speaker connections

[Mikeandvan]

Speakers with 2 sets of connections on the back for speaker cable, one LF the other HF - do I need connectors between them if I only want to use the standard one amp (i.e. not bi-wire)?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48833160281_8cb743ebec.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2hpdHek)Kef (https://flic.kr/p/2hpdHek) by Mike Van (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145505522@N02/), on Flickr

[Stryder5]

Yes you need links

Gary


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[Mikeandvan]

Yes you need links

Gary


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Can I just make them out of speaker cable?

[Barry]

Can I just make them out of speaker cable?

Yes

[Mikeandvan]

Thanks.

[Pigmy Pony]

Yes I wouldn't be tempted by these manufacturers claiming their links sound better, it's two inches of wire for gawd's sake. (Now awaiting the wrath of the pro-cable brigade) :sofa:

[walpurgis]

Yes I wouldn't be tempted by these manufacturers claiming their links sound better, it's two inches of wire for gawd's sake. (Now awaiting the wrath of the pro-cable brigade) :sofa:

I agree. It will make little difference what wire/cable is used.

Strip a bit of copper solid core mains cable and cut it to size. It'll work just fine.

[Gaz]

Or strip more insulation off your speaker cable and feed it through both terminals

[nonuffin]

Yes I wouldn't be tempted by these manufacturers claiming their links sound better, it's two inches of wire for gawd's sake. (Now awaiting the wrath of the pro-cable brigade) :sofa:

I have the mincer ready to accept your goolies :lol:

Agreed, any old length of wire WILL DO THE JOB, but at least make sure it isn't thin poor quality stuff like bell wire and no need for anything expensive either.

What you should not use is the "gold plated" flat metal bent straps that are made from brass, or worse still QED Silver Anniversary which at even a few inches long utterly destroys the sound.

[Mikeandvan]

Guy ended up not delivering the speakers anyway, and now its radio silence.

[Bigman80]

Guy ended up not delivering the speakers anyway, and now its radio silence.Paid already?

[Lawrence001]

I think I was watching these on eBay, they're in Brighton aren't they? Just get an Uber if necessary.

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[Pharos]

I strip the speaker cable to the length required to go through the lower posts and into the upper, and tin them so that there are no loose strands which may short out your amplifier.

You can then tighten up and the solid rigid wires will compress under the screw pressure because they are malleable.

[Mikeandvan]

Paid already?

Naah, dunno what his game was.

[Mikeandvan]

I think I was watching these on eBay, they're in Brighton aren't they? Just get an Uber if necessary.

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Yeh, I missed out on auction, sent him a message saying if winning bidder pulls out etc. Which they did cos they were in Portugal! Says I'll give him £300 cash, he agrees, says he'll bring them to my flat, I did say I would need to hear them working in order to pay cash, he said ok, but then radio silence.

[Mikeandvan]

Radio contact re-established. So the binding posts on these oldies can't take plugs? PITA!

[Beobloke]

Really? I've got a pair of Ref 1.2s in the house ready to go to Tonbridge on Sunday and they take 4mm plugs just fine.

[Stryder5]

Radio contact re-established. So the binding posts on these oldies can't take plugs? PITA!

What makes you think they won't take plugs?

Gary

[hifi_dave]

The holes in the ends of the speaker terminals give you a clue. They take plugs.

[struth]

might have removable caps in the ends of the sockets

[Mikeandvan]

I thought the holes looked a bit small.

[worrasf]

I thought the holes looked a bit small.
I suspect they will accommodate the "old fashioned" 4mm banana plugs like these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-GOLD-4mm-BANANA-PLUGS-Solder-Screw-Speaker-Cable-Audio-Connectors/302480853234?epid=21007844517&hash=item466d4388f2:g:HhEAAOxy1klRdglk

[Pharos]

There is a possibility that the sockets are 3mm, when I rebuilt my SCM100s the mids I had took 3mm, but the new plugs I received were 4mm because ATC changed to the new norm.

[Mikeandvan]

Well if I ever manage to get these speakers I'll find out.

[Lawrence001]

I thought the holes looked a bit small.No the plugs are just big! Never had an issue with mine, tight fit but that's a good thing.

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[Mikeandvan]

Managed to make contact with the seller and these Kefs are now dominating my living room! They were £300, after a brief listen they have more presence than my somewhat smaller Chario syntars. Though I think they more show up the Quad 909 for the rather soft sounding amp it is, of course my listening room is very limited in how I site the speakers, so I cannot play around with that unfortunately, a larger better proportioned listening space might help these to sing better. I have the volume at 6 o'clock and they still lack slam, that must be the Quad, though the sound is pleasing enough after this short listen anyway. They of course need much more wattage than the Charios.

[Lawrence001]

I was told that the model 1 and 2 had foam surrounds on the internal woofers whereas the 3 and 4 used rubber. Might be worth getting a torch through the port to see if there's any sign of deterioration on them.

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[Mikeandvan]

I was told that the model 1 and 2 had foam surrounds on the internal woofers whereas the 3 and 4 used rubber. Might be worth getting a torch through the port to see if there's any sign of deterioration on them.

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You can only see the backs of the inside drivers, but it all looks pretty mint. The speakers in my system sound rather dead, feel like putting my old Charios right back in, thing is though you are of course never listening to the speakers alone, but the speakers and rest of your hifi and how they interact with the room. Like I said in my last post I can't really experiment much with room placement, but even though these speakers are much larger than the charios, they seem to have a smaller, or softer sound, even though in my last post I said they were bigger, should have listened a bit more first! Just played some 80s synth pop and the sound was dull as ditch water. Though searching on the web you will find many happy owners of these speakers, |I obviously need to do a bit of experimenting with different amps, I am trying to clean up my sources as much as possible as well, which is mainly vinyl. Though I think my next move is a different brand of amp. EDIT - Listening now I notice they are rather special with voices.

[hifi_dave]

You appear to be going around and around.

You have described the KEFs quite nicely - flat and uninvolving and the 909 is not a 'soft' sounding amp. Ditch those KEFs and find something more to your taste by listening before you buy.

[ERICLIMPIT]

Agreed the Quad 909 won't be the problem here, the 909 along with all of Quads "current dumpers" are still fine amps.

[Mikeandvan]

You appear to be going around and around.

You have described the KEFs quite nicely - flat and uninvolving and the 909 is not a 'soft' sounding amp. Ditch those KEFs and find something more to your taste by listening before you buy.
Yeh they were a bit of an impulse buy. Its difficult to get an idea of how components sound from reviews, which isn't helpful! As they are physically larger than the Charios I thought they would have a bigger more exciting sound stage, but exciting they ain't. Playing some John Martyn now and they're ok, but I need more of an all round speaker. I'll leave em in for a while anyway, they were £300 so not expensive, I think they'd be good for people with more pedestrian tastes in music.

[RMutt]

I think they'd be good for people with more pedestrian tastes in music.

That will be The Walker Brothers then.

[Edward]

Mike, what did you decide on how to connect up the biwire links and also are all drivers working? Lack of slam and lack of excitement which you mentioned possibly point to one or more drivers not working. Alternatively the caps on the crossovers needs refreshing. Kefs definitely should be exciting and have slam.

[hifi_dave]

Yeh they were a bit of an impulse buy. Its difficult to get an idea of how components sound from reviews, which isn't helpful! As they are physically larger than the Charios I thought they would have a bigger more exciting sound stage, but exciting they ain't. Playing some John Martyn now and they're ok, but I need more of an all round speaker. I'll leave em in for a while anyway, they were £300 so not expensive, I think they'd be good for people with more pedestrian tastes in music.

You can't rely on 'reviews' or other people's opinions. You need to listen and make up your own mind. One man's 'exciting' is another man's in yer face. Smooth and relaxing might be slow and laid back etc. Listen, preferably in your room, before splashing the cash.

[Mikeandvan]

Mike, what did you decide on how to connect up the biwire links and also are all drivers working? Lack of slam and lack of excitement which you mentioned possibly point to one or more drivers not working. Alternatively the caps on the crossovers needs refreshing. Kefs definitely should be exciting and have slam.

I just put some old copper speaker cable between the terminals.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48864188713_4ac4e282bf.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2hrXJUi)IMG_20191008_130815952_HDR (https://flic.kr/p/2hrXJUi) by Mike Van (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145505522@N02/), on Flickr

Rather dominate my living room! As you can see rather limited in positioning.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48864712951_0c58b88037.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2hs1qJT)IMG_20191006_201155863_HDR (https://flic.kr/p/2hs1qJT) by Mike Van (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145505522@N02/), on Flickr

How would I know whether any of the drivers aren't working? 2 of them are inside the cabinet!

[Stryder5]

I would have fed the speaker cable into the LF terminals and the links ( wires whatever) to the HF.

May not make any difference but I would do it that way.

Gary

[Mikeandvan]

I would have fed the speaker cable into the LF terminals and the links ( wires whatever) to the HF.

May not make any difference but I would do it that way.

Gary

I didn't wanna rip the plugs off!

[scotty38]

I think he meant put the plugs in the lower (LF) sockets rather than the upper (HF) ones.

[Bigman80]

I didn't wanna rip the plugs off![emoji23][emoji23][emoji848]

I do t know why you think Gary would "mean rip off the plugs" lol.

The reason (recently explained to me) for fitting the cables to the LF and putting the jumpers to the HF, is that bass drivers have the furthest distance to travel so usually draw more power. It's better to directly connect the LF to the amp for this reason.

[Pharos]

"I would have fed the speaker cable into the LF terminals and the links ( wires whatever) to the HF.

May not make any difference but I would do it that way."

I agree with others about connecting the speaker cables directly to the woofers, and then linking up to the tweeters, also for neatness and not having a dangling heavy cable.

I also doubt the speakers are lacking slam, and think that the internal drivers carry only bass, which should be easily verifiable as a sound source or not if missing.

[AJSki2fly]

Yeh they were a bit of an impulse buy. Its difficult to get an idea of how components sound from reviews, which isn't helpful! As they are physically larger than the Charios I thought they would have a bigger more exciting sound stage, but exciting they ain't. Playing some John Martyn now and they're ok, but I need more of an all round speaker. I'll leave em in for a while anyway, they were £300 so not expensive, I think they'd be good for people with more pedestrian tastes in music.

Mike it will not be the Quad 909, and I had some Reference 3.2's and also auditioned Model 2's as well and neither would I describe as laid back. However I did know that they can be affected tonally by the type of cable used with them. I used a Monitor Power 4mm silver cable (silvered copper) supplied by Guidlford Hifi where I got them from, a pair of 5m Bi-wires 20 years ago were £320, so now about 2 to 3 times that. I did try them with some pure copper and I noticed then that they had a more relaxed feel to them, so it may be as simple as speaker and cable matching.

The other thing I noticed is your sound may benefit form slightly toeing in each speaker a little about 1/2" each, this should give you better focus, depth and soundstage. If when in your listening position you ears are above the tweeter then adjust the feet/spike so that the speakers tilt slightly back so the tweeters are aiming towards your heard, do it the other way if you head is naturally below them.

The other aspect to consider is in your room your speaker are firing down it and they look about 6-8 feet apart, which is fine, this will mean the optimum listening position is so that you are 6-8 feet away from each as in an equilateral triangle, or you could try 6-8 feet times 1.2 away. This will give you the natural sweet spot. If you are sitting further way then thing get tricky. From my experience you then need to nearly double the distance away form the speakers and a little less toe in, you will need to experiment to find the best spot depending on your room. If in your current listening position you are virtually back against the wall then you are likely to be getting low-mid frequency enhancement and this will greatly affect the overall sound and may make it sound a bit dead. If that is your only listening spot then hanging heavy fabrics in the corners to stop reflections if the best option. You can experiment with old blankets or duvets, before you go mad and buy stuff. I think you will be surprised at how much it can affect to sound.

Lastly someone mentioned the inner bass drivers may not be working properly if the foam/rubber has failed. Find some bass heavy music and put it on not too loud, and then listen to each speaker with your ear near the port, if the speaker surrounds have failed you are likely to hear distortion. Also check no one has left acoustic foams down the ports, this has caught me out and not so long ago.

I hope this may help.

Cheers

Adrian

[Mikeandvan]

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji848]

I do t know why you think Gary would "mean rip off the plugs" lol.

The reason (recently explained to me) for fitting the cables to the LF and putting the jumpers to the HF, is that bass drivers have the furthest distance to travel so usually draw more power. It's better to directly connect the LF to the amp for this reason.

I see!

[Stryder5]

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji848]

I do t know why you think Gary would "mean rip off the plugs" lol.

The reason (recently explained to me) for fitting the cables to the LF and putting the jumpers to the HF, is that bass drivers have the furthest distance to travel so usually draw more power. It's better to directly connect the LF to the amp for this reason.

Perhaps I should have been more explicit, assumption is poor on my part.

Gary

[Mikeandvan]

Mike it will not be the Quad 909, and I had some Reference 3.2's and also auditioned Model 2's as well and neither would I describe as laid back. However I did know that they can be affected tonally by the type of cable used with them. I used a Monitor Power 4mm silver cable (silvered copper) supplied by Guidlford Hifi where I got them from, a pair of 5m Bi-wires 20 years ago were £320, so now about 2 to 3 times that. I did try them with some pure copper and I noticed then that they had a more relaxed feel to them, so it may be as simple as speaker and cable matching.

The other thing I noticed is your sound may benefit form slightly toeing in each speaker a little about 1/2" each, this should give you better focus, depth and soundstage. If when in your listening position you ears are above the tweeter then adjust the feet/spike so that the speakers tilt slightly back so the tweeters are aiming towards your heard, do it the other way if you head is naturally below them.

The other aspect to consider is in your room your speaker are firing down it and they look about 6-8 feet apart, which is fine, this will mean the optimum listening position is so that you are 6-8 feet away from each as in an equilateral triangle, or you could try 6-8 feet times 1.2 away. This will give you the natural sweet spot. If you are sitting further way then thing get tricky. From my experience you then need to nearly double the distance away form the speakers and a little less toe in, you will need to experiment to find the best spot depending on your room. If in your current listening position you are virtually back against the wall then you are likely to be getting low-mid frequency enhancement and this will greatly affect the overall sound and may make it sound a bit dead. If that is your only listening spot then hanging heavy fabrics in the corners to stop reflections if the best option. You can experiment with old blankets or duvets, before you go mad and buy stuff. I think you will be surprised at how much it can affect to sound.

Lastly someone mentioned the inner bass drivers may not be working properly if the foam/rubber has failed. Find some bass heavy music and put it on not too loud, and then listen to each speaker with your ear near the port, if the speaker surrounds have failed you are likely to hear distortion. Also check no one has left acoustic foams down the ports, this has caught me out and not so long ago.

I hope this may help.

Cheers

Adrian

Hi Adrian, Its all sounding better now for whatever reason, playing some David Sylvian and its a fair bit better than the Charios, more depth, better soundstage, timbre etc. Played some UK garage earlier as you said to play something bass heavy, that certainly is!:lol: It was all fine, not surprisingly these are quite bass shy speakers, what with the drivers being inside the speaker, for my room I think these speakers were a good choice for this reason, there certainly is'nt bass boom now. I haven;t given them my trademark 'bunch of kittens scratching away at a gutair' Kinks/stones/ 60s rock treatment yet, no doubt they won't up to much, is any high end equipment good for that sound? I did toe them in a bit this morning actually, that might have helped things. I'm certainly looking forward to playing some more music with these beasties, only tried a tiny part of my collection as yet, Jazz trumpets will be another challenge I'm sure!

[AJSki2fly]

That’s great, sometimes it can take a few days to get accustomed to a sonically different price of kit before deciding it’s an improvement or not.


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[Mikeandvan]

So a few weeks with my new speakers now, not sure they passed the dreaded Kinks/Stones test, nothing seems to! But with other music they are wonderful, I've never heard music expressed so realistically. I'm now wondering what I have to do to get more! The Quad is a powerful amp, so I'm guessing at the moment I'm room limited, the bass response is I think restricted by my room, could be wrong. Playing some S. Wonder and Al green now, fantastic, of course I did get that new mains regenerator recently, so that's helping things too, my mains here is definitely dodgy as I have blown an amp or two here, something that's never happened before, light bulbs also blow now and then. Will plug the Charios back in soon to see for sure, but it seems these Kefs are my first foray into real high end speakers. In the long run though I will need something that better expresses my 60s rock vinyl, whether its changing my TT, amp or whatever, but really enjoying my system now more than ever.:)

[AJSki2fly]

So a few weeks with my new speakers now, not sure they passed the dreaded Kinks/Stones test, nothing seems to! But with other music they are wonderful, I've never heard music expressed so realistically. I'm now wondering what I have to do to get more! The Quad is a powerful amp, so I'm guessing at the moment I'm room limited, the bass response is I think restricted by my room, could be wrong. Playing some S. Wonder and Al green now, fantastic, of course I did get that new mains regenerator recently, so that's helping things too, my mains here is definitely dodgy as I have blown an amp or two here, something that's never happened before, light bulbs also blow now and then. Will plug the Charios back in soon to see for sure, but it seems these Kefs are my first foray into real high end speakers. In the long run though I will need something that better expresses my 60s rock vinyl, whether its changing my TT, amp or whatever, but really enjoying my system now more than ever.:)

Tell me what the dreaded Kinks/Stones test is and I will have a listen on mine and then let you know what you need to get,:lol: no seriously though I would be interested to know and have a listen on my set up.

I am pleased that you are happier with how it is sounding now. But it seems that you are feeling something is lacking when listening to 60's type music, exactly what do you fell is wrong or not quite right. Would I be right in thinking this would be the low-end from bass and drums? If it is then this is not an easy thing to achieve, having gone through the following speakers over the past 3.5 years I know too well.

Initially a pair of Dali Ikon 6's, good speakers very detailed and clean, but when the bottom end was pushed they become messy. Followed by Wilson Benecsh ARC's, a high end pair of monitors really, with downward facing ports, now these are very good, but need to be driven, they do produce controlled and detailed bass but a little dry sounding, very unforgiving on a bad sound source. Then a pair of Impulse H2's, sounded great, very musical and super soundstage, down side - very big boxes not SWMBO friendly, mid-range slight drop at around 350hz(I think). Then from a friend, at the same time as the H2's, a pair of Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grande SE's, now these produced a beautiful overall sound and are very natural and musical, downside twin ported to rear and placement is critical, need to be at least 3' from rear wall, or bass is too re-enforced. The H2's went and I did some other upgrades. Then out of the blue I was given a 70's pair of JBL L100 Century's, now these really do produce bass, and sound very good across the board, for a speaker that is nearly 50 years old amazing. The JBL's led me into thinking a little differently and this resulted in me buying a pair of secondhand Tannoy Legacy Ardens, very similar to the JBL's in sound but more clarity and musicality, but bigger cabinets, when I say that I can listen to either pair and be happy.

By the way all the above speakers were driven with either Renaissance 300B mono blocks or my current ALLNIC T1500 mk2 300B amp, both sounding very similar to each other.

I know it is a way to come but you are always welcome to come to me, especially if you are down this way, you can always bring your Quad and listen to it with the Ardens and JBL's. you should bring your Kinks/Stones tracks to see if they do the trick or not. At least then you would know if either would fit the ticket.

Cheers

Adrian

[Mikeandvan]

Tell me what the dreaded Kinks/Stones test is and I will have a listen on mine and then let you know what you need to get,:lol: no seriously though I would be interested to know and have a listen on my set up.

I am pleased that you are happier with how it is sounding now. But it seems that you are feeling something is lacking when listening to 60's type music, exactly what do you fell is wrong or not quite right. Would I be right in thinking this would be the low-end from bass and drums? If it is then this is not an easy thing to achieve, having gone through the following speakers over the past 3.5 years I know too well.

Initially a pair of Dali Ikon 6's, good speakers very detailed and clean, but when the bottom end was pushed they become messy. Followed by Wilson Benecsh ARC's, a high end pair of monitors really, with downward facing ports, now these are very good, but need to be driven, they do produce controlled and detailed bass but a little dry sounding, very unforgiving on a bad sound source. Then a pair of Impulse H2's, sounded great, very musical and super soundstage, down side - very big boxes not SWMBO friendly, mid-range slight drop at around 350hz(I think). Then from a friend, at the same time as the H2's, a pair of Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grande SE's, now these produced a beautiful overall sound and are very natural and musical, downside twin ported to rear and placement is critical, need to be at least 3' from rear wall, or bass is too re-enforced. The H2's went and I did some other upgrades. Then out of the blue I was given a 70's pair of JBL L100 Century's, now these really do produce bass, and sound very good across the board, for a speaker that is nearly 50 years old amazing. The JBL's led me into thinking a little differently and this resulted in me buying a pair of secondhand Tannoy Legacy Ardens, very similar to the JBL's in sound but more clarity and musicality, but bigger cabinets, when I say that I can listen to either pair and be happy.

By the way all the above speakers were driven with either Renaissance 300B mono blocks or my current ALLNIC T1500 mk2 300B amp, both sounding very similar to each other.

I know it is a way to come but you are always welcome to come to me, especially if you are down this way, you can always bring your Quad and listen to it with the Ardens and JBL's. you should bring your Kinks/Stones tracks to see if they do the trick or not. At least then you would know if either would fit the ticket.

Cheers

Adrian

Hi Adrian, thanks for the advice. I'm probably not that up on hifi jargon to describe the sound I'm getting from these speakers and what exactly is missing from the sound, of course it could be my sources, amps etc, but changing from the Charios to the Kefs have produced a general overall improvement as detailed above, I will switch the Charios back to appreciate the difference better. The Stones/Kinks test is to play either of those bands output from the 60s or early 70s, I have used the Stones Exile on main street (1st track - 'rocks off')and Sticky fingers as test records, scratchy guitar type stuff, and to see whether it boogies or not, for me the sound isn't lifelike enough, almost too small, or inorganic, and still not quite enough punch. I was thinking of trying another tonearm on my NA Interspace or trying a suspended TT. I think what the sound is really lacking on my Stones test record is rhythm and punch. Mind you I want those things but without the sound being too hard edged. I think there is also some fluidity missing, that's why I think my TT may be at fault. Curious how so many seem to end up with ancient Tannoys, looking inside those things its just a cabinet and a bit of wadding, speaker technology over the past 50 years seems to mean nothing!

[Lawrence001]

Curious how so many seem to end up with ancient Tannoys, looking inside those things its just a cabinet and a bit of wadding, speaker technology over the past 50 years seems to mean nothing!

To be fair there's a rather well designed and engineered dual concentric driver in there too [emoji38]

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[AJSki2fly]

Hi Adrian, thanks for the advice. I'm probably not that up on hifi jargon to describe the sound I'm getting from these speakers and what exactly is missing from the sound, of course it could be my sources, amps etc, but changing from the Charios to the Kefs have produced a general overall improvement as detailed above, I will switch the Charios back to appreciate the difference better. The Stones/Kinks test is to play either of those bands output from the 60s or early 70s, I have used the Stones Exile on main street (1st track - 'rocks off')and Sticky fingers as test records, scratchy guitar type stuff, and to see whether it boogies or not, for me the sound isn't lifelike enough, almost too small, or inorganic, and still not quite enough punch. I was thinking of trying another tonearm on my NA Interspace or trying a suspended TT. I think what the sound is really lacking on my Stones test record is rhythm and punch. Mind you I want those things but without the sound being too hard edged. I think there is also some fluidity missing, that's why I think my TT may be at fault. Curious how so many seem to end up with ancient Tannoys, looking inside those things its just a cabinet and a bit of wadding, speaker technology over the past 50 years seems to mean nothing!

Well actually I am a late convert to Tannoys, it was initiated through two avenues, firstly my best friend purchased at a very reduced price a pair of Tannoy Kensington’s, when I herd them I was rather surprised just how good they are. As you say a old style design. So as I mentioned earlier when I realised how many others supported then and similarly designs in followed my instincts and took the plunge. I as you may guess very pleased with the result.

If you are tempted to investigate Tannoys then do consider the smaller ones for your room, they all have a similar sound signature as I understand it.

My offer for you to come and have a listen is always there.

Cheers

Adrian

[Edward]

Fully concur with you Adrian regarding the Tannoys. Once bitten never forgotten (mixing metaphors!).

My first entry to Tannoys were via Eatons and I knew going larger would be more of the same - but larger. So when an unrestored pair of Berkeleys came up I grabbed them (and restored them). You are 100% correct, they have the same sound signature - just more scale for the larger ones. I've been switching between them and same signature. Happy with both and even the larger Tannoys work just fine in a medium size room.

[AJSki2fly]

Fully concur with you Adrian regarding the Tannoys. Once bitten never forgotten (mixing metaphors!).

My first entry to Tannoys were via Eatons and I knew going larger would be more of the same - but larger. So when an unrestored pair of Berkeleys came up I grabbed them (and restored them). You are 100% correct, they have the same sound signature - just more scale for the larger ones. I've been switching between them and same signature. Happy with both and even the larger Tannoys work just fine in a medium size room.

Yes my Ardens are in a room that is 24 by 12.5 feet, and I think this is about the lint in terms of minimum size for them. I manage to get away with it as I have them pointing down the room and I sit at about double the normal sitting position, and seem to have got it set up to avoid bass re-enforcement, but others might disagree.

Sonically I find then a very relaxing and easy to listen to speaker, you can listen at low and high volumes and what I have noticed is they do not become wearing. I think this is a indication of a good speaker especially at higher volumes, perhaps they are accurate and do not distort the music. Whatever it is they sound great.

[walpurgis]

If you are tempted to investigate Tannoys then do consider the smaller ones for your room, they all have a similar sound signature as I understand it.

Not really. They vary a lot.

[Lawrence001]

Not really. They vary a lot.Do you mean between the Golds, HPDs etc? Or large cabinets Vs small cabinets (for a given size driver)? Do they still sound similar when you have the same generation drivers in reasonably sized boxes for the driver size?

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[Edward]

Yes my Ardens are in a room that is 24 by 12.5 feet, and I think this is about the lint in terms of minimum size for them. I manage to get away with it as I have them pointing down the room and I sit at about double the normal sitting position, and seem to have got it set up to avoid bass re-enforcement, but others might disagree.

Sonically I find then a very relaxing and easy to listen to speaker, you can listen at low and high volumes and what I have noticed is they do not become wearing. I think this is a indication of a good speaker especially at higher volumes, perhaps they are accurate and do not distort the music. Whatever it is they sound great.

Indeed, they sound wonderful at all volume levels without fatigue. But generally I find the 'best' volume is the same volume level that would be the case in a live performance. That obviously varies according the music genre. You seem to like heavy rock - that would be far too loud for other family members here - not speaking of neighbours. :lol:

[Edward]

Do you mean between the Golds, HPDs etc? Or large cabinets Vs small cabinets (for a given size driver)? Do they still sound similar when you have the same generation drivers in reasonably sized boxes for the driver size?

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The Eatons and the Berkeleys I have are with HPDs - similar sound signature. I don't have golds, tulip wave etc. May well have different signatures.

[AJSki2fly]

Indeed, they sound wonderful at all volume levels without fatigue. But generally I find the 'best' volume is the same volume level that would be the case in a live performance. That obviously varies according the music genre. You seem to like heavy rock - that would be far too loud for other family members here - not speaking of neighbours. :lol:

I do favour rock music, but also listen to jazz, blues and classical and certain types of modern folk. I tend to listen at reasonable levels peaking around 80dB much more and then you are risking hearing over prolonged periods.

Listening levels are tricky, I think if it was necessary to listen at low volumes regularly then I might think about speaker choice again, possible Wilson Benesch Arcs or similar supplemented with a woofer. Also I would consider listening I an smaller room and near listening, but that is not what I prefer.


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