Sod gets a bit hornier...

[earlofsodbury]

Been living with a pair of 15" Tannoy Berkeleys for a couple of weeks - kindly loaned by enbee23 (Nick). It's been interesting. Sonically, they do some things better than my usual Triangle Naias (bass extension, presence and impact) some things worse (everything else, if I'm brutal). For all their faults, they are definitely a LOT of fun!

A week or so ago, I took a punt on some one-off speakers designed by the MD of Volt loudspeakers specifically to optimise the "legendary" Decca London horn-loaded ribbon tweeter. They combine this with a 10" Volt mid-bass unit and offboard crossovers. They appear to have been professionally built, as the finish clearly was exemplary - they're the best part of 30 years old now, so look a bit tired and chipped.

I bought them unheard, and their owner VERY kindly delivered them to my door, all the way from Hull! Thoroughly nice bloke too, even though not a 'Wammer!



Been listening to them for the past couple of hours and I have to say: niiiiiiiiiiiice

Frankly, they kick the Berkeleys' arses and leave them crying like girls: the Volts manage pretty much the same bass extension and impact, but do so without the Tannoys' overhang or occasional wobbliness; mid integration is better, while mid and upper texture, tonality and smoothness is a major order of magnitude better, as are artefacts like imaging and soundstaging.

Compared to the Triangles, they lack the midrange bite and bass speed, and are not quite so well integrated top to bottom, but beat them in bass impact and depth, are a little ahead in texture and tonality, and are generally cleaner and more open in the upper treble.

Midrange integration is, naturally, not perfect - but is a lot better than theoretically it should be, and beats the similarly-sized and configured Art Emotions in this area. Another predictable shortcoming is the tendency of the ribbon horns to enhance sibilants in compressed programme material played at high volumes - a typical distortion I've heard in all ribbon treble units I've heard. It's certainly less of an issue here than in the Neat Elites I once owned...

They could do with being mounted 6 - 8" higher than they are too, but that'll be addressed.

At present I'm using them with my Cairn integrated (30W), and they seem to be a very similar load to both the Tannoys (~91dB / 8 Ohms) and Triangles (93dB / 3.3 Ohms), at around 90dB and 8 Ohms.

I won't know if they're keepers until my Electrocompaniet power amp is rebuilt, which is a while away, but for now they are Big Fun



churz, sod

[s2000db]

Ahh so that answers that question...

They're interesting looking beasts, they'll probably sound a lot better and tighter once you get your amp re-fettled - nice

[Professor Chaos]

I'd love to listen to large scale classical music on those beasts

Great write-up, as always.

[earlofsodbury]

Professor Chaos wrote:

I'd love to listen to large scale classical music on those beasts

Great write-up, as always.

Ta.

They were evidently born for it - "Eroica" / Leipzig Gewandhaus currently strutting their stuff to very good effect - impressive soundstage depth and instrumental discrimination even at a relatively low volume

[enbee23]

Interesting!
Glad the sound is doing it for you but lookswise, they're even more "challenging" than the Berkeleys

[earlofsodbury]

enbee23 wrote:

Interesting!
Glad the sound is doing it for you but lookswise, they're even more "challenging" than the Berkeleys

Happily they're about 2/3 the size - and for me I prefer the looks too (an I like the Berks), but yeah, not exactly "metrosexual"...





Solid would have an epi!

[Borats Baby]

They look right up my street Sod ! If a tad more than I usually spend !

What with the Berkeleys, and now these, are we preferring a vintage warmer sound Paul ? Could it be a change in another direction ?

[enbee23]

Mirrored veneer looks nice but the the black horn and alloy woofer chassis clash

Definitely not for the aesthete wammer

Tannoy Berkeleys are of course svelte, slinky and overflowing with domestic appeal...

[earlofsodbury]

Borats Baby wrote:

They look right up my street Sod ! If a tad more than I usually spend !

What with the Berkeleys, and now these, are we preferring a vintage warmer sound Paul ? Could it be a change in another direction ?

Tell ye what mate, they really don't sound a bit "vintage", though a smidge warmer than the Triangs. Reckon you'd enjoy 'em too, prolly work a treat with your KEL84

They were LUDICROUSLY undervalued by their seller - prolly cos they're scruffy!

[earlofsodbury]

enbee23 wrote:

Mirrored veneer looks nice but the the black horn and alloy woofer chassis clash

Definitely not for the aesthete wammer

Tannoy Berkeleys are of course svelte, slinky and overflowing with domestic appeal...

all wasted on a mirror-dodger like me!

[Borats Baby]

earlofsodbury wrote:

Borats Baby wrote:

They look right up my street Sod ! If a tad more than I usually spend !

What with the Berkeleys, and now these, are we preferring a vintage warmer sound Paul ? Could it be a change in another direction ?

Tell ye what mate, they really don't sound a bit "vintage", though a smidge warmer than the Triangs. Reckon you'd enjoy 'em too, prolly work a treat with your KEL84

They were LUDICROUSLY undervalued by their seller - prolly cos they're scruffy!

Busy this w/e ????

[earlofsodbury]

Borats Baby wrote:

earlofsodbury wrote:

Borats Baby wrote:

They look right up my street Sod ! If a tad more than I usually spend !

What with the Berkeleys, and now these, are we preferring a vintage warmer sound Paul ? Could it be a change in another direction ?

Tell ye what mate, they really don't sound a bit "vintage", though a smidge warmer than the Triangs. Reckon you'd enjoy 'em too, prolly work a treat with your KEL84

They were LUDICROUSLY undervalued by their seller - prolly cos they're scruffy!

Busy this w/e ????

If you're around you're welcome.

[auralflea]

Hmmm, very interesting Needs to be investigated further, methinks



(with 3 large pairs of speakers, can you move from one room to another there?? )

[earlofsodbury]

Aural Flea wrote:

Hmmm, very interesting Needs to be investigated further, methinks



(with 3 large pairs of speakers, can you move from one room to another there?? )

As above I'm living in the Tannoys at the mo - don't tell Nick!

[voiceofthemysterons]

They look interesting!

Iused some similar 10"Volt bass units in a pair of stand mounted monitorsI put together a few years back. They're sitting in the spare room at the moment, should give them another listen.

Pretty satisfying performers for a time but gave me the bug for greater things-have moved up to 15, 12 and hopefully soon back to 15" drivers since! I've come to the conclusion that I'm not so keen on ported enclosures. The Techs thatI sold to Reg were a good compromise-the slot seemed to reduce 'chuffing' quite a bit.

[earlofsodbury]

voiceofthemysterons wrote:

They look interesting!

Iused some similar 10"Volt bass units in a pair of stand mounted monitorsI put together a few years back. They're sitting in the spare room at the moment, should give them another listen.

Pretty satisfying performers for a time but gave me the bug for greater things-have moved up to 15, 12 and hopefully soon back to 15" drivers since! I've come to the conclusion that I'm not so keen on ported enclosures. The Techs thatI sold to Reg were a good compromise-the slot seemed to reduce 'chuffing' quite a bit.

Certainly no chuffing with these, but it has already struck me that what the Decca horns really deserves is a full-sized 3-way arrangement with a 15" bass driver and horny midrange of some kind...

The 10" are Volt BM250G if that rings any bells?

[rabski]

earlofsodbury wrote:

Solid would have an epi!

Quite so, but they give me a bit of a semi.

[Uncle Ants]

Did you do something weird to the photo?

[Purite Audio]

He always does something weird in photos.

[earlofsodbury]

Uncle Ants wrote:

Did you do something weird to the photo?

Yup, shopped the background with a spot of Gaussian blur and turned the colour saturation right down to make the hifi kit stand out.