[FullRangeMan]

Surround is foam or rubber?

[arthurs]

You bought the whole floorstanding enclosure speaker or only the drivers?
Its a great sound FR speaker, complex enclousure and expensive to made:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH5OIEpqrCM

Love mine!

[S Clark]

Art, you've had some awfully good speakers over the years.  What do the Tannoy's do that put them with some of those others?

[arthurs]

Hi Scott, I've been really fortunate over the years indeed.

The big Tannoy's are very coherent (I guess due to design but am not an expert) and express music in a way that is tonal and beautiful.  They put forward life size images that are quite dense or solid, and create a huge soundstage with terrific ambient character.  I just like listening to them and can for hours.  That's the easiest test. 

I don't guess they are everyone's cup of tea, and everything has trade offs, but I have always assumed that about all setups and gear.  But they are my cup of tea!   

One other thought, they are very responsive to what you put in front of them.



 

[Hugh]

When do we do tea Sir?

[arthurs]

When do we do tea Sir?

Anytime you want Hugh!

[shooter]

Tone is what set these type of speakers apart from most modern audiophile speakers, most direct radiator type speakers will sound bleached in comparison.

[arthurs]

Totally agree Ka.  Ken Yuan and I were just reminiscing the other day about the time we came to listen to the speakers in your avatar at your studio. Beautiful tone. 

[shooter]

Hi Art, Thanks for the compliment! We have to have another get together, every component in my system has either been changed or modified since you heard them 5 years ago, they are very dialed in now.

[arthurs]

Would be awesome to hear Ka!  Keep me posted on when you're thinking of having it!

[shooter]

You can read a lot more on the subject of Tannoy Westminster Royal and tone what he refer to as real sound on Jeff Day's blog
http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/

[arthurs]

Love Jeff's blog!  If I had the skills I would do the Duelund crossovers for my Westminster's.

[shooter]

it shouldn't be too difficult to reverse engineer it, we have a couple of meticulous DIYers in my listening group may be they can help. My workmanship is C- at best!!!

[arthurs]

They published a schematic for high and low frequencies. Looks like a cool $12K for all the Duelund parts....let's discuss local diy options next time we're able to get together.

[roscoe65]

They published a schematic for high and low frequencies. Looks like a cool $12K for all the Duelund parts....let's discuss local diy options next time we're able to get together.

Jeff's crossover is an obvious statement piece - I don't think it is possible to spend more on a passive crossover if you tried.  It appears that he is using the stock circuit with ultra premium parts.  I'm sure that much of the performance can be had a far less than $12k.  Instead of Dueland silver autoformers you could choose Werner Jalhmusch's, and instead of Dueland Cast capacitors you could choose a lesser Dueland (or vintage PIO or Jupiter or Audyn even).

Jeff appeared to go from 0 to 200 mph with the crossovers.  He didn't see what incremental changes would do (as he had in his McIntosh MC30 upgrades).  This approach is tempting, since the "best" components must sound best, right?  This is the sort of approach we saw in the 1980's and 90's, where boutique parts were added to high end components to "improve" them.  Unfortunately, sometimes these esoteric parts actually make the sound worse.  I have had a couple of experiences in which the el cheapo parts chosen by talented designers (Stan Warren, Superphon and Dennis Had, Inspire) were ones that they and ultimately I found to sound best.  Sometimes over engineering and overthinking doesn't work.

The upshot is that there is probably a sweet spot - perhaps Audyn capacitors, Dueland wire, mills resistors - that significantly improves the sound without costing as much as a good used Honda.

[OzarkTom]

Tannoys, better than sex? Harvey Rosenberg thought so.

http://www.meta-gizmo.org/Tri/tannoymanianew.html

[shooter]

I won't go that far on any piece of audio gear, I might change my mind when I turn 90 .

[S Clark]

Love Jeff's blog!  If I had the skills I would do the Duelund crossovers for my Westminster's.

Art, crossovers are a piece of cake if you've got the schematic.  You buy the parts, and for a couple of glasses of nice wine, a bit of aged cheese, a little bread and I'll drive in to the Metroplex and build it for you... plus a couple of hours of listening time. 

[arthurs]

Art, crossovers are a piece of cake if you've got the schematic.  You buy the parts, and for a couple of glasses of nice wine, a bit of aged cheese, a little bread and I'll drive in to the Metroplex and build it for you... plus a couple of hours of listening time.

That sounds like a deal Scott!  It may be a bit before I get to this but will definitely pong you when ready. Thanks dude!