Marco's journey to Tannoy-land

[Sand Dancin Donkey Walker]

Hi Marco

Not read all this thread (lazy git I am) but the Tannoy Berkley's were the first proper speakers I owned, and still have fond memories of them, or more specifically the Duel Concentric’s. A mate of mine until recently had a pair of the Super Red's and they still did it for me. Though the Monitor Gold's are the one's to go for I think

I had a good listen to the big Tannoys at the Mega Bake Off earlier this year. They were everything I remembered and loved.

Have fun in your search, if they do it for you, there is nothing better.

Enjoy

Andy - SDDW

[Marco]

Cheers, Andy! In your experience, what's the difference between the Reds, 'Super Reds' (I presume these are the later ones with stiffened cone baskets?) and the Golds?

I'll probably have the option of either the later 15" Reds or Golds, so either you and/or or someone else give me some good reasons why I should go for one or the other!

Marco.

[SP10]

I do already, dahling... You should see me shtrutting my shtuff on a Saturday night in my sequined blouson, shlinky silk chemise and leather hotpants, sporting more than a cheeky wee grin

Mikey, if 'all-retro' sounds like this then sock it to me baby!

Marco.

Bet the sheep around Treludden are worried!
Wish there was a smilie of a trans drinking a Babycham ...with a cherry on a stick!

[Marco]

Hehehe... I think my neighbours will have more to worry about than the sheep when I become a 'big-boy' Tannoyista! Mind you, you'll probably be able to hear them in the valleys!! I'm looking forward to 30W Class A P/P into 95db 15" drivers

'The hills are alive with the sound of music', indeed...

Marco.

[Sand Dancin Donkey Walker]

Hi Marco

Most of my listening has been with the HPD type drivers, in comparison these can be a touch un-refined, only had a listen to the Super Reds in a studio situation, and they were in a fairly near field monitor position. But they were excellent, great very large scale of sound, and quite extended frequency range. Considering these were listened to at close positions they really were good. A lot better than the HPD drives in Cheviot cabinets that were an alternative in the studio.

The Gold drivers are the ones to go for, these are what ended up in the studio, my mate was looking for accuracy but I was listening for musicality, we were both satisfied with the sound and enjoyed the results presented. to sum them up, very musical, satisfying, great scale of sound, fantastic with all vocals but they just it all just right. You can live with these for ever and never get sick of listening to them. After listening to I should co co's at the big bash, that just confirmed how good these speaker are, and most very underrated too.

If you would like the ultimate, try and find the Dreadnoughts. I got a brief listen to these in an un-familiar room, but flip me were they good, all the best bits of all the Tannoy range put together in one blooming massive cabinet, if you can accommodate them, buy them you won't regret it honest.

Have fun,

Andy - SDDW

[shahsy]

Marco,
I've been using a pair of Tannoy DMT 15's for a few years now and certainly don't plan to change them.

Nice choice if you go for it.

s

[Marco]

Hi Shahsy,

The options available at the moment are 'Lockwood Majors', see here (and also read the homepage for more info):

http://server15.sitewizard.co.uk/sit...kwood4_lrg.jpg

with either 15" Monitor Golds or Super Reds - plus the cabinets are sealed units, not a front-ported reflex design as in the advert.

I have high hopes for these given that if you read here: http://44bx.com/tannoy/history.html

...you'll find this, which is particularly interesting:

What the world did not grasp was that most recorded music available was being produced on the Tannoy Dual Concentric using either Monitor Red's or Monitor Gold's. All the music at EMI including Abbey Road and most of the Decca Classical output was produced using Tannoy loudspeakers.

Such models as the Lockwood Major, Lockwood Universal played a very significant part in the development of the world's recorded music as these were bought almost entirely by the professional studios. For example, most of the successful records made by Mickey Most at RAK Records were produced on Lockwood Monitors with Tannoy Dual Concentric drivers.

Yummy - now that sounds very tempting! As ever though, the proof of the pudding will be in the listening...

Other options are 15" Monitor Golds or Super Reds in York or modern replica corner GRF cabinets.

Oh, decisions decisions!

Marco.

[pure sound]

Other options are 15" Monitor Golds or Super Reds in York or modern replica corner GRF cabinets.

If Golds in GRF cabs is really an option, I'd take that straight away. Pete's rectangular GRF's are nice but the corner ones (repro or not) are the real deal (if you can get them up the stairs & into your room!)

[Marco]

Hi Guy,

It is one of my options - all will be thoroughly listened to and (hopefully) an informed decision made

It's your mate Chrissy-boy with the 'big lugs' we're going to see

Yes, getting them (what ever 'they' will be) up the stairs is going to be the most 'interesting' bit!

What's your view on Gold vs. Reds? I'm trying to get a handle on which is 'superior' in an audio sense, and in what cabinet. I'm not interested in value attached to antiquity/rarity or 'desirability', like hard-core 'Tannoyistas', particularly from Japan. I just want the biggest bang for my buck - ultimate performance is all that matters.

Marco.

[pure sound]

Chris is the chap to give a valid opinion on the relative merits of Reds & Golds. I don't think I've knowingly listened to any Reds. There is information online outlining the differences & I suspect such differences that they are will mean that perhaps Reds suit one style of cabinet better than Golds & vice versa with another cabinet type.

Either way if you choose with your ears (and from the good starting point that either type of driver offers) you shouldn't go far wrong. The rectangular GRF's are certainly a deal more manageable in terms of size than the corner units but must miss out on a little LF extension. Either will give far better coupling to a room than any reflex loaded arrangement and would be my preferred choice as a result. Again, perhaps not quite as much bass extension as a ported design but what there was would be much more natural sounding as the driver excursion will always be less for a given spl.