Which Tannoys, folks?

[lewis]

I had them like that to start with but have now moved them back to the mid setting. I found that Tannoys take a bit of adjusting to because they're not as forward as most modern speakers yet give away nothing in dynamics and transient response. You can be fooled into thinking "where's the detail?" but it's there, it's just that it doesn't shout at you. After an hours playing, I adjusted to their sound and moved the treble energy plug back and it gave a better balance.

These have now got about 8 hours playing on them and they're beginning to open up nicely in the bass which is exceptional in quality and extension. Already have my first few visitors to listen to them! Got a posse coming down en-mass from the Midlands on Saturday for a listen...at this rate I'll have to become a Tannoy dealership!

After a bit of playing around i also ended up with the mid setting, and find they can be listened to for long periods without fatigue.

[Tarzan]

Where did the OTO SE come from?

[Jonboy]

Anyone tried these with AN's Otto SE?

Audio Note and Tannoys are a match made in Heaven

The OTO se is a very nice amp as you have now found out, the newer version has c cores fitted

[Reffc]

Audio Note and Tannoys are a match made in Heaven

The OTO se is a very nice amp as you have now found out, the newer version has c cores fitted

Having now tried them with an OTO SE it's very clear they're not a good match. Great bass performance (astonishing in fact) but too much mid range bloom which exacerbates the slight mid range lift at 1 to 2KHz. Nice treble detail though.

Tried them today with a single ended KT88 amp (running twin KT88's in parallel per channel) and that was much better, but oddly lacked the little 10w OTO's bass response. Lovely mids though.

[hifi_dave]

They are not particularly easy to drive/control - I wonder what the impedance curve is like ? You need an amp with a bit of grip.

[tannoyman]

Tannoy Glenair 15" or Tannoy Turnberry SE (Prestige) and why?

Recently heard the DC10a's and a while back had the pleasure of hearing some 15" monitor golds in York cabs.

The DC10a's I wouldn't give tuppence for...absolutely dreadful; the old timers were wonderful in a warm and cuddly fashion. The only one's I haven't heard that I'd like to are the two mentioned above. Opinions?

Hi Paul

I cannot comment on either the Glenair or Turnberry specifically because I have not heard them but intuitively the more refined of the two is likely to be the Turnbury as it is a more sophisticated well-developed design in its 2nd iteration with better binding posts etc. hey are also prettier imho with more attractive design. Your room is also an important consideration. A 15" driver in a modest space is not always a good thing. The Turnbury's are likely to suit the smaller room better. I would try to borrow both and try them in your own room.

As a long time Tannoy user I know that they need very careful matching with cables and other equipment. Horn tweeters badly set up can part the hair at 50 paces and singe your beard if you get too close. I can also say that I have heard the DC10's sounding impressive so it could just be that the set up you heard was not top hole. It is difficult to be conclusive apart from saying you need more information to make up your mind.

I am not sure where you are but if you are in the South, Dave Ruffle at Heatherdale Audio in Worthing is very helpful.

David

[tannoyman]

Last time I got a great big horn, the wife wouldn't speak to me for a day!

I've got Westminster Royals and my wife has excommunicated me!!

David

[Reffc]

Hi Paul

I cannot comment on either the Glenair or Turnberry specifically because I have not heard them but intuitively the more refined of the two is likely to be the Turnbury as it is a more sophisticated well-developed design in its 2nd iteration with better binding posts etc. hey are also prettier imho with more attractive design. Your room is also an important consideration. A 15" driver in a modest space is not always a good thing. The Turnbury's are likely to suit the smaller room better. I would try to borrow both and try them in your own room.

As a long time Tannoy user I know that they need very careful matching with cables and other equipment. Horn tweeters badly set up can part the hair at 50 paces and singe your beard if you get too close. I can also say that I have heard the DC10's sounding impressive so it could just be that the set up you heard was not top hole. It is difficult to be conclusive apart from saying you need more information to make up your mind.

I am not sure where you are but if you are in the South, Dave Ruffle at Heatherdale Audio in Worthing is very helpful.

David

Thanks David but already bought Turnberrys and have them in. They're great loudspeakers and suit me down to the ground. Dead easy to drive even with flea powered amps (I've used one) but as HiFiDave points out, they prefer more power and grip. The Croft micro 25/Series 7 is more than enough and produced stupendous bass from them. I don't agree that they are cable fussy at all (cables are what I do) having tried various cables in the upstream chain, and whilst not particularly amp fussy, its the room/speaker relationship IMHO together with personal tastes which dictate the amp.

They do need careful amp matching in order to get them right for your own particular space and music preferences. I had them hooked up to a KT88 SE Mastersound amp (30 watts of pure Class A) and that was wonderfully polished and refined plus reeled in the 1-2KHz lift but it lacked bass depth. By contrast, the Crofts produced an almost obscene amount of (very well) controlled bass totally out of keeping with the cabinet size (and better bass than I've heard from many 15 inch Tannoys), but lacked the Mastersound amps finesse.

It goes to show that these speakers cannot be judged on a single audition on a single amp. you need to experiment with the amp and when you get it right, they reward in spades. I had SHL5's before, and the main difference between the two (besides the much deeper and more powerful bass of the Tannoys) is that were I wanting something to mix music with in the studio, I'd choose the clear sounding flat response that the Harbeths gave. If I want something to engage the emotions and plonk into the living room, it would be the Tannoys every time, so the switch from Harbeths to Tannoys for me at any rate was a big upgrade in that respect. I enjoy what they do well a hell of a lot better than what the Harbeths gave me.

[DSJR]

between them a lot going on and I am very familiar with them.

Conclusions:

1. I drove a bloody long way!
2. SHL5s can have an apparent mid forwardness mainly due to indistinct and slightly rolled of bass and to my ears, a poor treble quality by comparison with well sorted older Tannoys, but they are still very good. I'm talking subtleties and not night and day.
3. the newer Tannoy Prestige range is very good, straight out of the box and not as amp/room fussy as older models
4. Newer Prestige Tannoys do have an upper mid "honk" which adds distortion to some vocals but it is liveable with IMHO and their overall balance is still very much high quality Tannoy sound.
5. SHL5s major in clear midrange but lose out IMHO in other areas compared to the Prestige range and older Tannoys, particularly bass and scale. However the mid range is what many like, so for broadcast work, quiet home listening, jazz and vocals, the SHL5s are near on perfect and for most would count as their last loudspeaker.


Now out for a well earned pint.
.

The SHL5's in hifi dave's room actually have very deep bass with notes you can feel, not the mid bass "thump" exhibited by many other speakers including my BC2's and LS5/9's, the latter rolling gently away but still with output of lower bass notes, albeit at much reduced level. The treble "quality" of SHL5's is also system dependant, being sweet with some material and not with others. The thing is, all of the better "BBC influenced" speakers do really well on voice and acoustic instruments and the latest Harbeths "do" bass properly as well, with none of the cabinet "breathing" my Spendors exhibit.

I just feel I need to give an alternative view. I like the Turnberry SE very much in direct comparison with the SHL5 and also some Zu Druids I heard at the same time - wonderful with the wick up but shrinking alarmingly with volume reduced (EAR 599 and LFD amplification I remember), but still regard them as a backward step. The listening room is the final arbiter, and listening to several different speakers in different venues in a day? is a total waste of time, since one's ears take a couple of hours to settle each time after a spell on public transport or haring around in a car from one venue to another. BIG Tannoys are a different matter though, but had I the money and space to place them, I think I'd rather have some M40.1's instead and put up with the compromises involved in a three way speaker

[montesquieu]

I just feel I need to give an alternative view. I like the Turnberry SE very much in direct comparison with the SHL5 and also some Zu Druids I heard at the same time - wonderful with the wick up but shrinking alarmingly with volume reduced (EAR 599 and LFD amplification I remember), but still regard them as a backward step. The listening room is the final arbiter, and listening to several different speakers in different venues in a day? is a total waste of time, since one's ears take a couple of hours to settle each time after a spell on public transport or haring around in a car from one venue to another. BIG Tannoys are a different matter though, but had I the money and space to place them, I think I'd rather have some M40.1's instead and put up with the compromises involved in a three way speaker

Not sure I agree, Dave. Harbeth SHL5's are perfectly fine (as are AN-E's) but give my 15in MG's any day. In my experience, Tannoys in general (including the smaller Turnberrys which I heard at Paul's today) couple to the room better and are more musical, Harbeths may measure better in some rooms, but I don't think in general they do music the way Tannoys do. I certainly don't recognise this shrinking phenomenon you mention. Backward step? Only if you are a Harbeth diehard.

Anyway Harbeths in my view are fine for your mixing studio, but give me Tannoys any day for a night (or indeed, a morning or an afternoon) of enjoying tunes. Especially with a good valve amp. (Interestingly enough though I haven't tried the EAR599 with my MGs I did try the EAR509 monoblocks and found them musically wanting by comparison to my Tube Distictions KT88 PP, so might have been the amp that was the issue - getting just the right amp for mine proved a bit of a mission, it wasn't about watts either, plenty supposedly more powerful amps proved to be a disappointment).