Tannoy Westminster Royal

[Grotti]

It's true I did not read this book but as far as I understand it is related to the German audiophile mag image hifi which contains only reviews as I had described. Therefore I assumed that the book is a collection of reviews of image hifi. If this assumption is true I stand to what I wrote, if not I stand corrected.

I have to admit, that I don't know about the content of the mentioned book and it may be, that they sorted out the sarcastic articles of Jürgen Egger. Hopefully not since they had the guts in former times to publish his reviews and articles in image hifi. But you are right: for at least one decade it is a magazin full of BS... So I have to apologize I guess...

 

[Michael Koerner]

I mentioned it only because its really nicely written (i.e. quite funny to read) and contains an imo pretty honest description of the characteristics of the Speaker. I thought a bit of fun is relevant here....

 

[thewas]

Here I had posted a masterpiece of Egger who hated audiophoolery https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...oolery-humour-thread.14494/page-3#post-466552

 

[arisholm]

For those able to read German you have to get your hands on a Tannoy Review from Jürgen Egger.
hifi tunes: Lautsprecherbuch (hifi-tunes.de)
I

Would love to read it, but based on my limited German skills, how the heck do you log into that site to read the article?? No way to register...

 

[ZAPPADADDY]

I have heard Tannoy Westmister Royal with Super Tweeter some years ago on High End Audion show in Munich.
They were powered by Accuphase Class A Amplifiers and source was Accuphase CD Transport and DAC.
These were Best /by quite a margin/ speakers on whole show and overall best speakers for pleasant listening existing

Some years later I got my 15" Dual Concentric Tannoys /in bass reflex and not horn casing/.
They are also great overall, but high frequencies are not really up to level of modern speakers.
Even putting Treble Level and Energy knobs on speakers to higher settings.
Comparing them to modern Dynaudio Monitor speakers, my Tannoy sounded like mud in high frequencies..
I thought that my tweeters might have burned out.
After doing measurement with REW and calibrated mic, flattening curve and dips with parametric equalizer and fixing highs, now they sound great also where they were lacking in high frequencies.

So looking forward for day when I will have the chance to replace them with Westminster Royal

You give them right equipement and you would be suprise how they play highs, just amazing

 

[arisholm]

You give them right equipement and you would be suprise how they play highs, just amazing View attachment 123271

Yes, that room should give the Westminsters all the opportunities to shine ;-)

 

[ernestcarl]

Yes, that room should give the Westminsters all the opportunities to shine ;-)

I imagine being in that room would make me feel like 'royalty'. In much lesser rooms, the Westminster would look out of place.

 

[ZAPPADADDY]

yes, I have seen this

 

[arisholm]

yes, I have seen this View attachment 123351

Kind of busy yes... and the owner forgot to wax the cabinets. Too busy drinking beer?

 

[ZAPPADADDY]

Kind of busy yes... and the owner forgot to wax the cabinets. Too busy drinking beer?

It was my beer when I was visiting

 

[LTig]

yes, I have seen this View attachment 123351

... where the music is in fact played by the tiny white Bose cubes on top of the Tannoys?

 

[ZAPPADADDY]

... where the music is in fact played by the tiny white Bose cubes on top of the Tannoys?

totaly i think it is for tv, but unfortunately with no space TW serves as a shelf, I really dislike this kind of behaivour by TW owners

 

[arisholm]

totaly i think it is for tv, but unfortunately with no space TW serves as a shelf, I really dislike this kind of behaivour by TW owners

Yes they do provide plenty of shelf space so it is understandable but both the wife and I have resisted the temptation so far For the same reasons I guess, I've seen people placing their record player on top of the sub...

 

[rob.aus]

I have owned Tannoy Westmister for the past 18 years.
Still enjoy them to this day.

 

[TerryO]

I could never afford such wonderful speakers, which is why I became a DIY builder 45 years ago! My recently (nearly) completed speakers have been warmly received by those who have heard them...mainly members of the "Sound DIY Club".

 

[arisholm]

I have owned Tannoy Westmister for the past 18 years.
Still enjoy them to this day.View attachment 142331
View attachment 142332

How nice to hear! I am pretty sure I will join that club actually... Only had mine for less than two years but loving them... Tried a lot of speakers but I think I will keep these for 18+ years

Are you using the subs with Westminster? I am a bit unsure, depending on the material, but I think they can use some help below 50Hz, which is my current XO on the subs. Still running the Westminsters full range, subs adding a bit of energy below 50Hz. It is tighter with the subs off but then it is lacking a bit for "modern" music in the very lowest octave... But two 2x18" servo subs from Merovinger with 6.4kW amps on each side are comming soon (I hope it will be soon). Custom order with the same veneer, and about the same size ;-) Then the crossover will be linear phase and perfectly time aligned with Audiolense and Merging HAPI as a multichannel "sound card" for digital sources... For analog I will keep it simple, meaning no subs or just some low frequency "fill in" without any external DSP involved (my current subs are pretty well time aligned just by placement)... The Merovinger subs have both AES and analog inputs so it is easy to switch between configurations

 

[rob.aus]

How nice to hear! I am pretty sure I will join that club actually... Only had mine for less than two years but loving them... Tried a lot of speakers but I think I will keep these for 18+ years

Are you using the subs with Westminster? I am a bit unsure, depending on the material, but I think they can use some help below 50Hz, which is my current XO on the subs. Still running the Westminsters full range, subs adding a bit of energy below 50Hz. It is tighter with the subs off but then it is lacking a bit for "modern" music in the very lowest octave... But two 2x18" servo subs from Merovinger with 6.4kW amps on each side are comming soon (I hope it will be soon). Custom order with the same veneer, and about the same size ;-) Then the crossover will be linear phase and perfectly time aligned with Audiolense and Merging HAPI as a multichannel "sound card" for digital sources... For analog I will keep it simple, meaning no subs or just some low frequency "fill in" without any external DSP involved (my current subs are pretty well time aligned just by placement)... The Merovinger subs have both AES and analog inputs so it is easy to switch between configurations

Hi, thanks for your comments.

I do run 2x18" sealed subs with the Wesminsters. For many years i didn't and was completely happy.Although this was in a different house with a much larger listening room.
I run the speakers full range and have had an acoustic consultant precisely measure the room and blend the subs to the mains using DSP on the subs alone.
For me there is a real benefit in overall enjoyment, some music, electronica, rock etc benefit greatly with the addition of subs.For example listening to Yello or Tool, Black Sabbath the presentation is more visceral, you can feel the wind flapping your trousers and mid bass punching your gut and chest, this makes for a more realistic enjoyable presentation. Also with live recording sub bass adds to the realism of hall or concert room ambience, as in you can feel or sense the venue.
For me audio is all about enjoyment, how much you smile or cry or get shivers up your spine when listening.

While maybe not the most accurate, neutral speaker the combination of a very efficient speaker>(no thermal compression) Point source>(great imaging) plus well integrated bass yield a very satisfying net outcome.

Happy Listening.

 

[arisholm]

Hi, thanks for your comments.

While maybe not the most accurate, neutral speaker the combination of a very efficient speaker>(no thermal compression) Point source>(great imaging) plus well integrated bass yield a very satisfying net outcome.

Happy Listening.

Yes! The dynamics you get with TW is also something very special. Horn-loading obviously contributes to that, where the bass element hardly moves even at high SPLs, resulting in less distortion and compression. What is even more amazing is how loud you can play, and the impact you get, with recordings of deep voices... A tiny 5 or 6 inch mid driver will have no chance to follow this, at least none of my other speakers past or present...

Furthermore, as my previous post with measurements both on and off axis suggests, the treble rolloff some people are complaining about is not particularly bad, at least on the new GR version (new driver) which does not roll by more than a few dB and only from about 16kHz on axis. And the response is very even up to about 8kHz at 42 degree off axis which is not bad at all. Perfectly fine for my ears at least.

So the only mild reservation is the very lowest octave below 50Hz which as you also noted needs some few extra dB SPL (6-8dB in my case) to give the correct impact on some bass heavy "modern" music, even if they are only down about -8 dB at 20Hz by themselves. That will clearly also depend on the room and placement, however, but I came to the same conclusion and setup as you did, with subs complementing the lowest octave and leaving the TW full range. At least for now; as I mentioned I will soon also experiment with steep linear-phase and time-coherent XO between the (new) subs and TW for digital sources. For analog/vinyl I think perhaps I prefer the TW without subs actually as there is not that much content below 40Hz or so anyways and I still get that nice bass kick above that. Time will tell.

cheers

 

[Keithdd]

Whatever their imperfections, nothing will ever beat hearing ELP Lucky Man, for the first time via Tannoy Lancasters as a 15 year old in 1973. In a small room and very loud. My Dad had had KLH 5s and than had Spendor BC1s, so I'd heard good sound. And the Spendors were better with orchestral music. But this was something else. Just thrilling.

 

[arisholm]

Whatever their imperfections, nothing will ever beat hearing ELP Lucky Man, for the first time via Tannoy Lancasters as a 15 year old in 1973. In a small room and very loud. My Dad had had KLH 5s and than had Spendor BC1s, so I'd heard good sound. And the Spendors were better with orchestral music. But this was something else. Just thrilling.

Just played it, I think I understand what you mean ;-)