Any experience with Tannoy loudspeakers?

@williewonka
My Tannoys are situated in a section of my living area room, backed into a little alcove (4 feet deep) that’s 14 feet wide and serves as the front wall for my setup. The length of the room in the other dimension is 21 feet. 10 foot ceilings. However, the left wall is only partial, and the right side opens up into the rest of the main living area - fully 30 feet in that dimension. So there’s effectively a bit more space around Tannoys than there would be in an actual closed 14’x21’x10’ rectangular room. The Canterbury is an excellent size for this space. I used to own Kensington SE, and their bass was a little lean in the same room. And the best bass I heard in this room was from Yorkminster SE, but unfortunately its midrange is not as beautiful as the Canterbury.

The bit of room asymmetry is not ideal, but the building construction is excellent and I’ll easily take a little asymmetry over a flimsy construction with bouncy floor and low ceiling under a drywall shoebox. No residential neighbors around, either, so late night loud listening is my favorite pass-time :) And my seating at midfiend/nearfield-ish, along with Tannoy’s controlled dispersion, largely mitigates the asymmetry effects. Sounds amazing! Total immersion into the musical performance, with good records. 

The 12” driver with traditional reflex porting, like the discontinued Yorkminster SE and current GRF 90, will give excellent bass extension - significantly better than the 15” Canterbury. I think that is due to the distributed port on the Canterbury and most other Prestige models - but also I speculate that distributed porting helps given them a sweeter midrange at the expense of bass extension. 

Thinking about this some more, I wonder if @islandmandan ’s custom build, with reflex porting and a large vintage Tannoy HPD driver, would achieve a nice balance of bass extension plus sweet midrange. Especially paired with the right tube amp, which it seems he’s also done. And good god Dan - your custom cabinets are beyond gorgeous! Brilliant work.

Mulvening, I have to be honest with you, I didn't actually build them myself. At the time I started the build, I didn't have the necessary space, or the tools and skills to make them. Frank Wyatt of Wyatt Woodworking built them for me.

I have, since then, sanded and polished the finish (Frank attempted his first high gloss finish, which he had much trouble getting right). There was orange-peel, and a few runs as well. They still looked nice, I but I wanted them better. I replaced the woofers with ones that Lockwood converted to hard edge surrounds for me. I also built the crossovers, and wired the speakers.

My woodworking skills have improved, which is evident on my plinth for the Garrard 401.

The SET 300B amp is an Audio Assemblage which was built by Sonic Frontiers, which was sold in kit form. This particular amp had been built for a reviewer, with all the available upgrades. After I purchased it, I sent it back to them, and had the caps and resistors upgraded, and bought EML XLS 300B tubes to run in it, which made the amp sound very nice indeed. The amp has a set of quite large transformers, which has a great deal to do with why it can drive the Tannoys to very satisfying levels.

I apologize if you feel mislead about the speaker enclosures, I feel, after having spent years working on them, including the fact they were built to my specifications, that I feel I had a great deal to do with the outcome of what they are today.

I have admired your system for years now, and I know how much you must enjoy it. The fact that you are able to listen to the music you do shows what Tannoys are capable of. They are what I would call agnostic regarding what music they will play well.

Best regards,
Dan