Got a pair of Tannoy Mercury M-20

[Light Capture]

I picked up a pair of Tannoy Mercury M-20 monitors at a resale shop for $17 USD.

They are a 2-way ported box design, and have a translucent 8" woofer w/ rubber surround and a 1" soft dome tweeter. The woofer frame and tweeter plate are gold textured. The back has one pair of binding posts that accept banana plugs, and thankfully no tweeter volume controls. The vinyl wrapped cabinets are a bit rough in condition, but I wish they were real wood veneer.
They sound really amazing to me, and possibly the best vintage bookshelf speakers I've owned, maybe even better than the Dynaco A25XLS I've had a few years ago.
What do you think of them? And is it worth re-veneering the cabinets in real wood?

[Tarzan]

l too have a pair of these and am in the same boat, these for something sound rather good don't they?:cool:

[struth]

Fantastic price irrelevent of the case condition, and I would certainly wood veneer them..think it would make them look as good as they sound....For some reason I have always loved Tannoys and have never , ...so far had a pair I did not like sound wise....

[Effem]

For 17 bucks what is there not to like? If they please you greatly then you have a winner :)

Someone gave me a pair of those a few years ago and they were rather unwell. Both bass drivers were blown and the vinyl wrap had seen better days too so I broke them up for spares, which was a shame.

In the great scheme of all things loudspeaker, they are nowhere near the pinnacle of fidelity but they were good value for money in their day.

[Reffc]

That's about £11 GBP...you could just about buy a really good bottle of wine or 2 1/2 pints of decent beer (:lol:) with that over here, so a great find and great speakers. If you think they're worth re-veneering, then go for it. Not so tricky if you can cleanly remove the vinyl wrap and buy some iron-on veneer and take your time. Best using a water based lacquer to finish iron on veneers and choose a wood with a tight closed grain.

[Light Capture]

I've been listening to them a lot and they are really quite good, maybe not Westminster, but for 1982 speakers they are shaming many vintage and modern small speakers I've owned. For now I've detailed the cabinets with a deep cleaning to the vinyl and carefully glued the vinyl edges that have pealed. They look quite respectable, and I'm thinking making new cabinets vs. re-veener may be the way to go.

Here are photos of my Tannoys perched upon Target Audio stands, in a system yet to be completed. I'm saving up money for a TEAC CD-H750 cdp (Rega Apollo-R would be better) which will set on 2nd shelf.
Amp is Onix SP3. Tuner is Rotel RT-940. Other speakers are SEAS Froy Mk3 built up in Paragon radiant cabinets w/ internal wiring QED Silver12. Rack is from Target Audio in which I replaced mdf shelves w/ manufactured marble. Cabling is Kimber PBJ and TC4.

[struth]

it all looks great Mike....nice amp too; and really like the shelving..

[julesd68]

I've been listening to them a lot and they are really quite good, maybe not Westminster, but for 1982 speakers they are shaming many vintage and modern small speakers I've owned. For now I've detailed the cabinets with a deep cleaning to the vinyl and carefully glued the vinyl edges that have pealed. They look quite respectable, and I'm thinking making new cabinets vs. re-veener may be the way to go.

I think you have done a great job Mike and personally I like them for what they are - good looking vintage speakers ...

[Light Capture]

Thanks Struth. Coming from someone who likes tube amplification I appreciate your comment on the Onix. And the marble shelf makes a huge difference with sound quality compared to mdf.

Thanks Jules68. Yes they are good looking vintage bookshelf speakers, but they also sound quite good with a more modern detailed and extended sound than other vintage speakers I've heard.

[mr sneff]

You've got a bargain there, Mike. I bought a pair new in the early 80s, by far the best of the budget speakers I auditioned at the time. I regretted getting rid of mine when I part-exchanged them. There've been a few pairs on eBay recently and I was tempted to bid for a pair but my room is a bit small for them. Glad you're enjoying them!