On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of being invited to visit Tom, as I was in the area on business. For those unaware, Tom has been a die-hard Tannoy fan for many years, and it's fair to say has been on somewhat of a journey with all sorts of Tannoys and amplification.

I have known Tom for a good few years now and he was one of RFC's first customers when we first threw the doors open for business 4 or 5 years ago. We soon became good friends as we share similar tastes in music and music history, as well as wine and curry! Tom was aware that I had been working on developing a fixed inductor circuit for Tannoys which helped smooth the mid range, especially at and an octave or two above crossover so had been following progress in the sidelines. Long story short was that Tom seemed to be in a bit of a Tannoy Bermuda Triangle, not knowing which way to turn after his big Autographs were evicted from his new home, so we had a chat and his RFC-Canterbury speakers were born. These look similar to the existing Tannoy Canterburys for the 12 inch Monitor Golds, but that's where the similarities end. They are 30% larger, have a slightly different tuning vent construction and indeed a different tuning point. Internally, they are vastly different with constrained panel design applied for some fairly complex bracing designs and are well damped. They were also designed specifically with the HPD in mind and not the MG.

Tom has often suggested that I popped down for a listen and having got the chance recently took him up on the offer. It was a real pleasure to be invited into Tom & his wife's lovely new home and to have the pleasure of hearing these for the first time:



Tom has amassed a very carefully thought out system, which has been designed not just to get the best from the Tannoys, but voiced to get the best from his vast LP music collection, comprising mainly early classical. The big Radford works stunningly well with the Tannoys providing no shortage of grip or finesse at all volumes. Tom's front end (TD124 with AN arm and some very tasty cartridges) is delicate, detailed yet authoritative and feeds some very high quality SUTs and RIAA stage with quite an unusual Re-equalisation box of tricks to equalise for various types of differnt recordings.

There was also a particularly impressive DAC and transport lurking at the other side of the rack.

We listened to several pieces, including a wonderfully recorded Louis Armstrong LP which left the gravel like voice of Satchmo hanging ion the air with such fidelity and emotion, it was hard not to smile. Utterly enthralling. Bass lines were effortless, natural and timbrelly correct with lovely detail in the rise and decay, especially on Cello and other stringed instruments.

The star of the show were Tom's big speakers, which whilst not overly dominating the space are no shrinking violets either. They fit into the space very well, and the finish that Russ has left on these (whilst perhaps a little different to how I would have finished them) is nonetheless very good indeed. A few more shots:






The Cora (correct me if that's wrong Tom as I know it was one of the suggestions at the time) grille covering fabric is fabulous. Not as coarse as the original Tigan fabrics, with a lovely patternation and colour, it is the perfect match imho to the Sapele woodwork finish of the speakers and light enough not to make the speakers overly dominate.

Another aspect of Tom's system which struck me was just how much of it seemed to be arrived at through Tom's support and relationship with current UK cottage industry specialists including Grahaeme (Valvebloke), Will (Radfords) and myself and working closely like this with people he trusts has paid off if evidenced by what I saw and heard.

My thanks again to Tom and his lovely wife for a lovely lunch and some great tunes. I hope you get many years of enjoyment out of your system Tom and look forward to the next (preamp) chapter!