Marco's journey to Tannoy-land

[The Grand Wazoo]

P.S Dave, the lack of digital camera chez-moi is through a combination of laziness and apathy towards taking 'snaps' out with of hi-fi purposes!

Digital camera- pah!
I'd have thought that with your recent 'classic kit tendancies' a shoe box with a pinhole would be just the thing!!

[Marco]

Hehehe... Indeed!

Now, I must dash as I can hear the Lockwoods shouting: 'play me, play me'!

Marco.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Go fer yer life, my man!!

[DSJR]

Come on Marco, be fair If you have a laptop with USB input, you could take some snaps, transfer them to your laptop and upload them to photobucket or somewhere similar WHILE listening to them old Tannoys........................................... ........................

[Marco]

LOL! "Take some snaps" with precisely what, Dave - the back of my botty?

Leesen velee carefullee, I shall say zees only once... I do not own any devices (digital cameras or otherwise) with which to take pictures.

*BUT*, rest assured, when Mr Toy visits (who took my system pictures in the Gallery thread) this unfortunate situation will be rectified and pics of the Lockwoods duly posted for your perusal

Marco.

[chris@panteg]

Hi Marco
I am pleased you love your Tannoy's , i have noticed though a certain person on PFM keeps making little digs .

I now begin to understand what you mean , please Marco no need to say anything further on this i don't want to spoil this thread ' enjoy your new speakers ' .

[Marco]

Haha, I know exactly what/who you mean Chris, and it is most amusing!!

Marco.

[chris@panteg]

Regarding your tannoys/lockwoods ' reminded me of a really old speaker i heard once that surprised me 'but i can't for the life of me remember what it was.

It was big in fact huge from the mid 60's and was interesting because it had an in built valve powered tweeter it sounded quite coloured but with astonishing scale and impact.

It was run with my old concordant modified Quad II amps 'a fascinating listen i have say.

I suspect it may had either tannoy or lowther drivers.

[Clive]

Clive,

The Copper amp is fixed at 6 Ohms, so no can do. Interestingly, I can detect no major 'issues' with the Lockwoods/Copper amp combo, despite the former being rated at 15 Ohms, so I guess that, as you say, it doesn't make a huge difference. There is nothing 'thin' about the sound, nor is there an over-emphasis of the midrange - in fact, the midrange of the Monitor Reds is quite the most sublime that I have ever heard, and the top end is explicitly detailed but completely non-fatiguing.

Marco,

What crossed my mind is that it would be worth asking Anthony to check the curves for the operating points of your amp. The output valves will be seeing a different reflected impedance to what Anthony intended, this means the impedance of the primary OPT winding will not be as intended in the original amp design. This does mean the amp won't be performing 100% at its best. The difference could be tiny or if rectified you might add useful performance. It needs Anthony to check the specs. For sure as the Tannoys are efficient it makes all this less critical though you will be loosing a fair number of watts.

At worst it means new OPTs, at best it's not worth worrying about. Only the designer can advise.

[Marco]

Hi Clive,

Interesting. I shall ask Anthony to comment

I'm sure you are right; however, I guess that as the Lockwoods so comprehensively outperform the Spendors (and almost every other loudspeakers I've heard) by a country mile that any minor electrical deficiencies that may exist in the combination with the amplifier are rendered as a relative insignificance when listening. After all, it's what is heard with music in the end result that really matters - and the overall performance with the Reds in Lockwood cabinets is simply stunning.

However, it's interesting that you should bring this up as I have noticed some minor issues with certain material played, which through speaking with Anthony, is attributable to the characteristics of high impedance speakers regardless of whatever type of amplifier is used with them (or what taps are used, athough this helps slightly). Therefore, in order to address this I intend to give the 15" Monitor Golds, which are rated at 8 Ohms, another shot at home in the same cabinets to see what happens.

It was quite clear during the demo at the dealers that the Reds were superior to the Golds, but that was in a totally different room (I did bring the Croft and Copper amp, though) and only with music I brought with me on the day. It'll be interesting to hear what the Golds do in my own room in conjunction with the rest of my system, and what type of presentation they will offer compared to the Reds, with them being a better electrical match for the Copper amp, albeit having different sonic characteristics...

It'll simply be a matter of choosing the best compromise and what gives the optimum result with most types of music. This is very much a learning curve for me, so I'll report back in a few weeks when I obtain the Golds (and crossovers) necessary to do the comparison. It's all fun though finding out - whatever I end up with in the end will be excellent

Marco.