Marco's journey to Tannoy-land

[Marco]

I've just seen a picture of the Lockwood Majors... These smilies just about some them up:



Look what's in these babies: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2...0monitor.0.jpg

More info on Monitor Reds: http://44bx.com/tannoy/MonitorRed.html#anchor2160618

I'm off to alert the neighbours

Marco.

[Darrenw]

bigger is better but the lancaster cabs are pretty fine - if you have the skills builing the cabs yerself can save a fortune - I wouldn;t ditch the lancaster cabs cos of what is on the internet - they ones i heard sounded great with 15 inch golds

15 inch golds or reds would be my choice, less convinced by the smaller drivers but that could just be expectation bias - all nice though

Darren

[aquapiranha]

Nice Marco, all that time listening to Ian's Canterbury's must have had an effect, and plus Ian was telling me how well they go with the copper amp.

[Beechwoods]

So are you going to be retiring your Spendors...?











... starts looking for change down the back of the sofa

[DSJR]

Glad this is on a different thread....

Marco, the very first Tannoys I ever heard were the Chatsworths and Lancasters (at Radiolux in Watford, before B&O took over in that shop and just before KJ Watford took over all the better HiFi agencies from them). I remember the bass being very good, but the comments on the slight "sting" remain - this is the pepperpot and one of the things Tannoy fixed when the "Tulip waveguide" came in.

We had these two models very briefly at KJ for a month or two before the HPD series came on song, with much improved visuals (IMO) and a beefier bass and higher power handling (I read that the HPD drivers went into the last "old" range, so I may just have been listening to these drivers all along, I don't know...)

Whatever, these old speakers (if working properly) sound best on valve gear, rather than the brightly toned Crown D150 which I believe Angus MacKenzie used in his controvercial 1975 'Choice speaker review compilation.

Whatever you go for, the SP100's are damn fine boxes, with that full bodied power that characterises bigger speakers. Don't expect the pre-HPD Tannoys to have as much warmth, 'cos efficiency apparently came before bass extension on this era's products.

Regarding Lockwood Tannoys, I've been informed by at least two engineers who used them that they weren't up to much by the end of their lives - far too much cabinet colouration I understand. I suppose that if the boxes could be beefed up along modern thinking, you could get something really special..

[Marco]

Dave, I decided that it should have a thread of its own as there's liable to be some major speaker shenanigans ahead...

Again, all noted, although I've heard that the Lockwood cabinets are meant to be better that some of the original Tannoy ones, but we'll see!

Beechy, TBH, if the Tannoy thing works out the SP100s will probably be traded in as part of the purchase - that's the way it's looking

Steve - yeah, it's all Ian's fault!

Nah, you know how good the Spendors are, but big Tannoys just do something special with music which I've never heard before with other speakers. The Devons I've got just now are by no means the best but they still have that 'Tannoy magic' about them and pack almighty punch for their size.

I think that something bigger would be a total riot in my room so I just have to investigate!!

Marco.

[aquapiranha]

Go for it Marco, I have heard some bloody big speakers work fine in rooms you would not expect them to. Ian's Canerburys are fantastic, but until I win the lottery I will have to make do with building the OB's (for which I now have all the drivers, just need the ply...)

[i_should_coco]

Big Tannoys == magic. For all their faults, they are immense fun to listen to. I love my GRFs to bits!

Horn loading is the way to go with these babies.

[Marco]

I can understand why, Pete! I've had the Spendors since 2002 and adored them to bits, so it's probably time for a change, and I love the 'old Tannoy' sound.

When I land a nice big pair of classic Tannoys (it remains to be seen yet which ones they'll be) they could well be my final pair of speakers. I don't change gear very often, especially speakers, so aside from perhaps adding an SP10 with a 12" Jelco (Dave has some nice ones he's refurbishing at the moment), that'll probably be me sorted for many years to come

Marco.

[i_should_coco]

Mine have actually grown on me - they sound better at home than they did at Scalford (though I was pretty happy with what they did there, no complaints). It did take a little while to get used to them after the Lowthers, which major on midrange coherence and I did miss that. In every other area, though, the Tannoys win.

The old cabinets tend to be a bit flimsy, the drivers really deserve better, but the risk there is that fixing them will lose the magic. The R-GRF design is very simple and I'm toying with the idea of getting someone like Avon Plywood to make up the bits for some more sturdy cabs.

HPDs in some decent copies should work very nicely too as a more cheaper option.