Tannoy Westminster amp matching question.


Hello again everyone. Its been a while but I'd like your advice if possible.

I'm waiting for a pair of Tannoy Westminster royal SE's to arrive ( end of dec ). And I'm wondering what to amps to match them with. I have very limited funds at the moment(budget of 3k or so), having lashed out on the speakers, and I'm thinking I'd like to go SET power amps again. So looking at second hand bargains. At the moment I'm thinking Sophia Electric 300b or Art Audio symphony II. Alternative suggestions please !!!!

To give you an idea of my tastes. The system I've put together, that I enjoyed the most, was Avantgarde Duo's and Yamamoto A08s. Loved it. I listen to all sorts of music: Rock, choral, opera, jazz. Love well done female vocals :-)

Thanks for your time.
borg7x9
The amp you want for these is definitely tube! However the efficiency is slightly on the low side as far as SETs go- but of course a lot depends on your room size and listening habits.

My speakers (Classic Audio Loudspeakers model T-3.2) is about the same efficiency (98 db). I find that while I can play them with 5-10 watts, the simple fact is that the amp is straining if I push things at all. So I see 30 watts as being a good minimum power level.

There are good number of tube amps that make that sort of power. SETs in that size are rare though, and lack the bandwidth that the speaker has. So my recommendation is some sort of push pull triode amplifier. Our S-30 amp does well on that speaker and you should be able to find a used one for that price.

Push-pull triode amps can be rare. A small ultra-linear amplifier might be a good choice also. Two vintage examples of that are the Dynaco ST-70 and the Marantz 8B. Dynaco is still making the ST-70. Tannoy recommends 50 watts minimum. With that kind of power you would never clip the amps in most rooms.

Awesome speaker!
Art Audio Jota HC, Wavelength Audio Triton or Wavelength Audio Cardinal. Don't buy until you can afford one of these.
I have a pair of Tannoy Stirlings TWs. I have tried powering them with all sorts of amps; from 5W tubes to 200W SS. I am basically a tube guy. But IMO the Tannoy dual concentric drivers, especially the larger (12"-15" units), need a little power (and current) than most tube amps will provide in order to sound their best.

I have not yet tried the Atma Sphere amps with these speakers - it is something I would very much like to test some time for a "winter" system. The Manley tube amps might also be a good choice, as they are very detailed units.

So far my personal preference has been for the Pass X30.5, the First Watt J2 (although the F5 and M2 were also very good) and the McCormack DNA 0.5 (preferably rebuilt by SMC), in that order.