But no one so far describes the sound of their recommended speakers.
At the end of the day, people choose their favorite speakers because it sounds most like "music" to them. Which means different things to different people.
In the case of Tannoy, it’sa bit complicated becasue the actual sonic balance can vary wildy from model to model - you’ll have some that are dark & thick, others bright, and everywhere in between. At its core, the "dual concerntric" driver is their claim to fame, and for me, IT WORKS. You get a 2-way "point source" driver that is wholly coherent and symmetric in the uber-critical critical midrange. You can cover "full range" sound (or almost, at least) from a single 10", 12" or 15" dual concentric driver alone - and this is a true "point source" approximation. Though, some Tannoy models add a dedicated woofer.
Look, I waded into speakers over from head-fi / headphones as a young man, circa 2000s, and it was hard for me to like most of the multi-driver speakers I was hearing. Compared to the perfect coherence of headphones (which are generally full range single-drivers), many of these speakers sounded a complete mess on complex music (especially loud rock / metal) - with imperfect combination of the drivers in critical midrange, and with completely separate woofer sections you could always pick out (side firing, down firing), etc. Room issues added on the the problems, but here too - Tannoy’s controlled dispersion makes them much more room friendly. The old trope of playing Diana Krall / etc to demo expensive speakers was true - you HAD TO play that kind of material, to hide the mess on anything more busy.
When I first heard a Tannoy DC it was just a compact floorstanding model (Eyris DC3) but it blew me away. It sounded much more real, natural, coherent. And the imaging was wonderful - 3D and holographic (my first taste of what that meant).
With a good Tannoy implementation I get perfect coherence and "musical flow", from bass all the way through treble. Bass in particular, is always perfectly integrated for the single-DC driver models. (like the larger Prestige series). Other high-end speakers have gotten a lot better about presenting a coherent, integrated sound, but Tannoy will always be my love. And sometimes I still hear a discombobulation in other high-end speakers, and cringe (happened to me with Magico A3). I’ve also never liked the super-large Vons or Focal Utopias - I guess that’s just too much space for the drivers to be spread out over, for me (I like some of the smaller models).
Anyways, within Tannoys they have different themes:
- Pepperpot / Alnico DC (upper Prestige) drivers have a much more vivid, vibrant sound quality, especially in midrange. Extremely detailed. However, the older versions before GR series struggled a bit in upper treble, hence the supertweeters. GR series went a long way to extending and smoothing the treble. These drivers are MUCH more expensive.
- Tulip Waveguide - these drivers are more affordable, and still very good. They’re not as vivid and brilliant and articulate as pepperpots, but their upper treble is typically more smooth and extended.
- Big 15" DC gives a LARGE image size and a very impressive, tactile sound
- 10" DC is a smaller size image but perhaps sharper / tighter, and can be a little lightweight in bass without an extra woofer.
