Which Tannoys, folks?

[DSJR]

In a more suitable room, SHL5's "do" music better than almost anything out there. 10" Turnberry's just don't go lower - they can't with that claimed sensitivity - it's physics guys, not opinion. The Harbs can sound incredibly musical, and I've heard them with a good few amps now in recent years, as well as several different pairs to gain a degree of sample consistency. You want lush? Partner them with a £1K Icon Audio amp. You want musicality and clearer, then look at EAR, or Croft, or the £2K Icon amps. You want iron grip? Then look at Albarry or LFD (yes I know hifi dave has all of these for sale, but I'm limited here, despite all the fine tuning these different amps produce...). You want them to ROCK? Then I know a good working vintage Crown DC300A sounds incredible with them and with musicality and grip too, 10% resistors and forty year age included

Anyway, "we've" moved on now. Enjoy the journey. Maybe turning up the tweeter level by a notch as I believe Steve Toy has done with his may offer a slightly different perspective.

[Reffc]

In a more suitable room, SHL5's "do" music better than almost anything out there. 10" Turnberry's just don't go lower - they can't with that claimed sensitivity - it's physics guys, not opinion. The Harbs can sound incredibly musical, and I've heard them with a good few amps now in recent years, as well as several different pairs to gain a degree of sample consistency. You want lush? Partner them with a £1K Icon Audio amp. You want musicality and clearer, then look at EAR, or Croft, or the £2K Icon amps. You want iron grip? Then look at Albarry or LFD (yes I know hifi dave has all of these for sale, but I'm limited here, despite all the fine tuning these different amps produce...). You want them to ROCK? Then I know a good working vintage Crown DC300A sounds incredible with them and with musicality and grip too, 10% resistors and forty year age included

Anyway, "we've" moved on now. Enjoy the journey. Maybe turning up the tweeter level by a notch as I believe Steve Toy has done with his may offer a slightly different perspective.

Yes, they do. Don't know why you seem to have a bee in your bnnet about this as its what I like that informs my choices, not what I'm told I should like.

I've had both. In a nutshell, the Harbs were nice and clean, compromised in the quality of the bass and the extension. they'd make a great monitoring loudspeaker (no surprises there). For emotional involvement and scale, the Turnberrys win hands down IMHO and IME.

No amount of "Telling" me that the Turnberrys aren't up to scratch makes it true. Its your opinion and one I don't happen to share. Each to their own, but the Tannoys do it for me.

[DSJR]

Yeah, I suppose I do have a bee in my bonnet when people do such strange things. Still, we all feel music differently and have different vibes about the gear we use to play it on and it's your hard earned money you're spending. I'll shut up now () and let you get on with it!

[Reffc]

Yeah, I suppose I do have a bee in my bonnet when people do such strange things. Still, we all feel music differently and have different vibes about the gear we use to play it on and it's your hard earned money you're spending. I'll shut up now () and let you get on with it!

Thing is no two people (even when they are well up on these things) ever have exactly the same tastes or opinions. What I prefer isn't for reasons (particularly) of perfection or accuracy, its far more subjective. I've said over and over that the Harbs are great speakers but they do have their limitations, and the Tannoys simply don't have the same limitations. As for bass, well, the Tannoys use a larger driver in a 100 litre (3.5 Cubic foot) vented enclosure, compared with the Harbeths 8 inch woofer in a 2 cubic foot enclosure. The true sensitivity of the harbs is much higher IMHO than claimed, so its no surprise the Tannoys move more air and drop lower. What I was amazed at was just how low they go. I have several recordings here where the Harbeths simply rolled off, but the Tannoys don't.

Yes, the Tannoys are slightly coloured in the mids where the harbs aren't but I prefer the Tannoys treble and their bass and scale, plus they are more revealing of amplifier changes where I'd argue that Harbeths have their own character that mask amp traits, hence they're said not to be amp fussy and that was certainly what I found when using them.

Does all that make the Tannoys a downgrade? No, of course it doesn't because that's simply not true and in listening, is simply not the case...at all. Harbeths no-matter what their following, are not the be all and end all of loudspeaker design. They're very good indeed and the finish is exceptional. I have a great deal of time for Harbeth as a company and Alan Shaw deserves a great deal of credit for what he's achieved. I happen to prefer the looks and performance of the Tannoys as do many other former Harbeth owners.

[Marco]

Yeah, I suppose I do have a bee in my bonnet when people do such strange things.

"Strange"? Such as what??

Marco.

[Audioman]

Nobody has mentioned that the Tannoy Turnburry eliminate one major variable - stands. I must admit on a couple short hearings of Harbeth HL5 they struck me as a little clinical and lacking weight. Anyway in my opinion a great floorstander is always going to outperform a great stand mount. The Tannoys have larger cabinets and bigger drive units which generaly equates to a bigger deeper more musicaly convincing sound.

[DSJR]

I happen to prefer the looks and performance of the Tannoys as do many other former Harbeth owners.

I wonder why these former owners never seem to sell them on on regularly searched selling-sites, unless they bought them for fashion (they do get more mentions these days) or tried to use them in an inappropriate room with odd amps with suspect characteristics in the bass (he knows who he is and I ain't telling ).. You see, I have NEVER accused them of over-projecting the mids, in fact the bass is so powerful I don't think I could use them in my room, nor the current C7's. My choice, which I reckon you'd dislike for the very reasons I love them, would be the 30.1's, which take over from my increasingly much loved LS5/9's, which seem rather more temperature sensitive than their spiritual replacements..

100L boxes eh? Maybe it's because they sit on the floor that I didn't clock this - apologies. I'm not likely to re-visit the Turnberry's sadly, as they're a commercial disaster for very small UK dealers to take on, the retail price charged over here, unless they sell them close to trade as "ex-dem." Glad you like them so much (I did too in fairness) and look forward to reading your adventures with them - seriously

Note to self - to not interfere in other's decisions, especially when there's a contradiction. Must be the ex-dealer coming out in me

[montesquieu]

Nobody has mentioned that the Tannoy Turnburry eliminate one major variable - stands. I must admit on a couple short hearings of Harbeth HL5 they struck me as a little clinical and lacking weight. Anyway in my opinion a great floorstander is always going to outperform a great stand mount. The Tannoys have larger cabinets and bigger drive units which generaly equates to a bigger deeper more musicaly convincing sound.

Got it in one I think!

[Reffc]

I wonder why these former owners never seem to sell them on on regularly searched selling-sites, unless they bought them for fashion (they do get more mentions these days) or tried to use them in an inappropriate room with odd amps with suspect characteristics in the bass (he knows who he is and I ain't telling ).. You see, I have NEVER accused them of over-projecting the mids, in fact the bass is so powerful I don't think I could use them in my room, nor the current C7's. My choice, which I reckon you'd dislike for the very reasons I love them, would be the 30.1's, which take over from my increasingly much loved LS5/9's, which seem rather more temperature sensitive than their spiritual replacements..

100L boxes eh? Maybe it's because they sit on the floor that I didn't clock this - apologies. I'm not likely to re-visit the Turnberry's sadly, as they're a commercial disaster for very small UK dealers to take on, the retail price charged over here, unless they sell them close to trade as "ex-dem." Glad you like them so much (I did too in fairness) and look forward to reading your adventures with them - seriously

Note to self - to not interfere in other's decisions, especially when there's a contradiction. Must be the ex-dealer coming out in me

Turnberrys are not that often seen in the classifieds IME and as for commercial disaster? Dealers may not get the profits they're used to making on them in the UK, but Tannoy manage to sell them by the bucket load to the Far East. They have no shortage of sales for them and the UK is not the primary market. IMHO there are far worse speakers being sold at three times the price.

The 5's weren't in "the wrong room" nor driven by "odd amps" (what and "odd" thing to say about the amps not to mention presumptuous regarding the room since you have never visited my room nor know anything about it). I just didn't like having them so far out into the room to sound right when it was a room for living in, not a dedicated listening room (a point you seem to have overlooked). Yes, it was a consideration that I should have made beforehand but I was hoping that they wouldn't have been so placement fussy. They simply do not have the astounding bass that you seem to attribute to them, and I don't know where you get that from...are you confusing them with something else? Bass is tuneful and reasonably deep for the enclosure size but no more than that. To claim otherwise is very misleading (do you have shares in Harbeth by any chance?). The Tannoys on the other hand do produce genuine deep and well extended bass. Anyhow, you seem to have made your mind up differently so lets agree to disagree

[DSJR]

There was a pair of SHL5's being driven by an imported transformer coupled valve amp with little to no bass damping and used in a room far too boomy for them - not yours.

With deepest respect and totally academic now, I worry a bit when I read that the SHL5 has a forward midrange! This always rings alarm bells that something further upstream, or the room, isn't right somehow (I'm pragmatic and work from decades of setup/installation exeriences here). If anything, the balance of this range of speakers, certainly the domestic models, is designed to be slightly on the warm side to encourage and support low level listening which is part of the wonderful vibe I have for them, since having to turn the volume up to get the detail is always indicative of a mismatch or problem somewhere. Seriously Paul, if you found the SHL5 mid-forward, then you really wouldn't like any of the smaller pro-active models out there, since many still seem to exhibit the inverted "V" response to magnify the glare frequencies and allow use on desktops.

I'm doing it again, sorry! I know Alan personally, am still in touch with him from time to time, and sold these speakers' ancestors from the very start in 1977 as well as having regular exposure to the current ones. I suppose I'm as totally commited, positive and fond of the range as Marco is of his Tannoys and I get too involved if there's an issue

If you haven't got this already, please try to get the ep "Mindworks" by Sam Brown. The Turnberry's won't have an issue with this disc at all methinks, but if there's any midband or crossover problem with the speakers or system, you'll hear it in seconds (ask hifi dave or Alex_UK, I've tortured them with these tracks on AVI speakers a couple of times...) since Sam's voice will make you wince if there's an issue, but not if the speakers are properly balanced and their interface with the room interface is a good one.