[15Golds]

Hi everyone..My name is Stephan and I need help and tips to build my system.

Here is what I have and am really going to keep.
1- Almost mint Tannoy 15 golds in Lancaster cabinets. 

Now, I have started shopping a bit and auditionned a few systems and several speakers and to my ears nothing comes close as far as presence and bass radiation goes. I am a deep bass type of person..And this fits me fine. In case you wonder, I have had these boxes for many years just sitting there and hooked them up to a small 200$ sony amp just for fun..Thats how I know how they sound (I think they can sound better..right?)

One:They are gigantic and weigh a ton. So I cannot bring them in for a hook-up and audition with amps and source.
Two: I need and amp,cd and phono
Three: My main music is hard rock and alternative stuff (Metallica,Led Zepplin,White Stripes....) So hard powerful music. BUT..I listen to blues,jazz,classic also.

Four: I want a really great system..I have been waiting long enough.

I have an audition with a dealer this week.

Naim CD5i
Modwright 36.5
Moon W5.3

What do you think..
I want to spoil myself and the Tannoys (within reason...)
Please guide me if you can

Best Regards
S

[lonewolfny42]

Stephan....welcome to AC.

Tannoy makes some nice speakers - I've heard a few....and their easy to drive.

Do you have a budget in mind?

The equipment you mentioned is very good....and not inexpensive.

Would you prefer tubes or solid state ? Most of the Tannoy's I've heard...their owners used a tube amp.

I'll PM a few Tannoy owners for you....

                        Chris

[Russell Dawkins]

In my experience, these speakers will benefit from much more power than the numbers would suggest. I had a pair of Ardens, which are 15" HPD 385s with Alnico magnets, nominally 94 dB/W or so which suggests that with 100 watts they would do 114 dB continuous (not!).
I listen at around 90 dB average when I listen LOUD. My amp was approx. 120 wpc. (Sugden Au31 - Canadian model). When I got a second Au31 and vertically biamped these speakers they came to life in a fantastic way which suggested they would have loved even more power.

1st point being - give them lots of juice.

2nd point - experiment if you can with infinite or open baffles. If you own your house and the configuration of your room permits, consider experimenting with turning the two corners of your listening room into triangular cross section enclosures by putting a wide baffle board across the corners. A friend whose ears I trust says this is one of the sweetest sounds he's ever heard.

3rd point - Tannoys afficionados (and they're not hard to find) seem to agree that taking off the dust screen in the center of the cone makes a big improvement. I left mine on in order not to spoil the re-sale value, but if I had intended to keep them I would have taken them off.

I also replaced the series caps to the HF unit with copper foil in oil which was an expensive improvement.

Finally, don't forget to try to cross the axes in front of you - could be easy with the corner boxes mentioned above. These big speakers can image like bandits, given half a chance.

[Ericus Rex]

Try to work out a home trial of equipment with your local shop.  That way, you'd get to her lots of set-ups with your speakers in your room.  And, by the way, when you find a setup you like, BUY IT FROM THAT SHOP.

Good luck and welcome!

[kbuzz3]

Im not an expert but as a tannoy fan i would NOT touch the dust caps!

[Hogg]

Hi,

     I have Tannoy Turnberry HE's using the hard-edge 10" drivers.  I've used both solid state and tubes to drive these speakers.  Tannoys show the character of the amp used.  For the best bass I prefer solid state; for midrange and treble, tubes.  Given your music tastes, I'd suggest solid state.  Good matches I've used are LFD, Naim, and Anatek Research.  Good luck.

                                                                                                                 Jim

                                                                                                                         

[mikef]

After hearing Jim's (Hogg) Turnberry SEs at his place in August, I was so taken with the Tannoy sound that I purchased a pair of Cheviots from ebay. These speakers use the HPD315 12 inch driver in a smaller cabinet than Jim's speakers, which is fine since I'm in a much smaller room.

So far I'm driving them with Monarchy SE-100 monoblocks, 100wpc solid state amps, with a tubed preamp (Audio Note). The speakers sound glorious, especially the midrange, where human voices just sound beautiful. Bass is definitely satisfactory with this combo. As expected from a concentric driver design, they image well, too. Are they a little rolled off on top? Maybe, but to my 54 year old ears it's hard to tell. Maybe sometime I'll try supertweeters with them, but I'm enjoying the speakers too much to care right now.

I have a Scott 222C tubed integrated that I'm having some work done on; when that amp comes back I can't wait to hear the combination. I just hope the 22 watts per channel is enough to drive the Tannoys.

To 15Golds - enjoy those Tannoys. You have a great set of speakers. I agree with Jim that for your musical preferences you should try solid state amps. There's a lot of used stuff to choose from on Audiogon; if you don't like what you hear you can always sell it on for no or little loss of money and try something else.

Mike Fox

[Hogg]

Mike,

     I knew you were a smart guy, when I first met you   Tannoy's are great speakers with and ease and focus not equaled by many others.  I'll have to hear your Tannoy's sometime.  One thing you might want to do is have the drivers inspected by a competent speaker person with prior Tannoy experience.  I've found with used Tannoy's the drivers are often out-of-spec and need to be re-coned.

                                                                                                                          Jim

[satfrat]

After hearing Jim's (Hogg) Turnberry SEs at his place in August, I was so taken with the Tannoy sound that I purchased a pair of Cheviots from ebay. These speakers use the HPD315 12 inch driver in a smaller cabinet than Jim's speakers, which is fine since I'm in a much smaller room.

So far I'm driving them with Monarchy SE-100 monoblocks, 100wpc solid state amps, with a tubed preamp (Audio Note). The speakers sound glorious, especially the midrange, where human voices just sound beautiful. Bass is definitely satisfactory with this combo. As expected from a concentric driver design, they image well, too. Are they a little rolled off on top? Maybe, but to my 54 year old ears it's hard to tell. Maybe sometime I'll try supertweeters with them, but I'm enjoying the speakers too much to care right now.

I have a Scott 222C tubed integrated that I'm having some work done on; when that amp comes back I can't wait to hear the combination. I just hope the 22 watts per channel is enough to drive the Tannoys.

To 15Golds - enjoy those Tannoys. You have a great set of speakers. I agree with Jim that for your musical preferences you should try solid state amps. There's a lot of used stuff to choose from on Audiogon; if you don't like what you hear you can always sell it on for no or little loss of money and try something else.

Mike Fox

I know what you mean Mike,,,, Jim's Tannoy's when connected to his tube components were simply so glorious, the music forced me to close my eyes and block out my surroundings. But from that point, that 6 layer chocolate cake took over and I was out like a light.

I would defintely take that 4+ hour drive again tho just to hear that system. 


Cheers,
Robin

[mikef]

One thing you might want to do is have the drivers inspected by a competent speaker person with prior Tannoy experience.  I've found with used Tannoy's the drivers are often out-of-spec and need to be re-coned.

                                                                                                                          Jim

Jim,

I purchased the speakers from the owner of A Brown Soun, a speaker manufacturer (Tone Tubby speakers) and authorized Tannoy repair service. His company refoamed the speakers prior to my purchasing them.

Mike Fox

[15Golds]

Thanks everyone, this site is unreal. Priceless..
I will audition the Modwright / Moon today..and see from there.
All your comments are very welcome and I can see the knowledge.
Thanks

Stephan

[face]

I second Russ's suggestion to change the HF capacitors.  It made a night and day difference in my HPD's.

[mcullinan]

After hearing Jim's (Hogg) Turnberry SEs at his place in August, I was so taken with the Tannoy sound that I purchased a pair of Cheviots from ebay. These speakers use the HPD315 12 inch driver in a smaller cabinet than Jim's speakers, which is fine since I'm in a much smaller room.

So far I'm driving them with Monarchy SE-100 monoblocks, 100wpc solid state amps, with a tubed preamp (Audio Note). The speakers sound glorious, especially the midrange, where human voices just sound beautiful. Bass is definitely satisfactory with this combo. As expected from a concentric driver design, they image well, too. Are they a little rolled off on top? Maybe, but to my 54 year old ears it's hard to tell. Maybe sometime I'll try supertweeters with them, but I'm enjoying the speakers too much to care right now.

I have a Scott 222C tubed integrated that I'm having some work done on; when that amp comes back I can't wait to hear the combination. I just hope the 22 watts per channel is enough to drive the Tannoys.

To 15Golds - enjoy those Tannoys. You have a great set of speakers. I agree with Jim that for your musical preferences you should try solid state amps. There's a lot of used stuff to choose from on Audiogon; if you don't like what you hear you can always sell it on for no or little loss of money and try something else.

Mike Fox

I know what you mean Mike,,,, Jim's Tannoy's when connected to his tube components were simply so glorious, the music forced me to close my eyes and block out my surroundings. But from that point, that 6 layer chocolate cake took over and I was out like a light.

I would defintely take that 4+ hour drive again tho just to hear that system. 


Cheers,
Robin

They were really awesome... if I had an extra wing in my mansion, theyd be here! The only thing I would give the Tannoys is a weightier cabinet.  I heard resonances!!!!!! I did. But still the sound was something I really enjoyed. BEside I love the look of the Tannoys
Mike

[face]

They were really awesome... if I had an extra wing in my mansion, theyd be here! The only thing I would give the Tannoys is a weightier cabinet.  I heard resonances!!!!!! I did. But still the sound was something I really enjoyed. BEside I love the look of the Tannoys
Mike

Add ribs(3/4"x3" MDF strips) to the large walls and 1" dowels between front/back and top/bottom, and anti-resonance padding the cabinet walls, it will make a night and day difference.  Sometimes even adding a few inches of polyfill or fiberglass to the bottom of the enclosure can make a audible difference.  I replaced my Arden cabs with custom 200 liter cabs made out of 3/4" MDF.  Bass response was improved, but at loud volumes they still became boomy.  I then added the items I listed above, it made a tremendous difference.

Mike