Brilliant work Paul, I hope you're very pleased and proud of yourself! :)
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Brilliant work Paul, I hope you're very pleased and proud of yourself! :)
That's a very posh looking pair of speakers you ended up with Paul, if you went into a Tannoy dealer's showroom and saw those you'd expect an £8000 price tag.
You've done a blinding job! Hope they give you the satisfaction that amount of thought and work deserves.
Well done mate!
Yep, a work of art indeed. A fabulous job. :thumbsup:
£8k? - from the photos ... £10k, £12k, you wouldn't bat an eyelid.
And I do like a curvy derriere. :eyebrows:
Get 'em 'voiced' to your satisfaction and I will grace them with my presence. :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by jandl100
I concur.........beauties, you must be very proud of your work.
+1 (with bells on)!Quote:
Originally Posted by jandl100
Paul, this says it all:
:youtheman: :youtheman:
Marco.
I guess the curved backs are to stop standing waves, a great idea.
Thanks guys.
Yes, the curvy shape is to reduce the risk of standing waves. The internal top and base panels aren't parallel for the same reason. Unfortunately I have overdone the padding so today I'll be removing the monacor lambswool wadding from the middle chamber and removing the acoustic foam from the base and seeing if I can cut down the thickness in the top. I didn't put any wadding or foam on the front baffle in the end which was the right decision. The deficiencies in the crossover are showing as the mid's too recessed but we'll see what some wadding removal does (so starts the black art side of things!) In a way I now wished I'd just placed the wadding in instead of gluing it! That way I'd have been able to remove a little at a time with ease until I had the cabinets voiced properly. It'll be a knuckle scraping butchering exercise now :doh:
Played Mahler's 5th transcribed for Organ works last night and the bass of that big organ pipe from Gloucester Cathedral was rattling all the light fittings and the doors! They certainly dispel the myth that vintage Tannoys don't do bass. Upper mid range and HF is fine too and crystal clear. You can play these LOUD without internal resonances making them sound hard and distorted. Some tinkering needed over (probably) months but I'll get there with them and know now what I need to do to get the next pair spot on first time!
How does that big drive do anything other than bass?
Because it's a dual concentric Tannoy HPD unit Martin. It's a full range set up.Quote:
Originally Posted by realysm42
Well this morning I am absolutely delighted to report that after nervously ripping out almost all of the lambswool wadding, just leaving the acoustic foam, and a square of lambswool directly behind the dirver, the balance is back, the mid range hole is plugged and they sound simply STUNNING. Possibly the best loudspeakers I've had in this room at any rate. Remarkably colouration free and you can drive them painfully loud without the sound distorting or breaking up at all. Bass is very well integrated, but for a little more bass slam the ports could be shortened by 25mm. I'll leave as is for the moment though and perhaps order some more ports of various lengths to have a play with. The usual bass hump that gives commercial speakers "slam" isn't there. Instead it's remarkably well integrated (a little like big Harbeth M40's playing in large rooms). You can feel the low notes but there's no boom and bass has real texture to it. Perhaps we've become conditioned to manufacturer's tuning tricks of wham, bam, thank you mam at the expense of accuracy?
The volume needs turning up a fair bit more than it did as the bass sensitivity is slightly down with EBS tuning, but they still play quietly very well indeed. It's only when they're turned up that you get that close-to-live experience courtesy of very low distortion levels. Pretty chuffed overall :surf:
NIRVANA!!!
They look AWESOME :drool:
I bet they sound even better!!
Fantastically beautiful 'speakers. They look like they have been made to match the interior of a 1920's ocean liner. I love the combination of wood finishes and the curves, that really does it for me. Top job.
They are deco looking for sure.
They look great Paul, a fantastic job and certainly something to be proud of and Im sure they sound as good as they look
BTW - what amp have you settled on to drive them?
Thanks Lee. They're now sounding much better since I removed all of the lambswool wadding and the foam from just the sloping base! Loads of life but buttery smooth even at high SPLs. Lack the hard charging bite of some modern designs but for an HPDs they're pretty amazing sounding things now. I'm using a Croft preamp which is driving VAC pa60 monoblocs (VAC is little known this side of the pond but is an American valve amplifier manufacturer and very popular State-side). Picture:
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps43f1e97b.jpg
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps02170a6b.jpg
We need more piccies Paul.
What would you be interested in?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarzan
Er nudes.... no those lovely Tannoys:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Reffc
They look lovely mate, I fancy some mono blocks myself!Quote:
Originally Posted by Reffc
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Top job Paul, top job - awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reffc
:stalks::stalks::stalks:
Top work there mate- can l have your Turnberry's asked nicely:)
Review required.:)
:lol: I had to sell those to help pay for these!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarzan
Talking of "these" sensible suggestions for a name so I don't have to keep calling them "these"?
If I decide to offer them commercially (a little work to do on the design, including crossovers, before that happens as they need to be as good as I can get them) I'd probably like to pre-fix them with the "Reference" tag. Burying my nose in a music dictionary, we have a few that might or might not fit the bill!:
Cadenza (already taken by KEF?), Coda (ditto!), Concerto (twee), Choral, Prelude, Harmony, Adagio, Symphony, Cantabile, Cantata, Etude, Oratorio, Rubato, Serenade, Sonata, Unison, and Vivace.
They will probably end up with little plaques proudly proclaiming them as one of the above if they were to make it onto the product list.
KEF did the Concerto. Quite a nice speaker, too! And the Cadenza. ------------------ And the Cantata. They had a C-series, way back when.
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/KEF-Concerto-...Jj(,Q~~_35.JPGhttp://www.polkaudio.com/forums/atta...1&d=1089080380http://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uploa...f334b4103f.jpg
How about the Climax? :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Reffc
Accelerando. Presto. Pianissimo --- err, no. Forte. Triple Forte! Fortissimo. Agitato. Lento. Expressivo.
Sounds like the latest line-up from Starbucks or Costa-Coffee Jerry :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by jandl100
Fcuk me those speakers look good, even if they don't colour-match the cabinet they're next to ;) Actually, a collection of proper wood finishes of different colours together isn't bad at all, since they're real organic materials.
I really hope these speakers sound great too and in a way wish this style could be put into production. I think the price would be horrendous though and although Tannoy would have difficulty matching the finish as seen in the photos, I bet a completed pair of Tannoy made production models would cost £10K or more - I mean, the Glenairs look so boring and bland in comparison to me...
Well done!!!!!! :clap:
Paul, stellar effort and way better than your last pair which i was not a fan of, almost makes me want to keep mine and commission a set of cabs from you. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Reffc
As for names, personally i'm tired kit with poncey Italian names so i'd stay clear of those, sorry Marco !!!, nothing personal. :pat:
Winston or Churchill ~ on it's own, something proud and decidely British, especially Tannoy's heritage as a British brand.
Beauchamp or Beaulieu ~ like that because your cabs and Tannoy's sound ''beautiful'', hence the 'beau' part of the name, nice French pronounciation and beautiful language, much preferable to Italian (sorry again Marco). :rolleyes:
Velvellatio ~ Yes, i can hear you say ''WTF !!!'', say it quick you'll get a Vetvet Suck, the risque name really suits the sum of it's whole, just close your eyes when you listen and use the power of your imagination, when you open your eyes, the 'horns' don't die, just don't let the wife see it. :D
....and all the above rings well with Reference which you would to put on after it.
I'm liking "Reference Beaulieu".Quote:
Originally Posted by wiicrackpot
It follows Tannoy's British place name theme too...
All the bits for the new (improved...ie correct values!) crossovers have finally arrived:
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...pse8d6c8df.jpg
It's going to be a heck of a squeeze to get everything onto the boards! The air cored LF inductor is huge! Silicone and cable ties will be needed so the board will have to be very carefully drilled :uhho:
This is probably how I'll lay everything out:
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps66bed0c7.jpg
Work will start later today.
I would've thought it sounded nicer the other way round, as in ''Beaulieu Reference'', :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Reffc
the good thing is you can just use ''Beau'' for everyday reference when speaking with friends and forum dude's,
they'll know what it is. :cool:
Are those Xover parts the same value as original Tannoy items?, if so whats with the big size?,
how much better are fettled Xovers over stnadard one's if you can quantify it?,
it just seems such huge expense if the gains are just ''different'' instead of better,
surely Tannoy know what they were doing when they manufactured them. :scratch:
Exactly the same values as Tannoy used but using far better quality parts. The big inductor is a 2.2mH for the LF. The large black cap is the 3.3uF.Quote:
Originally Posted by wiicrackpot
The HF inductor replacing the autoformer is the same inductance as the green tap on the autoformer = 2.9mH
Tannoy knew what they were about but sadly many tweakers don't know what they're about and end up playing about with values and altering the crossover point. I'm keeping it standard and equivalent to the electrically flat circuit setting.
Ah...good, i thought you have selected different values to alter the Tannoy house sound,Quote:
Originally Posted by Reffc
as you'll probably gathered i am not in favour of tampering but it's all good in your case. :cool:
They look stunning the finish is exquisite you should be very very proud
Cheers Jonboy, appreciated.
Well this evening saw me impatient to crack on and I managed to turn out this:
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3f7bc19e.jpg
I'll be very interested in how the speakers sound once these are in place. Claritycap ESAs and Mundroff capacitor, Jantzen inductors, all to original Tannoy spec. The paralleled resistors are 2nr 50 Ohm ones which in parallel give the correct 25 Ohm load from the HF inductor.
I'll do the other one next week when I have a few hours spare.
Great to see the forum finally back up, so well done to those who did the rescue.
Well, both the new DIY crossovers are in and the speakers have had a fair few hours running now and I have been stunned what a change of crossovers did!
By reverting to the "correct" electrical specifications for the crossover components rather than using the "tweaked" values of the BBV crossovers, the speakers have gone from being good, inoffensive if a little bright, to exceptionally well balanced, dynamic and full in the mid range, just as they should be. I hadn't over damped the cabs at all, so it was a huge relief to learn that several hundred hours work has been justified.
The most extraordinary result by far is the astonishing bass response. It is of epic proportions. I had tuned the cabs for EBS (Extended Bass Shelf) not really knowing how well HPDs would react, but the results are superbly taught and very very deep bass, which in-room (in theory) can extend below Fas for the drivers. How? I won't give all of the secrets of my design away, lets just say that the port dimensions and cab internal design were chosen very very carefully to ensure that at no point do they go from reactive to resistive in operation, meaning enhanced bass. 12 inch HPDs have no right to be in such subterranean territory!
I played some organ works recorded at St Paul's Cathedral yesterday and had to turn the volume down because the bass resonance (only just in the audible spectrum) was reacting with my stomach and making me feel queezy! It was enough when that huge bass organ pipe came in to grab hold of your whole being and shake you in a most disorientating and disconcerting manner. It's fair to say that I have not experienced such lows with probably any other speakers owned, including the Horning Agathons (which were way more boomy).
I need another project now and have one in the pipeline!:eyebrows:
Great to see the new crossovers have done the biz. Your choice of components are perfect too. ESA's are great. If you ever did change to MR's though what you would probably find (as I have) is that the bass would be tighter, a little less compressed maybe.
Well done all the same... Now go and listen... hehe :)
Well, latest news is that I am so chuffed with the performance of the wonderful loudspeakers that I am being very unselfish and offering them to you, the wonderful hifi enthusiast! I have just updated my website with full details and specifications for anyone interested. Its not something that I take lightly, giving RFC's "Reference" tag to any new product but in the case of these, it is something that I am delighted and proud to do.
Decided to go all blingy for the binding posts so swapped out the CMC's for some rather up-market pure copper Furutech FT-809G Torque-Guard binding posts, yum!
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps893a2509.jpg
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps77132d43.jpg
May fit some copper spades. These posts have a clever torque limiting mechanism fitted to ensure that spades are firmly clamped up but you can't over-tighten them as a ratchet kicks in. Prevents damage to the rear binding post panel and the spades/posts. The banana sockets are reassuringly firm fitting.