[santacore]

I'm borrowing a pair of Tannoy's that my brother picked up at a thrift store. The good news is he didn't pay much and they sound good. The bad news is he knows the value of them and won't sell them cheap, plus the cabinets are in bad shape. They are labeled Tannoy Mallorcans and have 12" gold drivers inside. They look like this guys speakers, but beat up:


Overall they sound really good. One speaker seems to be a little brighter then the other. By tweaking the controls on the back I've been able to match them fairly close.

I guess I'm looking for advice from people who have dealt with these. My initial thoughts are to have new cabinets built and to replace all the caps in the crossovers. I understand that a lot of the Tannoy cabinets of this era were not necessarily built optimally for these drivers. Any suggestions for plans for new cabinets? Any suggestions on what reasonably priced caps would work well in the crossovers?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[kbuzz3]

 The good news for you is that if the drivers within you cabs are indeed classic golds, then to some,  they are one of the most desirable drivers ever, period.  Do a google as there a lot of plans out there for both cabinets and x-over rebuilds.  The best source of info is the tannoy group at yahoo. Those guys know there stuff. The hibernik site is also a wealth of info particularly for the golds: http://www.hilberink.nl/speaker.htm

Unfortunately, many of the folks who are active on those sites are DIY's re woodworking and xover builds. This does not help technically incompetent folks like myself. But if you can DIY, I think you have a true audio treasure there. You can even build a pair of classic GRF corner cabinets.

I am in a similar position vis a vis a pair of vintage red tannoy 12 inch drivers but have no tech skills. BTW If you stumble across a tech with true vintage tannoy experience and/or who is sensitive to the audiophile's vintage equipment fetish please let me know. I have some drivers id like him to take a look at.

I have custom cabinets built by a now defunct maker which im happy to provide pics of or make available to take a look in ny.  They use vintage coax on top, a unique sub in below and two large passive radiators on the side. However, they are made for reds. Im sure they could be adapted, buy i have no measurements or specs. see http://www.hilberink.nl/codehans/tannoy17.htm

 

[enjoythemusic]

Agreed, the stock cabinets are not the best. My dad built his own, and as i recall they are about 3 q/ft internally, normal inside dampening, and he has a power tuned to ???? Someone online should have the specs and then build a cabinet to those. Rebuilding the x-over is easy once you know the part specs, but sub out the slider for a proper stepped attenuator (DACT in my preference).

NICE FIND!!!

[santacore]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll fish around more on the net for new cabinet designs. I found one informative post which had info straight from Tannoy, but they say the cabinets should be 150 litres. Does anybody have an idea of how they translates to numbers I can understand?

Although not cheap, this should be a fun project. These gold drivers really are sweet looking. If I can clean up the sound a bit I think I could really like them. Right now, the low mids and bass are pretty muddy. I'm not sure if it's the cabinet or the aging crossovers that are to blame. I guess I can start with rebuilding the crossovers and see where I stand. Does anyone have suggestions for good caps to replace the originals? Most people online seem to use the Solens but I'm hoping for better without spending a fortune.

[enjoythemusic]

FORMULA: 1 litres = cu inches 61.03

[santacore]

Thanks Steven!

[face]

Any updates?

[santacore]

Sorry, no update, but thanks for asking. For now they are just sitting in my office unused. I was told by one shop that I needed a new tweeter in 1 speaker. Because of the potential cost and concern over leaving vintage speakers like this with a random repair shop I've decided to hold off on doing anything for now. Not sure what's going to happen from here. I need to talk it over with my brother who actually owns them and was going to sell them to me.

[face]

If it's just the diaphragm that needs replacement, it's not a difficult job, but the part is costly.  You can find directions on the net somewhere, if not, join the Tannoy group on Yahoo and someone can walk you through it.

[Russell Dawkins]

Here is a source for factory surround kits for 12s and 15s and HF diaphragm kits. Factory surrounds are not easy to find, in my experience, and this is the only US source I know of. Before this it seemed you had to buy from a supplier in Australia!

http://tinyurl.com/eoaeu