Best Tannoys for mid-field listening?

Hi Bob,

I believe that this issue you have of more a speaker placement matter than the speaker's fault. I have a pair of Glenair 15 and they image very well at diverse listening positions (it's not clear to me what you mean with "resolve").
It's worth it to read this review, where the reviewer much enjoyed listening to the 15' Glenairs from a close listening position, as if listening to headphones:
http://dagogo.com/tannoy-glenair-floorstanding-speaker-review

All the best,
Alberto

Hi Bob Rodgers,

Who knows....the speakers can easily work there. But I forget - are the Glenairs the Tulip waveguide? If so, I don't find them as coherent, and I find them brighter.

Then there's amps, cables, on and on.

I've always used my tulip and then pepperpot Tannoys in similarly-distanced configurations. I've also heard the Glenairs (both models) many times. There are differences in sound between various models, but all were coherent at short distances. Though the Glenairs are not my favorite Tannoys, I do like them, and they're pretty neutral -- certainly not bright. It's unfortunate to hear about your troubles, and I'd suggest spending some time investigating whether any upstream gear or even connections may be the culprit.

Though you may be dealing with significant back-wall reflections, since you're firing down the short dimension, in my experience it's still very difficult to "drag a Tannoy down with the room". Thus, I would suspect some kind of electrical/matchup issue before room acoustics.

Thanks all for the helpful tips. Keep them coming!

Alberto, to clarify what I meant by not "resolving," the treble was too bright, and didn't seem to blend seamlessly with mids. I always had the feeling that if I was somehow able to back up a few feet, things would fall into place. Could this be an effect of the horn loading?

-Bob

Hi Bob,
9-10ft distance should be just fine if you toe them in enough.
But as Dan inferred, best is still to set them up along the short wall (if at all possible).

Also, have you tried playing with some room treatments - diffuser/absorber in front of
fire-place? I'm guessing there could be a suck-out causing the anomalies (coherency
issue) you are experiencing.

That said, if you plan/ready to step it up a notch I'd get these..
One of my favorite mid sized Tannoy :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAvH-IaOxcs&list=LLgL1-
qTT8j7jAzIPdqttDuw&index=2

*And oh btw., I just love how that Kenrick guy set up his various Tannoys and JBLs..
So damn musical with what seems to be minimum fuss! Far more musically compelling
than most of today's highly touted brands, yes discernible even through YouTube,
imho. ;)

*What are rest of your rig?