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Tannoy Stirling GR initial impressions

I found a pair used on Audiogon and pulled the trigger, unseen and unheard. With their Scotland factory shut down by Behringer, which bought the company last spring and promptly fired everyone, there are precious few dealers with any stock left, and none in the northeast U.S. that I could find.

I'm in a temporary rental, so don't have any of my usual gear.. Rather than wait a couple weeks to get them set up properly, I grabbed a Kenwood A5070 receiver for fifty bucks off craigslist, some 18 gauge zip cord, and a cheapie mini-headphone to RCA I.C. The source is a 2009 Macbook Pro. The Macbook's DAC is borderline decent, it's headphone amp... less so. But even with this barely mid-fi setup, the Tannoys are in some ways exquisite, and in other ways, frustrating. But personality they have in spades.

First, they are extraordinarily beautifully made. The joiner work and finish on the cabinets are just outstanding. A pox on Behringer for destroying a company that dedicated such talent, care, and passion in the products they built.

The sound:
The presentation is Row A. If you don't like your music from the front row, these aren't for you. Close-mic'd piano sounds like your head is under the lid. Mids and highs are extremely smooth, natural, and very extended. The Tannoys give all the detail a mix or mastering engineer would love, but without any screechiness or glare, and without seeming hyper-detailed. It's all musical, and you *will* hear details you probably never noticed before. Low-level harmonic detail is exquisite. They play at low levels better than any moving-coil speakers I've heard. No, they're not Quad 57's, but they're pretty close. Like other efficient speakers, they are punchy as hell, and go *very* loud with no change in timbre. Think Klipsch, but with a very extended smooth, fast, high end. Cymbals and bells will give goosebumps, over and over. That's fun.

The mid/high detail is seductive. Even as I felt they were too much in my face, they drew me into the performance as few other speakers have.

The bottom end is another story. With this crummy setup, they have a pretty big ported-speaker bump about 80 Hz, which I didn't expect on speakers this big. EQ-ing that down improves things somewhat, but the bottom is pretty wooly. And they do not plumb the depths at all; they are down 6 dB at 38Hz, and as the bass rolloff is a 12 dB/octave cliff. I'm guessing the bottom is usable to the low 40's or so, which again is about what Klipshorn owners get. In the next few weeks we'll see how much a good room tames that bump, which is a deal-killer for me.

Dispersion seems pretty narrow vertically, and OK horizontally. You definitely want the drivers aimed exactly at your ear height.

Imaging is superb. With good recordings you can stare down the speakers, but hear the music coming from a beautifully defined sound stage floating between them. Tannoy certainly something had good going with their dual-concentric technology.

I suspect the Tannoys will benefit from as much space as you can give them. Perversely, they can also be near-fields. Pointed at your ears from about six feet away, the imaging and visceral involvement is intense.

If any of this intrigues you, grab a pair. UK dealers have lots of 'em, and with the Pound continuing to roll down the hill, buying from a dealer there and shipping is not prohibitive. They're not for everyone, and I'm not sure they're for me, but listening to them even with this crummy setup, I get why they are legendary.

Behringer says they will resume production in China, but I don't believe him. Even if they do, there is no way they could duplicate the dedication of those Scots who lavished such love and care on the work they did. (The owners manual has many photos, and it looks like the average age of the Tannoy worker was somewhere in the late sixties. Experience counts.)

More to come. Stay tuned.

WW
"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.


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Topic - Tannoy Stirling GR initial impressions - Bill Way 12:39:21 10/24/16 (12)

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