P
Pac67
Guest
Picked up some uber-rare Tannoy Mansfields for restoration yesterday (had hoped they were serviceable but read on!). These were made in limited numbers for studio work mainly so very few found their way into domestic duties. This particular pair were a special order for a musician and resided in his living room from brand new. What are they? We'll, they're around the size of the Tannoy Berkeley speakers (just under 3ft high, 2ft wide and just over a foot deep). What makes them unusual are that unlike many of the larger Tannoys, they're infinite baffle and designed for high power handling (relatively speaking...remember these were made in 1974!).
The other thing that makes them stand out is the build quality of the cabinets. Not your average flimsy and poorly made Tannoys these. Front baffle board is 3/4 inch ply and the other panels are just under an inch and made from a very dense small particle chip board which seems to be quite dead when "rapped". Base is near identical to modern Prestige Tannoys being a ply frame with metal dome runners in each corner. All in all very substantial, heavy and stiff, just the way Tannoy should have made all of their cabs. I imagine that part of the reason for the build robustness was that unlike domestic monitors, these were designed to have a long lifespan being bashed about studios so needed to be up to the task!
O.K. It's here at this point I hold my hands up and admit I didn't even check them before buying, just handed some wads of cash over before the bloke selling them changed his mind! I had hoped they would be serviceable but budgeted for a rebuild if not. This is what I found behind the grilles:
#
A few clues there as to the drivers employed...have you worked it out yet? Disintegrated foam surrounds...12 inch driver size, made in 1974...got it yet?
They're 12 inch HPD 315's. I thought I'd better whip them out and strip them just to check everything else was ok as surrounds aren't too bad a job.
Sequentially numbered drive units looked mint (they usually do if they've been un-molested). Removing the cable to the crossover I tested the LF and HF units and got (respectively) 6.3 Ohms and 10.6 Ohms (other unit within a few percent of this) so am happy knowing that there's no open circuits which would otherwise have signified coil damage.
Closer view of cone!
It's not as bad as it looks, honest!
Wiring internally was another surprise. Not sure about other vintage Tannoys, but the cabling seemed to be in reasonable order, not too corroded at the ends and substantial gauge. Best of all, the 4 pin connector to the driver is MUCH better quality than the modern plastic block connectors. In fact the whole drive unit construction (bar the surrounds) is of better quality than the newer ones. Sound wise, this does not imply they'll sound better, just that construction quality left little to be desired, something which has been lost today by the addition of the necessary evil of having accountants on management teams! (the reality of modern economies).
Rear of one of the speaker units:
Closer look at cabinets:
These are both as near to mint as you're ever likely to find. I struggled to see even a small scratch on these. However, I will be giving the finish a new lease of life with a slight gentle rub down and some coats of Carnauba/Beeswax.
Crossover panels removed from the inside of the cabinet (right at the bottom so you have to reach down and grab them when the retaining blts are removed!). They look minty and original with no leakage evident from the caps. I may replace the caps in any case and although there are alternatives to the original crossovers, I want to keep these original so will only replace like for like. Next out will be the shoddy quick release binding posts...truly horrid things. Will replace these with quality pure copper CNC Reds or WBT binding posts which may involve reaming out the crossover panels to accept them plus a little soldering/rewiring work (I had planned on renewing internal wires and will probably use cores of Talk3 ofc speaker cable for this seeing as I have 100m handy!) Nothing any more "foo" than this is required.
Finally, I will be building 10 inch tall stands set onto castors. The stands will either appear to be an extension of the speaker base and done in Teak veneered MDF board or veneered Birch ply. They'll be solid and the main speakers will have holes drilled in the base to accept locating rods which will sit in corresponding holes in the stand bases.
I'll update the thread as progress is made but have already had a chat with Lockwoods who were pretty stunned at the find as they've not seen many of these let alone ones in cabs of this quality...it was they who confirmed the rarity and desirability of this pair, so I owe it to the speakers to get them back to better than new condition and will enjoy them for a while before my long suffering wife throws one set of the Tannoys out or throws me out!
The other thing that makes them stand out is the build quality of the cabinets. Not your average flimsy and poorly made Tannoys these. Front baffle board is 3/4 inch ply and the other panels are just under an inch and made from a very dense small particle chip board which seems to be quite dead when "rapped". Base is near identical to modern Prestige Tannoys being a ply frame with metal dome runners in each corner. All in all very substantial, heavy and stiff, just the way Tannoy should have made all of their cabs. I imagine that part of the reason for the build robustness was that unlike domestic monitors, these were designed to have a long lifespan being bashed about studios so needed to be up to the task!
O.K. It's here at this point I hold my hands up and admit I didn't even check them before buying, just handed some wads of cash over before the bloke selling them changed his mind! I had hoped they would be serviceable but budgeted for a rebuild if not. This is what I found behind the grilles:
A few clues there as to the drivers employed...have you worked it out yet? Disintegrated foam surrounds...12 inch driver size, made in 1974...got it yet?
They're 12 inch HPD 315's. I thought I'd better whip them out and strip them just to check everything else was ok as surrounds aren't too bad a job.
Sequentially numbered drive units looked mint (they usually do if they've been un-molested). Removing the cable to the crossover I tested the LF and HF units and got (respectively) 6.3 Ohms and 10.6 Ohms (other unit within a few percent of this) so am happy knowing that there's no open circuits which would otherwise have signified coil damage.
Closer view of cone!
It's not as bad as it looks, honest!
Wiring internally was another surprise. Not sure about other vintage Tannoys, but the cabling seemed to be in reasonable order, not too corroded at the ends and substantial gauge. Best of all, the 4 pin connector to the driver is MUCH better quality than the modern plastic block connectors. In fact the whole drive unit construction (bar the surrounds) is of better quality than the newer ones. Sound wise, this does not imply they'll sound better, just that construction quality left little to be desired, something which has been lost today by the addition of the necessary evil of having accountants on management teams! (the reality of modern economies).
Rear of one of the speaker units:
Closer look at cabinets:
These are both as near to mint as you're ever likely to find. I struggled to see even a small scratch on these. However, I will be giving the finish a new lease of life with a slight gentle rub down and some coats of Carnauba/Beeswax.
Crossover panels removed from the inside of the cabinet (right at the bottom so you have to reach down and grab them when the retaining blts are removed!). They look minty and original with no leakage evident from the caps. I may replace the caps in any case and although there are alternatives to the original crossovers, I want to keep these original so will only replace like for like. Next out will be the shoddy quick release binding posts...truly horrid things. Will replace these with quality pure copper CNC Reds or WBT binding posts which may involve reaming out the crossover panels to accept them plus a little soldering/rewiring work (I had planned on renewing internal wires and will probably use cores of Talk3 ofc speaker cable for this seeing as I have 100m handy!) Nothing any more "foo" than this is required.
Finally, I will be building 10 inch tall stands set onto castors. The stands will either appear to be an extension of the speaker base and done in Teak veneered MDF board or veneered Birch ply. They'll be solid and the main speakers will have holes drilled in the base to accept locating rods which will sit in corresponding holes in the stand bases.
I'll update the thread as progress is made but have already had a chat with Lockwoods who were pretty stunned at the find as they've not seen many of these let alone ones in cabs of this quality...it was they who confirmed the rarity and desirability of this pair, so I owe it to the speakers to get them back to better than new condition and will enjoy them for a while before my long suffering wife throws one set of the Tannoys out or throws me out!