Who likes big dual concentric Tannoys

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Not me, they are overrated, coloured, non musically informative, too beamy, and often in yer face or inversely mushy and uninformative, depending on the cabinet - but they never sound right. The nearest to being right was in holes in Paul Messengers walls, but even then a bit Marmite.

[Macca]

I like them but I have heard them sound very good and very bad. Well sorted they are a bargain really, not many speakers can do what they do for the money.

[SteveTheShadow]

I heard some a few years ago, in horn cabs
They had me wincing. They sounded far too in yer face.
A bit like having a PA in the room.
Nuff said.

[_D_S_J_R_]

Depends on the model I think and definitely the cabinet they're fitted into. I've also heard them sound quite good (I've never heard substantially tweaked ones like Marco's) in stock form as well as abysmal and very coloured. IIILZ's are the absolute pits, and I heard a pair not long ago.

[southall-1998]

To a degree I like the Tannoy System 600. IME they sound best when worked with a Marshmallow amp

S.

[_D_S_J_R_]

I'm referring to the proper DC Tannoys, not the squitty things with plastic cones in fancy boxes The best of these latter used to be the DC2000 and DC3000's, and probably the studio versions from that period.

[Lindsayt]

For my tastes, I'd rate big Tannoy DC's above my small British speakers, but below my big yank speakers.

[Gromit]

I'm sitting on the fence, somewhere between the 'remain to be convinced' and the 'really cannot see what folk like about them' camps.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Tannoy 15 inch black, silver and red had corrugated surrounds which terminated better with horns and open cabinets but had a quite high LF rolloff, so always seemed bass light unless terminated with large horns. The gold and newer ones had foam or rubber surrounds which in theory gave the cone the ability to go lower in frequency but was not controlled unless in IB or acoustic suspension cab and seemed to me a "fix" as opposed to design solution so compromised the speaker somewhat. The HF horn in the black and red were not true hi-fi in modern terms and really need a super tweeter to function with modern amps and sources, but it was musical if tending to beam. The gold is a disaster at HF, in trying to get higher HF from the design, yet again another "fix" they cocked up the good points in the black and red. It is now brittle to "seem" to go to HF and also beams more than the older units.

So IMO if you want Tannoy DC's the way they were designed then you need black or red (and really pay stupid prices), if you want the tinkly farty PA version then get the gold, a seriously compromised drive unit with design idiosyncracies trying to bring the speaker to modern standards and failing. Like fitting an XK120 with fuel injection and air conditioning, it rather spoils the point of it.

EDIT - this is a simplistic historic explanation, and other changes were made between the ranges and during a ranges life, but the basis of my hypothesis remains true.

[Macca]

I've heard 15 inch golds twice now and I don't recognise anything of what you are saying about them. They were properly sorted crosover and cab wise though, and that makes a difference. I've heard 12 inch golds in lancaster cabs, totally original and they sounded pretty poor, no HF to speak of, muddy mids and boomy bass. I've also heard properly sorted 15'' HPD drivers in large cabs. again difficult to find fault wth. Oh and I've had a listen to some of the prestige range with the latest drivers, again very good although the Turnburrys do not have the presence of the larger efforts.

They are agnostic to the room, I think that is one of their main strengths. Forced to work with a small space? Stick them anywhere, even in corners and they don't boom. Beaming treble, maybe, but to the average enthusiast who listens alone 90% of the time that's not a major deal breaker.

In terms of bass depth and weight, dynamics, slam and sheer ease and effortlessness of the presentation you would be talking mega-money to buy a new pair of speakers that could come close. You could get sorted with 15'' HPD and some custom made cabs for around £4K which would give a speaker system that could hold its own against pretty much anything at any price. I suspect that is why they are enduringly popular.

Speaking personally, I'd rather have some big JBLs but they are not so easy to come by in the UK whereas you could buy 15'' Tannoys tomorrow if you wanted.