, had those, 12" Golds and 12" very early Silvers all at the same time. The Silvers from about 1969 were best.
To explain a bit, the very early Silvers had little low bass, slightly coloured mid, the Golds had slightly rough treble, The later Silvers were close to perfect.
Rare Bird
20-08-2011, 19:19
'T185' & 'T225' are the only ones i like
12" 15 Ohm Silvers were nice, had those, 12" Golds and 12" very early Silvers all at the same time. The Silvers from about 1969 were best.
Quite possibly finding a pair of silvers at a sensible price might be a bit of a challange.
12" 15 Ohm Silvers were nice, had those, 12" Golds and 12" very early Silvers all at the same time. The Silvers from about 1969 were best.
The problem with Reds and Silvers is that they are 15 Ohms, and as such, in my experience, sound rather over-emphasised towards the mid and top end, with modern valve amps using 6 or 8 Ohm taps. This is what I found when I used 15" Monitor Reds in my Lockwood Major cabinets, before swapping them for 15" Golds, which to my ears in my system had a more even sounding balance, with all types of music.
Much depends too, on the type of music you're into. If all you listened to was jazz, classical and acoustic material, Reds or Silvers would be phenomenal, as they major on midrange dynamics and presence. One must remember that the Silvers, in particular, were introduced before the rock and pop era took off, and so were not really designed to reproduce beat-driven music, and Reds aren't ideal either in that respect.
This is where Monitor Golds, in my view, offer the best of both worlds, because they excel with all types of music and are compatible with modern valve amps. Note, I'm saying valve amps, as in my opinion vintage Tannoys work best with toobs! :)
To answer Ian's question, both HPDs and Golds are excellent, although both have rather different sonic characteristics. In my experience, the Golds have a freedom of expression, and allow music to flow and 'breathe' effortlessly, which escapes most HPDs, making them in comparison sound a little congested. Tonally too, HPDs cans sound 'harder' and exhibit a more forward sounding balance, whereas Golds are sweeter sounding and have a nicer 'tone'.
What's your budget, Ian? That way I can give you some real-world recommendations, in terms of cabinets, etc :cool:
Marco.
The problem with Reds and Silvers is that they are 15 Ohms, and as such, in my experience, sound rather over-emphasised towards the mid and top end, with modern valve amps using 6 or 8 Ohm taps. This is what I found when I used 15" Monitor Reds in my Lockwood Major cabinets, before swapping them for 15" Golds, which to my ears in my system had a more even sounding balance, with all types of music.
Much depends too, on the type of music you're into. If all you listened to was jazz, classical and acoustic material, Reds or Silvers would be phenomenal, as they major on midrange dynamics and presence. One must remember that the Silvers, in particular, were introduced before the rock and pop era took off, and so were not really designed to reproduce beat-driven music, and Reds aren't ideal either in that respect.
This is where Monitor Golds, in my view, offer the best of both worlds, because they excel with all types of music and are compatible with modern valve amps. Note, I'm saying valve amps, as in my opinion vintage Tannoys work best with toobs! :)
To answer Ian's question, both HPDs and Golds are excellent, although both have rather different sonic characteristics. In my experience, the Golds have a freedom of expression, and allow music to flow and 'breathe' effortlessly, which escapes most HPDs, making them in comparison sound a little congested. Tonally too, HPDs cans sound 'harder' and exhibit a more forward sounding balance, whereas Golds are sweeter sounding and have a nicer 'tone'.
What's your budget, Ian? That way I can give you some real-world recommendations, in terms of cabinets, etc :cool:
Marco.
Hi Marco,
first off musical tastes tend to be folk/acoustic, with a bit of west coast country rock. Some jazz and a pinch of classical. Certainly nothing too heavy.
Budget would be c£2k and initial I will try these with both the recently acquired II's and my existing Luxman SQ-38u both are similar power output and both push pull.
I have been looking at a pair of Devons as an option to see if I like the "Tannoy sound" before upgrading to something else, not sure how good an idea this is if they sonically very different from the golds I might reject an upgrade simply because the Devons didn't do it for me. On my budget I think the best I can get are 15" golds, but I should be able to do that with a bit of patience.
Having used a pair of Devons in my system (they were my first introduction to the Tannoy DC sound, at home), I can tell you quite categorically that they sound very different to Monitor Golds of any description.
Devons are victims of having 12" drivers in stupidly small cabinets (they were mainly used for close monitoring in studios where this wasn't a problem), and as such sound rather 'toppy' and mid-forward, although highly communicative and offering great insight into the musical programme, the latter a well-known trait of Tannoy DCs.
So, in that respect, I think what you wrote was spot on:
not sure how good an idea this is if they sonically very different from the golds I might reject an upgrade simply because the Devons didn't do it for me.
That may end up being the case, although like me, you may be seduced by what they do well (the musical insight I referred to) and thus want to investigate the bigger, better models. With your musical tastes, you could get away with Reds, but they're going for crazy prices now!
In any case, Devons are not representative of how 15" Monitor Golds sound in appropriate sized cabinets. In that respect, the minimum you should aim for is Lancasters :)
Marco.
Ammonite Audio
21-08-2011, 07:41
I'm about to find out much of this for myself, having bought a pair of mint Lancasters with 15" Gold drive units. It will be interesting to hear how they get on with Class D amplification! I hope to collect them towards the middle of the week.
Yep, I suspect that your amps, Hugo, will be the deal breaker, or not.... ;)
I hope it works out well for you!
Marco.
With your musical tastes, you could get away with Reds, but they're going for crazy prices now!
I was looking at a pair on eBay last week, 12" reds in York cabs went for £4,600.
In any case, Devons are not representative of how 15" Monitor Golds sound in appropriate sized cabinets. In that respect, the minimum you should aim for is Lancasters :)
Marco.
Where would Lancasters fit in the cabinet range in terms of size/volume
Ian
I'm about to find out much of this for myself, having bought a pair of mint Lancasters with 15" Gold drive units. It will be interesting to hear how they get on with Class D amplification! I hope to collect them towards the middle of the week.
Was that the pair on ebay that went for £1,810. I had a snipe bid set for £1,850
Have a look at THIS (http://www.hilberink.nl/speaker.htm#tech) site for Golds and some usefull info
Ammonite Audio
21-08-2011, 16:13
Was that the pair on ebay that went for £1,810. I had a snipe bid set for £1,850
Yup! You were clearly not quick enough with your snipe bid!
Have you seen these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tannoy-15-Gold-Monitor-Speakers-York-Cabinets-Pair-/300589964080?pt=UK_Consumer_VintageAudio_RL&hash=item45fc8edb30
Yup! You were clearly not quick enough with your snipe bid!
Have you seen these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tannoy-15-Gold-Monitor-Speakers-York-Cabinets-Pair-/300589964080?pt=UK_Consumer_VintageAudio_RL&hash=item45fc8edb30
Hope they sound as good as they looked and yes I have seen the others. My bid was in time but rejected because it needed to be £50 above yours. It maybe you would have auto outbid me anyway. Enjoy in any event:cool:
I also have a pair of Lancasters which I will be going to use with a Gaincard clone (chip amp). The Gaincards are said to be following Kondo-san's flavour but of course does not reach the Kondo level.
The price for those Golds in the York cabinets are so far quite good but I assume it'll go up.
Having used a pair of Devons in my system (they were my first introduction to the Tannoy DC sound, at home), I can tell you quite categorically that they sound very different to Monitor Golds of any description.
Devons are victims of having 12" drivers in stupidly small cabinets (they were mainly used for close monitoring in studios where this wasn't a problem), and as such sound rather 'toppy' and mid-forward, although highly communicative and offering great insight into the musical programme, the latter a well-known trait of Tannoy DCs.
So, in that respect, I think what you wrote was spot on:
That may end up being the case, although like me, you may be seduced by what they do well (the musical insight I referred to) and thus want to investigate the bigger, better models. With your musical tastes, you could get away with Reds, but they're going for crazy prices now!
In any case, Devons are not representative of how 15" Monitor Golds sound in appropriate sized cabinets. In that respect, the minimum you should aim for is Lancasters :)
Marco.
I thought Devons were the best of the early HPD's myself, the tiny Eaton being the odd one out. The Cheviot was the most popular, but the colouration and fizz did let the side down in comparison to its peers at the time. At a client's home and Quad (44/405) driven though, they sounded very much better. Berkeleys and Ardens were huge fun though, but no-one in the shop took them seriously for proper music listening I remember, as properly driven big IMF's did bass better, were far less squawky in the midrange and sweeter in the treble.
DEFINITELY use good valve/ amps with vintage Tannoys IMO.
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