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Tannoy Westminster amp matching question.

Hello again everyone. Its been a while but I'd like your advice if possible.

I'm waiting for a pair of Tannoy Westminster royal SE's to arrive ( end of dec ). And I'm wondering what to amps to match them with. I have very limited funds at the moment(budget of 3k or so), having lashed out on the speakers, and I'm thinking I'd like to go SET power amps again. So looking at second hand bargains. At the moment I'm thinking Sophia Electric 300b or Art Audio symphony II. Alternative suggestions please !!!!

To give you an idea of my tastes. The system I've put together, that I enjoyed the most, was Avantgarde Duo's and Yamamoto A08s. Loved it. I listen to all sorts of music: Rock, choral, opera, jazz. Love well done female vocals :-)

Thanks for your time.
borg7x9
dover
1,165 posts
 
Charlesdad
Thanks for the response. I think we would agree on most points. Virtually all the posts were recommending low power tubes. If I'm buying an amp for a new pair of speakers, I would try to hear as much as possible of all types of amplifier. Tube amps I have heard extensively and do like are the Air Tight ATM3 monos, Marantz 8B, original Quicksilver 8417's, EAR 519/549's & Futterman OTL1's.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Dover,
I think we do agree on most points especially the advantage of trying different amplifiers if this is possible.Based on the replies in this thread it seems clear a variety of amps would work sucessfully with Borg`s speakers.

Dover you mentioned the Bakoon amp driving the Coincident qiite easily, this does`nt surprise me. My room is 14'x26'x8' and I can completely saturate the room with full scale sound and energy with my 8 watt amp.I`d really like to hear the Bakoon and also the First Watt S.I.T.-1 amp with my speakers. Both are said to be very special.
What`s your impression of the Bakoon with appropriate speakers? Is it organic?

Regards,
dover
1,165 posts
 
The Bakoon I have listened to quite frequently was the SCA7511 with Vishay attenuator. It has a grainless, reasonably transparent sound - very very smooth and easy to listen to. As stated I personally found it underpowered with the Tannoys, but it seems to work well with the Coincindents. I preferred it to the Frankensteins. The Border Patrol 300B also works very well with the Coincidents.
borg7x9 OP
86 posts
 
I love it when we all get along. :-).

Atmas, thanks for the insights into your design aims. Its very nice of you to share them with us.

When my speakers finally arrive (its killing me) I'll experiment and tell you what I liked and why I thought that way. I'll try and see if I can add an demo SET to my auditioned components.....

So in the meanwhile, have a happy Holiday everyone, stay safe and I hope to chat with you early in the new year.

(I'll have to wait for the speakers to burn in first. Daammmmitttt ).
mikedimitrov's avatar
mikedimitrov
126 posts
 
I had chance to listen TW SE in friends house with Manley 25o old reference monoblocks yestarday.I have TW Royal versions at home with awesome SS amp Sroll Lyric(extremely clean sounding),I was very happy with it.But then i heard tube monoblocks Challenge 833 with 80w Aclass in triode and it was amazing.Since then I am thinking about tubes,many people were telling me,with Tannoys you need tubes and I did not listen.:( Yesterday I heard 20 yers old Manley as metioned above and I never heard such lows in my system,not even with 833's.I wonder,since these Manley"s are very rare to come by in used market,how would manley neo250 or 500 compare with these old beasts 240 ref?Any thoughts?Yesterday's listening experience gave me a big lesson,you don't need precise clean sterile amp to achive the highest goal and that is :MUSIC SHOULD PASS THROUGH THE EMOTIONAL INFORMATION(John Atkinson said that few years ago on this subject)!So I decided to try McIntosh monoblocks 2301.I will bring them for audition on saturday.Manley sound is staying with me till then.Greetings from Czech rep
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