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Anyone got, or heard, Tannoy Precision 6.2 speakers. they seem to be well reviewed and are on sale right now at £799 (£1000 off ). I am unfortunately unable to demo before buying.
Rest of proposed system is CA Streammagic 6 v2 and a CA Azur 651W Power Amp. Room is 25 SQM.
I wouldn't buy any speaker, Tannoy otherwise, without a demo. Well I might buy a Tannoy Westminster if it was stupidly cheap, but you do at least need an idea of whether the tone suits your ear.
For me speakers are the most characteristic part of a hifi.
What my road riding pal said.
Not to mention how it works with your electronics and in your room.
May look like a bargain...
I like my DC6t's very much.
I quite like Tannoy. But I'd want to audition them first, especially at that sort of money.
I bought Tannoy Eyris floorstanders about 12 years ago without auditioning them. Similarly priced and discounted.... Run them now with an Arcam AVR400 and they are still magnificent
I had a pair of tannoy d700s and they are the best speakers I've ever had even better than my acoustic energy AE2S special editions. They were jaw dropping.
A pair of £1800 loudspeakers with £1000 off are guaranteed to sound fantastic.
Seriously though, buy and take a hit getting rid second hand if you don't like them? The what hifi review is very good (although the listening source material is dubious*) and therefore think you'd shift them on easily.
*not that I don't like daft punk, I actually really like them but not something I'd use to illustrate how a speaker sounds!
IMO it's all about sound signature I tested about a dozen setups last time.
Thanks all..yes ideally I want a demo but it's not possible. Shifting 2nd hand may also be challenging given logistics of posting.
If they are fairly accurate transducers then you could always consider the digital EQ route if they don't match your room.
There is more to a speaker than just accurate reproduction though.
huggis - MemberThanks all..yes ideally I want a demo but it's not possible. Shifting 2nd hand may also be challenging given logistics of posting.
Use a courier. But if they are selling for < 1/2 RRP then you have to think about the SH value.
I guess it may depend on what your listening preferences are and how they would pair with your amp. Having said that, I have generally found Tannoy to pretty unfussy speakers when it comes to pairing with amps. Personally I do like Tannoy very much. Currently still have a pair of standmount Mercury S speakers that are roughly 25 years old and are still sounding lovely. The new Revolution XT floor standers are very nice and represent excellent value for money so I can't imagine you going too far wrong with the Precision's at what looks to be a bit of a bargain price.
I would argue that a pair of £1800 speakers (or any high priced speakers for that matter) can still sound pretty gash. For example, Focal. And others can have an interesting sound which you may or may not like eg Spendor. However, as I said, I can't see you going wrong with these Tannoys. 🙂
Still using my 633 floor standers. Bought for hundred quid from a guy with a mountain of gear who just wanted to get rid. Happy with them.
Shifting 2nd hand may also be challenging given logistics of posting
Keep the boxes and packaging and get a courier pick-up from your house/work.
TurnerGuy - Member
If they are fairly accurate transducers then you could always consider the digital EQ route if they don't match your room.There is more to a speaker than just accurate reproduction though.
But you need to make sure you have a reasonably controlled acoustic listening environment first before you can go anywhere near EQ. E.g. you have null/dip in your frequency response at the listening position caused by reflection from a side wall. Trying to EQ this away by boosting the loudspeaker response at that frequency isn't going to work. It's a physical cancellation of acoustic energy occurring in the room not a deficiency in the loudspeaker system itself.
My friend had a pair of seriously expensive Quad Electrostatic speakers - he thought they sounded wonderful, i thought they sounded dreadful so you really need to listen to them and ideally in your own room with your own equipment.
Sounds like I need to pass these up :-(. Seems to be too risky that I won't like the sound
Trying to EQ this away by boosting the loudspeaker response at that frequency isn't going to work.
Interestingly Lyngdorf/Tact recommend putting their subwoofer type driver in the corners of the room, which you would think would be the worse place for it. However I suppose it is easier to control by EQ because there are no reflections to deal with.
There is more to a speaker than just accurate reproduction though.
Go on...
Interestingly Lyngdorf/Tact recommend putting their subwoofer type driver in the corners of the room, which you would think would be the worse place for it. However I suppose it is easier to control by EQ because there are no reflections to deal with.
It's the most efficient location for the loudspeaker/subwoofer to couple with the low frequency room modes (resonances of the air volume in the room).
It's the most efficient location for the loudspeaker/subwoofer to couple with the low frequency room modes (resonances of the air volume in the room).
yes I know that - especially as we are talking about Tannoy speakers :
Your Christmas cactus needs watering 😛
Go on...
dispersion patterns, baffle step effect, cabinet resonances, crossover design...
A mate has just had some PA speakers and matching sub designed by the guy who used to run Spendor - passive and run by Crown amps so making a very portable and flexible arrangement - and the dispersion to the side is very impressive - you can stand right out to the side of the speaker with virtually no change in the sound.
The cone and dust cap profile have a lot to do with this - he had to have a custom run of the drivers made.
The look a bit like these that he has done for the Royal Opera House, but narrower :
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/a-night-at-the-opera/
I have heard many of his speaker designs and they always have an exceptionally seductive midrange - whereas other accurate designs, for example PMC FB1+, are accurate but sterile/unrealistic compared.
I have some of his external crossovers for the LS3/5a and the difference to a normal LS3/5a is unbelievable - way more transparent and tons less THD. Same drive units and cabinet though...
Your Christmas cactus needs watering
some anonymous person whose speakers happened to appear on the images tab when I searched for them, you mean...
I have heard many of his speaker designs and they always have an exceptionally seductive midrange - whereas other accurate designs, for example PMC FB1+, are accurate but sterile/unrealistic compared
I don't understand "are accurate" but are also "sterile/unrealistic".
I don't understand "are accurate" but are also "sterile/unrealistic".
I take it you are new to this hifi malarkey then...
Thanks for the science but I feel we're going a bit off topic! If anyone has these speakers, auditioned them or bought any other pair around £500-£800 recently then I welcome your thoughts.
Check resale values for speakers on ebay - if you buy something highly regarded but 2nd hand (even if not from ebay) but then decide that you don't like them you could sell on ebay for not a lot of loss.
Buy something new and you could take a bath...
dispersion patterns, baffle step effect, cabinet resonances, crossover design...
This is all part and parcel of achieving accurate response!
Keep the boxes and packaging and get a courier pick-up from your house/work.
a guy in a white van driving around with expensive speakers that a customer doesn't want? haven't I heard this before? 😀
I take it you are new to this hifi malarkey then...
Far from it. But I don't understand how something can be accurate but unrealistic.
dispersion patterns, baffle step effect, cabinet resonances, crossover design...
This is all part and parcel of achieving accurate response!
That's what I would have thought.
For what it's worth I recently bought a pair of Dali Xensor 5 speakers without auditioning them and I couldn't be happier with them. They replaced some standmount Missions that were 10 years old, are positioned correctly and sound great.
I didn't audition them for a couple of reasons, mainly because there wasn't a dealer very close to where I live in Switzerland and the dealers I have been in here are overpriced (£20 for two banana plugs..!) and very snobby but also because of a lack of French vocabulary when explaining how things sound.
I remember auditioning some speakers back in the day with my Dad and whilst there were clear differences in the ones we tried none of them sounded bad in any way...
In short, if the reviews are positive and the reviewers listened to the type of music you like then I would say go for it, especially if they're a bargain...
Thanks Beanum - sounds like a nice place to live! I have decided to go for the speakers / system. If it doesn't work out there is always eBay to fall back on!
I thought my Tannoys were great.
TBH, they're a fairly conventional speaker, so I doubt there's much to go 'wrong'.
They do feature Tannoy's dual concentric, which is a great but of engineering and deservingly renowned.
This is all part and parcel of achieving accurate response!
achieving an accurate response in an anechoic chamber is one thing, but once the speaker is in a room then things like dispersion patterns and baffle steps come into it more.
Or are you saying that your speakers give an accurate response no matter where they are located?
Far from it. But I don't understand how something can be accurate but unrealistic.
Monitors can be accurate but that may not mean they are the most realistic.
The BBC used to put a dip in the midrange to increase their realism, from back in the day when they used to select monitors by having the speaker play back a recording of a presenter reading something, and then the actual presenter read it as well, both behind an acoustically transparent curtain so the listener didn't know which they were listening to.
Previous life was hifi industry.
Remember an awesome pair of D700 run by 2 Meridian monoblocks and front end. Bloody ace it was.
Had mine for a month or so now (DC6t).
They image well.
They seem to resolve detail incredibly well whilst still remaining tonally accurate.
They go very deep, but don't boom (approx 30cm away from wall).
They need toeing in.
The dual concentric tweeter is a little coarse compared to a fabric dome, but nothing major.
Chinese build quality is OK, but the veneers are a bit marginal in a couple of places.
But most of all, they just get on with it and let me listen to the music rather than the speakers.
I paid £250 for a pair of speakers which originally retailed at £800.
Frankly, I'm delighted.
Hey all I hooked up the system today so thought I'd share my thoughts. Firstly I actually ended up with the Tannoy Precision 6.2 Lmited Edition speakers as the retailer sold the standard ones I'd reserved and gave me a break on the price. First impressions are mid range / vocals are very good and a great sound stage is projected. Bass seems a bit light, I'm not sure if this will improve once the speakers are run in; perhaps I will mass load them. Suffering a bit from new system syndrome I guess! Having run a sub sat system for years my ears may need to get retuned!
achieving an accurate response in an anechoic chamber is one thing, but once the speaker is in a room then things like dispersion patterns and baffle steps come into it more.
Designing a speaker to achieve accurate response in an anechoic chamber will not necessarily give you accurate response in the real world, so that would just be a case of incomplete design!
Eh..ok
Designing a speaker to achieve accurate response in an anechoic chamber will not necessarily give you accurate response in the real world, so that would just be a case of incomplete design!
I'm not an acoustic engineer, nor anything close, (although it's an area I wish I'd known something about years ago and looked for a way into the industry), but I do actually understand what you mean. Like many things, how something works in a sterile, perfect test environment is clearly going to be a lot different to a 'dirty', imperfect, real-world working environment, with all of its awkward reflective and absorbing, flat and curved surfaces.
Designing a speaker to achieve accurate response in an anechoic chamber will not necessarily give you accurate response in the real world, so that would just be a case of incomplete design!
so how do you design for an accurate response in the real world then, accounting for every combination of floor covering, floor composition, wall composition, room size and shape, speaker positioning, stand height.
Basically you can't cover all the bases, so in the real world no speaker is going to give a properly accurate response, there is always going to be compromise somewhere.
We're not used to listening to sound in anechoic chambers so our brains are very accepting of non-flat response. What does cause problems are inconsistencies between the direct and reflected sound and failing to consider how boundary reinforcement increases the low frequency output.
Some of us consider it 😀
Some of us consider it
yes, and realise that speakers do not give accurate responses in the real world for the reasons stated.
Of course. But I was also alluding to a guilty love of deep, throbbing, liquid bass (when the mood strikes, the sub's amplifier has its own volume control 😀 )
Seems the Tannoys are best suited to acoustic, chill out, piano etc. anything too busy or upbeat and the sound is a bit grating
I have that problems, but it's the room.
Treble traps are not too big. Panels, hidden behind a print?
At that price point it's best to be sure, I have some low end tannoys however (m1 bookshelf speakers and m3 floor standers) and they are brilliant, I have no reason to contemplate changing them unless they break.
I don't have the floor standers plugged in, and I rarely plug in my paradigm active sub as the sheer volume.. it gets too much for my small living room.
I guess that means I don't qualify as an audiophile haha.
I'm not sure how much this translates to the more expensive ones, but my cheap m3 floor standers NEED to have a sub, they are fantastic in the mid and trebble, but just don't have any bass in terms of SPL punch and LF rumble.
The bookshelf m1 however seems to be great.. But i do sometimes hook the sub up if I want a blast.
I used to have F2's, they were great 🙂
The bass on mine opened out after 10 hours or so.
I've found the bass does go really deep.
If it's on the recording, they play it.
They also needed toeing in a bit more than you'd think.
Blutacking/sorbothaning them to granite chopping boards stopped the wooden floor joining in and properly formed up the bass too.
But if they're just not doing it for you, I'd change them.
Life's too short and it's a lot of cash.
Thanks Rusty Spanner...yes the speakers are beginning to bed in, however I'm not sure I will get the warmth I'm looking for. Now trying to decide whether to mass load them or call it a day!
Bass seems a bit light, I'm not sure if this will improve once the speakers are run in; perhaps I will mass load them. Suffering a bit from new system syndrome I guess! Having run a sub sat system for years my ears may need to get retuned!
This could be more to do with the room than the speakers
Try either:
-Sitting in a different listening position
-Moving the speakers closer or further away from the front wall (the one behind your speakers if that makes sense)
Then do you notice any difference to the bass response?
Dmorts. Thanks yes tweaking the position and placing various items if soft furnishing around the room does help. I'm going to move the system into a different room at the weekend and see if that helps before I look at changing any components