Marco's journey to Tannoy-land

[Marco]

Never mind, I found em... I just ordered 3 matched ones.

Nice one. You defo won't regret it! I just hope that they start doing 6SN7s, 6SL7s, etc, and power valves such as KT88s... Now *that* would be very exciting indeed.

I don't normally go for modern production valves, as to my ears top-notch NOS are usually significantly better, but the Tech-Tube ones are a different ball-game altogether... The years of R&D they've put into the product has clearly paid off big time!!

Marco.

[Mike]

Hope so, I'll see how they do in my phono stage.

I'm building up a significant pile of surplus valves, maybe I ought to flog a few!

[DSJR]

I could perhaps do with a quad of ECC83's for the Croft's phono stage, balanced bright and clear, rather than "classic Mullard" warm & sweet if you have any that fit this description. The ones in there seem fine, but apart from the monika, have no maker's ID at all that I can see. Apparently, when and if these valves go down, the bass extension suffers first.

[frogspit]

Don't worry about it - I think both topics can run alongside each other quite happily

Thanks Marco-much appreciated.

I'm a long way from my speakers being sorted, so this, along with all the other Tannoy sites, is very helpful. Along with modifying my cabinets (and probably building at least one more prototype), my next step is the xovers. I'm very interested in yours, since they are scratch built, and not mods of the existing vintage. Is the design proprietary, or is there some chance of seeing a schematic?

Thanks, and again thanks to all for the kind welcome.

[Mike]

I could perhaps do with a quad of ECC83's for the Croft's phono stage, balanced bright and clear, rather than "classic Mullard" warm & sweet if you have any that fit this description. The ones in there seem fine, but apart from the monika, have no maker's ID at all that I can see. Apparently, when and if these valves go down, the bass extension suffers first.

THESE sound very, very good and are a drop-in replacement for ECC83/12AX7 types. There'll be a slight reduction in gain though.

[Ali Tait]

Sounds good Marco,and much cheaper than the best NOS.Mike,let us know how you get on with yours.

[Marco]

Hi Dave,

The techtube valves can ring in the wrong application, but they found that damping the innards too much took the "magic" away - make of that what you will... it's all explained on their site.

That's what I found, too. I've never liked those 'cock rings' on valves, or in this case, the enclosed rubber 'condom' (my rather mucky mind must find a joke in there somewhere ).

Dampen ringing it/they may do, but to my ears, it/they also dampen the sound, making for a more rounded-off presentation, which is not to my liking, robbing the sound of the vim and sparkle which makes these valves so attractive to listen to in the first place.

Also, the one and only ECC83 in the Croft is hidden once the lid goes on, so it's a case of 'out of sight, out of mind', enabling one to fret not about any (IMO insignificant) issues of microphony. Besides, even if using the enclosed 'condom' marginally improved the sound, I'd be more worried about the heat generated melting it, as my Croft preamp is usually switched on for most of the day and often left unattended for periods of time.

No, for me, the 'ringing' thing is a non-issue and not something I'd concern myself with unduly, unless perhaps in applications where multiple valves are used. Concentrate instead on the wonderfully musical sound these superb valves produce!!

In the Charisma preamp, does the phono stage feed into the line stage as mine does?

Yes.

if so, it may just be the understated (by comparison) nature of a neutral mastering (hopefully) compared to a very dramatic presentation from Marco's race-tuned Technics.

Could be, Dave, but I suspect not. I think Steve makes a very valid point. Knowing Glenn quite well, and his particular hi-fi proclivities (he hates CD with a passion), I'd bet any amount of money that his designs are optimised first and foremost for vinyl replay (using a MM cartridge), and the line stage, although excellent and as good as anything on most preamps, not having quite the same magic... It's an area into which I intend to investigate in due course.

Without hearing his deck and CD combo and choice of CD's, it's difficult to summise on here. Again, I understand that the Sony combo isn't standard either - apologies Marco.

No it isn't. It's been heavily modified by Mark at Audiocom. You'd honestly struggle to better it for less than about £12k, which should give you an indication as to just how good the Techy sounds!!

Music-wise, we listened to all sorts when Steve was round, including Regina Spector, Eagles, Tiesto, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Beth Neilsen-Chapman, Mark Knopfler, Paulo Nutini, Stevie Wonder, Mr Hudson & the Library, Falty DL, PJ Harvey, Madeleine Peyroux, and tons of other stuff

Marco.

[soundfanz]

Tannoys annd valves go hand in glove IMO. I will return to valves one day, and have owned Tannoy LRM's and a pair of 15" HPD 385 dual concentrics in huge backloaded horns. Those through a vinyl source via valve amp is pretty special.

Chris

[Marco]

Indeed they are, Chris. However, there are Tannoys and there are Tannoys, so to speak - just like it is with any other speakers, I suppose. HPDs are excellent, but the true Tannoy magic, in my experience, comes from the vintage DC designs with pepperpot tweeters, such as Monitor Reds and Golds - and the bigger the better!

Outside of Ian Walker's superb 1995 vintage Canterburys (which use the pepperpot 3889 drivers), I've not heard any modern Tannoys which cut it in the same way. Cabinet design and crossover quality are also hugely influential in terms of one hearing the magic in all its considerable glory

Marco.

[DSJR]

Thanks for comments above Mike & Marco - much good to ponder and I have saved the page with those valves on Mike, as I think the techtube ones are going to really break the bank at present..

I have an idea that spending too much on my existing preamp is a wasted spend, as I'm unlikely to get this back and it really wouldn't surprise me if the R version of his new model is better anyway..