Slammed’s Hifi

[Slammed56]

Thanks again mate, your input is much appreciated

Small wardrobes Exactly what my Mrs said on first site of them

It’s very early days , just getting my ears accustomed to the “new” sound

[Marco]

Ha - I know... We're both very lucky having wives willing to indulge our hobby to that extent - and if yours is anything like mine, in that respect, she'll love bass! Del and I listen to music together often, as she's defo a 'bass head', so only fat 15-inchers will do! Ooh-er...

Anyway, enjoy - and I'll be following your ongoing journey closely. Any questions, just ask!

Marco.

[Marco]

Any joy, Stuart, on finding some 15MGs?

Marco.

[Slammed56]

Any joy, Stuart, on finding some 15MGs?

Marco.

Any joy, Stuart, on finding some 15MGs?

Marco.

Unfortunately not ,Marco

The search continues

After a fair bit of mucking about I moved the Majors out of the lounge ( due to Christmas decorating ) and into the smaller sitting room which was supposed to be a temporary measure ,but to my surprise, I’m really enjoying the sound there making in here , the room is 4x5m into the bay window , I thought they’d need the big room to sound at there best , but I’m totally surprised with there performance in the new location ........they look ridiculously big in here but the near-field listening is pleasantly surprising

[Marco]

Lol..... THAT is *SO* funny, mate - but in a good way!!

Why? Because it's what I've always said and found myself... I use mine in a small room, a little bigger than that one, and much prefer listening to them near field, as you describe

I know it's contrary to what you might think with such big speakers, but I also discovered the same thing in Scalford Hall, when I took them down to the show and put them into a big room, and they sounded ok, but nowhere near as good as they did in my much smaller room.

For me, if you sit further away from big Tannoy DCs, the bass dominates too much, but with more near filed listening it's just right, and deep and authoritative, plus the mids and top end are really clear and crisp, natural and lifelike. I guess it makes sense that they work better near field, as that's how they'd have been used in studios!

Enjoy...

Marco.

[Macca]

The big ones were used in studios but not as near field monitors. I think you'd have trouble fitting them onto the console bridge!

'Near field' in a studio is literally just a couple of feet from ear to speaker.

[Macca]

Here you can see how he has his near field monitors on the console and the full range monitors a little further back. (B&W not Tannoy but you get the idea):

[Marco]

The big ones were used in studios but not as near field monitors. I think you'd have trouble fitting them onto the console bridge!

'Near field' in a studio is literally just a couple of feet from ear to speaker.

Yes I know what you mean, but you need to look around at some vintage/specialist studios, liable to use speakers such as Stuart's and mine, to see what I mean, such as old pics of control rooms at Abbey Road, or smaller (all analogue) studios, such as Toe Rag [pics courtesy of Jo's site Tannoyista]:





That looks pretty near-field to me!

Although those are Lockwood Universal cabs, which are smaller than Majors, they're still pretty big - and much bigger than the near-field monitors used in modern studios today, such as you've shown. In any case, it doesn't detract from the observations both Stuart and I have made, which is that big Tannoy DCs sound better in smaller rooms than bigger ones - that's certainly what many years of experience has told me!

Anthony also uses his Kensington SEs, near-filed in a small room. He can't be sitting any more than about 2/3 meters from his, and they sound fab.

Marco.

[Macca]

The thing about small studios is that they cannot afford to optimise everything so you get situations like at Toe Rag. If you'd offered to pay for them to build a bigger control room I'm sure they would not have turned you down.

Big Tannoy do work well in small spaces no doubt, heard that many times including at your place but it isn't an absolute truth that they are better in small spaces, just that some people prefer to listen close to the speaker (and not just with Tannoy).

Tannoy being dual concentric facilitate this, unlike an otherwise similarly capable large three or four way speaker which needs to be some distance from the listener for the multiple, separated sound sources to coalesce into one.

Personally I prefer to listen to any speaker in a larger room and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

[Marco]

The thing about small studios is that they cannot afford to optimise everything so you get situations like at Toe Rag. If you'd offered to pay for them to build a bigger control room I'm sure they would not have turned you down.

Sure, but that doesn't detract from the fact that they sound great in there.

Big Tannoy do work well in small spaces no doubt, heard that many times including at your place but it isn't an absolute truth...

Course not - nothing in audio is an "absolute truth", and of course personal preference comes into it, but I've heard too many pairs of big Tannoys in too many different rooms over the years, big and small for them clearly sounding better in the latter simply to be just a coincidence, therefore I do believe that there is something intrinsically in their design causing that, not simply just my preference.

The biggest shock in that respect, was how much worse mine sounded in a much bigger room at Scalford [after folk had been nagging me for ages about how much better they'd be in a bigger room that would 'allow them to breahe', lol], compared with what I get at home, and which made me re-evaluate things accordingly.

Even in Ian Walker's place, which I believe you've been to, with his Canterbury's, in a room bigger than mine (longer) with a concrete floor, we used to spend ages moving his sofa back and forth trying to convince ourselves that it *should* sound better further back away from the speakers, only later to move it forward again, as it clearly sounded better that way

Yes I know you prefer listening to speakers in a larger room, and with different speakers able to benefit accordingly, I would too... But THAT is the key issue. Even you wouldn't prefer listening that way if your ears clearly told you that the speakers in question sounded worse!

Marco.