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Thread: Westminsters

  1. #291
    Join Date: May 2011

    Location: Victoria, Australia

    Posts: 147
    I'm David.

    Default It's Been Four Years......Almost

    Anybody but Simon built a pair of these. I see amongst 28,000 hits someone, surely someone took the plunge. I would be particularly interested if that someone changed the design in some way.

  2. #292
    Join Date: Aug 2013

    Location: London

    Posts: 1,499
    I'm Sam.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by simonms View Post
    Happy New Year to you to Dave, looking a bit warm over in your neck of the woods.
    I had some damping in the areas that you identify but ended up with none at all, on the new pair that i am building i have used 3mm cork down the whole of inside of panel that sits inside of the sides-the one with the least possible bracing to see how that may influence things but its all removable.
    Once i am settled on the best sounding cabinet materials i will build my final incarnation in some fine veneer. I am hoping the slightly tweaked baffle/horn area will improve things further.
    I have had a lot of different amps in and out of the system and found that the KT88 worked very well especially on the lower frequencies and hope to try a New Audio Frontiers amp finally before i take the plunge and buy something. I am using a 22wpc pp design as it stands which is great for the time being.
    Vlad, there is a lot of discussion at the moment on the Tannoy Yahoo Groups site regarding cross overs for HPD385's and MG's, have a look in. Also there are some great threads on here, one by Blackadder about his experiments with cross overs and Tannoyman's thread regarding upgrades for the Westminster is excellent.
    Am machining up the trim in Maple today so will post when thats done but here are the Birch ply cabs as they stand.


    DSCN1024 by simon ms, on Flickr


    DSCN1025 by simon ms, on Flickr


    DSCN1020 by simon ms, on Flickr


    DSCN1019 by simon ms, on Flickr


    DSCN1010 by simon ms, on Flickr


    DSCN1011 by simon ms, on Flickr


    DSCN1026 by simon ms, on Flickr

    Cheers Si.
    Just seen this thread..

    Simon, did you know that there is someone in Brighton with a pair of Westminsters?

    About 4 years ago I bought a turntable from a guy. He was actually selling on behalf of his mum, the turntable was his fathers who had passed away years before and he was a pretty wealthy audiophile. His wife (this guy's mum) had caught the bug, kept the system going and I think even had upgraded some bits.

    From memory was Westminsters powered by Boulder amps. Other than that it was a custom 7-box pre-amp, Esoteric CD/DAC, some Sirius turntable with Mission Mechanic.. yes, serious stuff! And an old lady with readiing glasses on a chain. Was a block of turn of the century flats right on the sea front, perhaps more Hove. maybe near a leisure centre or something? You never know, perhaps there's a way to find her via an audiophile group and take a look at them by invitation.

    Sadly, I was too polite to ask to listen to the system...

  3. #293
    Join Date: May 2011

    Location: Victoria, Australia

    Posts: 147
    I'm David.

    Default

    Hi Sam
    I am yet to hear a pair of Westminsters myself. Though not for want of trying. Eerily I have an Esoteric Cd/DVD player, but alas no reading glasses on a chain.

  4. #294
    Join Date: May 2011

    Location: Victoria, Australia

    Posts: 147
    I'm David.

    Default New Home

    Recently moved the Westies to a new home and dedicated Music Room. Early report is they are sounding wonderful now that I have a solid concrete slab under them.

  5. #295
    danilo Guest

    Default

    I Lusted over Westies for Years.
    Open Babble claimed them Better than Sex!
    Wanted to cobble up my own pair 'for ever'.
    Finally heard a pair a couple of years back.
    Bit of a letdown TBH.
    Yes they sounded 'nice'. But hardly near what the Folklore suggested Claimed.
    OR better than what my Tannoys at home sounded like
    A bit Boomy and of odd / not quite right balance.
    Could have been setup or ancillary gear or even both.
    Irrelevant though: less than expected sounds.
    Notably.. one does hear seriptitious Emperors clothes statements on these. Praise ain't Universal.
    Short story: I won't be building any more Tannoy Ersatz horns.
    After having once wasted too much time and effort on IMO rather poor sounding Rect GRFs.

    But Hey! we all have dreams :-)

  6. #296
    Join Date: May 2011

    Location: Victoria, Australia

    Posts: 147
    I'm David.

    Default Westies

    Hey Danilo
    Yes I understand where you are coming from. I heard a pair of GRF at a mates place a year or so ago......disappointing is what I would say. And these built after waiting a year on special order by a famous Japanese Legendary Hi Fi House.
    I have yet to hear a pair of factory built Westminsters. So I have the advantage of just auditioning mine. Boomy no, engaging, very, sharp and detailed yes. But I have the knowledge of my own build and the tweaking that makes any system your own.
    The drivers I purchased way back in 1975/6 would I part with them for something more modern or new. Nuh!
    Build your own the journey is half the fun.

  7. #297
    danilo Guest

    Default

    Thank you..for that.
    In truth.. I've yet to hear 'Genuine' Westies.
    Few if any got shipped/bought out to the wet coast of north america
    Always wondered what the genuine article sounded like.
    DIY can be wildly variable ... certainly so in my hands.

  8. #298
    Join Date: May 2011

    Location: Victoria, Australia

    Posts: 147
    I'm David.

    Default You Want Gold


    What surprises me constantly. The source, ie; vinyl, CD or streaming makes a great deal of difference. I recently played an audiophile vinyl Anne Bisson, Winter In Montreal(outstanding detail) Where the music takes you to another level.

    Dave

  9. #299
    Join Date: Nov 2014

    Location: Denbigh, N. Wales

    Posts: 106
    I'm Mark.

    Default

    I think there are one or two asking for listening impressions on the later models. I can offer that I heard the Westminster Royal HE's ( or maybe the SE's ? ) somewhere between 2003 and 2005 at the Manchester show where Noel Keywood was demo-ing a new pair, with a good analogue front-end with WAD phono and the WD KT88 PP amp. I still think they are the best commercial speakers I've heard. Noel was apologising for the bass not being quite 'there' as they were barely run-in, but they did sound so good in other ways that it didn't seems to be a problem ( although I suppose they were a touch bass-light ).
    The quality of tone on vocals and instruments was very classy, this combined with a precision on dynamics and a feeling of effortless presentation that I now know is due to the horn loading ( from my own experiments ) . I would definitely recommend them to anyone with that kind of money to spend, which I can say is rare even in the world of other speakers in the £25k class.
    There didn't appear to be any rough edges on female vocals, in the amount of time I spend listening there.

  10. #300
    Join Date: May 2011

    Location: Victoria, Australia

    Posts: 147
    I'm David.

    Default

    Hi Mark well as I sit here I am still yet to hear any incantations or replica's of Westies. But as always with the speaker being the end of the hi fi chain, you get out what you put in. And the subtlety of for instance piano notes......which are difficult for a speaker to reproduce accurately, are sensational. I wouldn't admit to mine being bass-light. Anything played back like Yello will have the walls vibrating on the other side in the next room.
    One of the members of my Audio Club here in Melbourne has offered up an audition of some. I must remind him of that again.
    Cheers mate
    Dave

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