montesquieu
17-10-2013, 09:18
I had these wonderful full-size Tannoy Autograph cabinets made earlier this year by Russ Collinson, a master craftsman in wood and experienced in speaker building (prior to that I was using my 15in Monitor Gold drivers in R-GRF cabinets). Unfortunately I also moved house in August and they really are too large for my new, much smaller living room, so my wife is insisting that they go. I'm pretty heartbroken about this but such is life ... she has actually been pretty tolerant of my hifi habit over the years.
They don’t come out into the room as much as conventional speakers, being a corner design, which would make them relatively unobtrusive in a larger space, but the height makes them feel quite large in a small room with low ceilings like my new one (converted bungalow) which is about 4m square – added to this, the only place they can go in my room means covering part of the only window, which makes it all feel a bit dark.
They are beautifully made, in thick Baltic birch ply with solid cherry trim on the fronts and cherry veneer on the backs, nicely waxed and resonance free. Absolutely gorgeous.
The 15in Monitor Golds inside them were re-coned and re-bound using the original Tannoy materials at the official agents for vintage Tannoys, Lockwood Audio, in 2009 and are in superb condition. The crossovers are made from high quality parts including a custom autoformer from Brian Sowter (which provides four levels of treble adjustment for room matching, and enables the L-pad in the crossover to be removed, vastly improving the treble quality) and housed outboard in wood cases.
These were my dream speaker and the briefest of listening confirms what a big loss their departure will be. Fluid, effortless, with an even response up and down the frequency range, as well as deep, tight, nicely articulated horn bass (which is the main differentiator from the GRFs), these are the most musical speaker I've ever owned. They are considerably more efficient (estimated around 97-98db) than the GRFs they replaced and seem to work far better with single ended amplification – I found the GRFs were only ever at their best with push-pull. They work as a triple horn: the 15in driver loads both a very large folded bass horn chamber (operating from 20hz to 250hz) and a mid-horn (250hz to 1k), which both work together with the dual concentric 2in horn compression driver from 1k upwards.
Monitor Golds in Autograph cabinets are really the ultimate Tannoys, superior in the view of many who have heard both to top of the line Westminsters at £40k, mainly (I believe) due to the Monitor Gold drivers. I’m not currently attempting to sell outright, but seeking a trade for a pair of Tannoy Kensingtons, which are about as big as my new lounge can sensibly accommodate. (Yes I know this is a long shot as Kensingtons are thin enough on the ground and Kensington owners with space for Autographs even thinner, but it's always worth putting the question out there).
These would need collection from my place on the Berkshire-Surrey border. They are on heavy duty castors for easy movement and placement.
Tech specs from the Hilberink site:
- Power Handling Capacity: 50 Watts integrated programme material
(with Monitor Gold drive unit)
- Frequency Range: 30 Hz to 20,000 Hz, +/- 4dB
- Conversion Efficiency: In excess of 20 per cent over entire range
(four to five times that of conventional systems)
- Rear Horn Development: Effective 20 Hz to 250 Hz
- Front Horn Development: Effective 250 Hz to 1000 Hz
- Polar Distribution, 60 degree Inculded Angle: -4dB at 10,000 Hz
Overall Dimensions:
- Height: 4 ft 10.5 inches
- Width at Walls: 3 ft 7 inches
- Frontal Width: 29.25 inches
- Depth, front to corner: 26.5 inches
A bit more info: According to early Tannoy sources the cabinet was designed in 1954 by Ronnie H. Rackham with the celebrated Paul Voigt (the genius behind Lowther) brought in as a horn expert and consultant in the design process. It is a perhaps the most classic corner horn design of all, and is intended to be used with reinforcement from both walls as extensions of its side opening folded low frequency-horn. According to acoustical theory, this construction is superior to the Westminster (with its rectangular profile and even more complicated internal horn), and both types of GRF neither of which have a horn section long enough to support the lowest frequencies. The Autograph is one of the very few cabinets ever designed which has a full length bass horn for truly low frequencies.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/right--front_zps5ec3342a.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/right--front_zps5ec3342a.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/left-front_zps7442ee60.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/left-front_zps7442ee60.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/back_zpsfc81dc59.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/back_zpsfc81dc59.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/side_zpsa22559eb.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/side_zpsa22559eb.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/bottom_zps160a2bdc.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/bottom_zps160a2bdc.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/top_zps54284b75.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/top_zps54284b75.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/build_zpsac654a6c.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/build_zpsac654a6c.jpg.html)
They don’t come out into the room as much as conventional speakers, being a corner design, which would make them relatively unobtrusive in a larger space, but the height makes them feel quite large in a small room with low ceilings like my new one (converted bungalow) which is about 4m square – added to this, the only place they can go in my room means covering part of the only window, which makes it all feel a bit dark.
They are beautifully made, in thick Baltic birch ply with solid cherry trim on the fronts and cherry veneer on the backs, nicely waxed and resonance free. Absolutely gorgeous.
The 15in Monitor Golds inside them were re-coned and re-bound using the original Tannoy materials at the official agents for vintage Tannoys, Lockwood Audio, in 2009 and are in superb condition. The crossovers are made from high quality parts including a custom autoformer from Brian Sowter (which provides four levels of treble adjustment for room matching, and enables the L-pad in the crossover to be removed, vastly improving the treble quality) and housed outboard in wood cases.
These were my dream speaker and the briefest of listening confirms what a big loss their departure will be. Fluid, effortless, with an even response up and down the frequency range, as well as deep, tight, nicely articulated horn bass (which is the main differentiator from the GRFs), these are the most musical speaker I've ever owned. They are considerably more efficient (estimated around 97-98db) than the GRFs they replaced and seem to work far better with single ended amplification – I found the GRFs were only ever at their best with push-pull. They work as a triple horn: the 15in driver loads both a very large folded bass horn chamber (operating from 20hz to 250hz) and a mid-horn (250hz to 1k), which both work together with the dual concentric 2in horn compression driver from 1k upwards.
Monitor Golds in Autograph cabinets are really the ultimate Tannoys, superior in the view of many who have heard both to top of the line Westminsters at £40k, mainly (I believe) due to the Monitor Gold drivers. I’m not currently attempting to sell outright, but seeking a trade for a pair of Tannoy Kensingtons, which are about as big as my new lounge can sensibly accommodate. (Yes I know this is a long shot as Kensingtons are thin enough on the ground and Kensington owners with space for Autographs even thinner, but it's always worth putting the question out there).
These would need collection from my place on the Berkshire-Surrey border. They are on heavy duty castors for easy movement and placement.
Tech specs from the Hilberink site:
- Power Handling Capacity: 50 Watts integrated programme material
(with Monitor Gold drive unit)
- Frequency Range: 30 Hz to 20,000 Hz, +/- 4dB
- Conversion Efficiency: In excess of 20 per cent over entire range
(four to five times that of conventional systems)
- Rear Horn Development: Effective 20 Hz to 250 Hz
- Front Horn Development: Effective 250 Hz to 1000 Hz
- Polar Distribution, 60 degree Inculded Angle: -4dB at 10,000 Hz
Overall Dimensions:
- Height: 4 ft 10.5 inches
- Width at Walls: 3 ft 7 inches
- Frontal Width: 29.25 inches
- Depth, front to corner: 26.5 inches
A bit more info: According to early Tannoy sources the cabinet was designed in 1954 by Ronnie H. Rackham with the celebrated Paul Voigt (the genius behind Lowther) brought in as a horn expert and consultant in the design process. It is a perhaps the most classic corner horn design of all, and is intended to be used with reinforcement from both walls as extensions of its side opening folded low frequency-horn. According to acoustical theory, this construction is superior to the Westminster (with its rectangular profile and even more complicated internal horn), and both types of GRF neither of which have a horn section long enough to support the lowest frequencies. The Autograph is one of the very few cabinets ever designed which has a full length bass horn for truly low frequencies.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/right--front_zps5ec3342a.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/right--front_zps5ec3342a.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/left-front_zps7442ee60.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/left-front_zps7442ee60.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/back_zpsfc81dc59.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/back_zpsfc81dc59.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/side_zpsa22559eb.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/side_zpsa22559eb.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/bottom_zps160a2bdc.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/bottom_zps160a2bdc.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/top_zps54284b75.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/top_zps54284b75.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/build_zpsac654a6c.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/build_zpsac654a6c.jpg.html)