What do old tannoy monitors sound like

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panax_27

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specifically the dual concentric model and the HPD (High Performance Dual) model

describe to me what their sound is and what are some examples of well know records that they were used on

and maybe if theres any modern products that are similar in sound?

thanks
 
Didn't we do this? I remember typing? They're a little odd - they're quite bright in the crossover region - not hard, but clean where the tweeter takes over from the woofer. The weird thing is imaging is rock solid. I can only use the Tannoys I have had, and these started in 1996 with a pair of very expensive 15" ones in a rather modern box - black and grey. As you move your head left to right when you were tweaking a bigger desk, the image stayed very stable, and precise.


Sound wise, lots of people did not like the sound, because of the sorter of neutrality, but most of my clients and friends loved them. The 15" had a decent and loud bass output and from memory, two ports that moved air around. The 8" versions sounded very similar, but the bass did not extend down as far and were of course quieter.

The thing we did at college was establish that the spoken word was useless at describing sound, so I can't go further, because my words won't have the same understanding in your head. As for well known songs? No idea. You know my thoughts on that.

What I do know is that the Celestions (DL8) that are now 25 years old sounded similar work in my past three studios, and yet I still would swap them in an instant for a pair of either 12" or 15" Tannoy Dual Concentrics. It's like that old guitar you sold, and regretted. It just sounded nice and played easily. In every way, my current guitars are better, but that old Hofner Verithin Stereo I wish I'd never got rid of. The BBC designed speakers also had a special sound - and one that allowed you to move from small to big studio and just mix, but they sounded to me a bit 'flat' - another word I cannot explain.
 
We've done this in your other thread...

You can still buy Tannoy Ardens brand new which are the bigger version of the ones that I use.
 
lol i was expecting maybe some new faces on this post but thanks guys i should have made a new post instead asking on the last one... i like to keep things on topic for the main headline if possible, that way if i ever have to look back for info i can more easily find it, so apologies im not a forum guy im still new to this. i appreciate hearing from everyone.
 
The problem is that most people nowadays have never heard of, let alone heard NS10s, or Tannoys, or the other popular speakers of certain decades. Most people use this forum by going to new posts, and everything new pops up. Some only have an interest in certain sections, but the majority are all over the place. If you start something, keep it going. It happens that some topics then drift into other areas, like believe it or not, gardening. Nothing to do with the original subject. People then just have one topic and group of people to avoid. It keeps the place tidy, I suppose. You’ve just become the NS10 man, so your stuff will be like the gardening. Only a handful of us have heard them, and there’s not anyone active on the forum who has them, or had them who wants to chip in. NS10 s are like the British product, Marmite. 100% binary, no sitting on the fence allowed.
 
rob aylestone said:
The problem is that most people nowadays have never heard of, let alone heard NS10s, or Tannoys, or the other popular speakers of certain decades. Most people use this forum by going to new posts, and everything new pops up. Some only have an interest in certain sections, but the majority are all over the place. If you start something, keep it going. It happens that some topics then drift into other areas, like believe it or not, gardening. Nothing to do with the original subject. People then just have one topic and group of people to avoid. It keeps the place tidy, I suppose. You’ve just become the NS10 man, so your stuff will be like the gardening. Only a handful of us have heard them, and there’s not anyone active on the forum who has them, or had them who wants to chip in. NS10 s are like the British product, Marmite. 100% binary, no sitting on the fence allowed.
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if im looking for answers about a speaker then i dont wanna hear about gardening... gardening is great but they have a gardening forum for that
 
You missed the point again. Not to worry. I’ll leave you to it.
 
rob aylestone said:
Only a handful of us have heard them, and there’s not anyone active on the forum who has them, or had them who wants to chip in.
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That’s not true. I’m active. I have used them and still use them. I chipped in on the “what do NS10s sound like” thread.

I also stated that I enjoy them but don’t rely on them alone, and check things on other speakers as well.

Either you missed my posts, or maybe you feel like my input isn’t worthy??
 
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You aren't seeing new faces in this post because you are talking about speakers from 30-40 years ago. Only so many of us have been doing it for that long.
 
RFR - sorry, I totally missed it - certainly nothing to do with the worthiness - if you have them, I'd be hanging on to them, apologies no offence meant there - just missed it.
 
rob aylestone said:
RFR - sorry, I totally missed it - certainly nothing to do with the worthiness - if you have them, I'd be hanging on to them, apologies no offence meant there - just missed it.
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No worries, and my apologies for jumping on your post.

Back to the NS10s. I do like them. Very much so.
But I’m at the place where I’m very familiar with them.

Do I trust them? Would I rely entirely on them ? Hell no.

I’d love to find one monitor that was truly 100% flat throughout the whole frequency spectrum.. but I think that’s unobtainable, or at least unaffordable.
 
Last night I was stuck in the office and needed to get a track finished. The video studio is at the office, and none of the speakers there are remotely flat - the bigger ones very bassy - and horrible up top - they're powered PA things, loads of Watts, no subtlety, and the ones in the edit suite are RCFs - small drivers, but pretty nice, bar the bass starting to tail off at 65Hz and gone by 45! I had to get the track finished and as cubase 12 Pro is also on that computer, I brought the files in and completed it. I knew it would be bass light so resisted the temptation to add more bass - I used the bass fader levels from the project from the audio studio, even though it sounded wrong, thinking it was right. The problem, listening properly today, is that it wasn't just level - another track had a sort of intrusive bass twang that I didn't hear - so that's in the track I have sent off. I'm stuck with it. Thanks to this topic, I'm now on the lookout for the old speakers I loved in 1996 - Tannoy 15" DMT15's - there are a few, but they're silly prices. Maybe one day? That said, the two reel to reels I bought have now not been turned on for six months, because they're just a bit pointless. Sad.
 
RFR said:
No worries, and my apologies for jumping on your post.

Back to the NS10s. I do like them. Very much so.
But I’m at the place where I’m very familiar with them.

Do I trust them? Would I rely entirely on them ? Hell no.

I’d love to find one monitor that was truly 100% flat throughout the whole frequency spectrum.. but I think that’s unobtainable, or at least unaffordable.
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why would you want the monitor to be 100 percent flat through the whole frequency spectrum?
if you mix on something thats colorless then its going to translate to speakers that are colored
maybe theres a good reason no monitors are 100 percent flat
but i think if you wanted that you could actually calibrate your headphones and or monitors to 100 percent flat using software
sonar or izotope? dont quote me on that cant remember
 
People like bass cut, or smiley face, or added HF as personal preference - so your mixes have to cover the audio enthusiast, and the person who listens on a macbook with the TV on in the background. You mix, or in the old days, the masteringing engineer tweaked so everyone was happy. What you should never do is assume a listener's preference and mix for it. The mixes DJs produce for club use sound amazing in the clubs, but dreadful on normal listening systems. you have to find the magic average that keeps everyone happy. I've just played the ovder enthusastic bass track I did from my computer in the theatre here, just before we do a couple of Jimmy Carr shows, and the over egged bass, through a 12K PA is er, shaking dust. Way, way too much bottom end in the mix.
 
panax_27 said:
why would you want the monitor to be 100 percent flat through the whole frequency spectrum?
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Why wouldn’t you want to accurately hear the source material??

It would be nice to hear out of my monitors exactly what was recorded. No frequency boosted or cut by the speakers themselves.


You still have the room to contend with, but that’s a whole other story.
 
If part of the audio spectrum is weak or missing in your monitors, there's a good chance there will be sounds in your mix you don't even know are there, but which are blatantly obvious on different speakers. If your monitors have a big peak at 2 kHz, you will probably mix that range low and your mixes can sound dull on flatter speakers and really dull on speakers with a dip in that range. But if your monitors are flat and full range, the mix will be closer to right on more playback systems and the listener will most likely be used to the imperfections of their system.
 
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Rob, if the pin sharp stereo imaging was big part of the charm of the Tannoys then you might like to audition the Genelec 8361APs? Similarly expensive! I have not heard either speakers and almost certainly never will but, one can dream!

Dave.
 
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