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No love for Tannoy Definition subs

I bought the big (& beautiful) Tannoy Definition dual-firing sub when they discontinued and went on closeout pricing. Because it has two active drivers firing in opposite directions, I figured this was this was designed as equivalent to two subs -- very useful for me as sub placement is a major limitation in my listening room.

Okay, I'm not dissatisfied, but this product is never discussed or even mentioned so far as I can tell. Does everyone just "know" it's junk and unworthy of mention? And is there any validity to my supposition that this should equal two subs (albeit both drivers are powered by the same 1k class D amp)? Really doesn't seem so, although comparison with two RELs is not really a feasible experiment for me. (Also, black boxes look ugly in my room).

hickamore
hickamore OP
671 posts
 

Legacy tech guru advised me to let the towers run full-range with no high pass. They have a peak at 35Hz and fall off steeply below 32Hz. So I set the sub cross at 31Hz with -24db/oct descent above that point. Basically sub is just picking up octave 0. 

Now, sub can be fine-tuned and I was planning to experiment after getting advice on how to go about it. Given current setting, and allowing towers to run full range, how would you proceed (pending EQ device and room treatment)?

And thanks for sharing expertise with an ignoramus in audio acoustics.

yakbob
476 posts
 

I'm not doubting you @hickamore but I thought the Definition subs were equipped with dual 12" drivers not 15" as mentioned. If the dual 12" model retailed for over $7k, I'd assume the dual 15" model would cost even more. ($9k?)

At that price you'd have to drive past a lot of proven designs from the likes of REL, JL Audio, and Rythmik.  That's probably the main reason you don't see a lot of discussion on the Tannoy sub, not that it's not worthy of discussion.

Best of luck with the integration in your system!

hickamore OP
671 posts
 

@yakbob You're right; I had a spell of the ditzies. Drivers are only 12" after all. Just knew they were bigger than my mains, which I mistakenly remembered as 12" rather than their actual 10". 
 
So at least they're not ill-regarded, just rare. Seems the right design for my constrained setup, once I've done the fine-tuning. Knowing now where the peaks are, thanks to @erik_squires, I can see the path forward. 

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