Comments on Tannoy Kensington SE - Room size


I have auditioned the Tannoy Kensington SE at In Living Stereo in NYC with Shindo electronics and I must say the I was extremely impressed. (I have a Monbrison and Quicksilver 6C33C monoblock triodes). There is a dynamic orgainic musicality to them unlike virtually any other speaker I have auditioned. Also very emotionally engaging. No hi fi thrills. No supertweeter or bass down to 20hz, just plain musical. Why don't more people have these speakers or other tannoys? The size of my room is 13.5' x 17 x 8. I do not believe they will overpower the room. Any comments as how they will play in the room or the speakers?
aronsss
I'd love to hear a pair, but no where, absolutely no where remotely close to me to hear them. They are huge in Japan, and you see photos of the biggest Westminsters in tiny rooms, cabinets wall to wall, with the amp dwarfed in the middle.
I would say they'd fit in your room easily, from what I read. It's just that many don't want such a large cabinet dominating their space. I suppose it's no different than the case of big planars.
If they sound like people say they do, I'd give them the space in a heartbeat.
I think that your room will match Kensington just right. Even though your room is half of mine, I can tell you that they are not that finchy on placement. I have them placed between 1,6' - 2' (I hope I got that right, I am used to the European meters) from bounderies behind and on the side; so they do not need a lot of space to breath. But within these bounderies you notice the different by moving them only 0,07'.

I see from your electronics that you may get a stellar setup with Kensington. They really love tubes, and especially dynamic and musical gear. I have only read about Quicksilver, but from the rumours it seems to be about dynamic action. And Shindo is famous for musicality.
Yeah, one more thing: Chasas1 mentioned all the Japanese systems with huge Tannoys in small rooms. I have seen a lot of pictures of these beautifull systems. However, I have the impression that they often pair Tannoys with flea-powered SET amps and conduct near-field listening. I am sure this has its beauty, but it is different from the effect it has when you pair Tannoy Prestige with push-pull amps in a bigger room: they may then project a huge soundfield that energize the room in a liquid, holistic and musical way.
I also own a pair with a Mac 2300 preamp and Mc 275 amp my room is 14x15 and they sound great one of the best sound stages. I would recommend a pair of Tannoy ST 200's.
Hi Kipp, why the ST200's? wouldn't that be a step down in the line? I thought the Prestige series were the beesknees?
A reviewer I pay attention to, Jeff Day, now of positive feedback, is getting a pair of westminsters sometime soon. I hope he posts about them. You don't find a lot written about them. I joined the Tannoy group, but they mostly talk about winding coils or making boxes, and that part of it certainly doesn't interest me.
thanks