2. amps-preamps
  3. 1355653102

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
borg7x9 OP
91 posts
 
Art80342 if you check out Jeff Days blog. http://jeffsplace.me/

You will find the link to that and also a more up-to-date, crossover upgrade project that he's going through with Duelund cast caps. Looks amazing. It is a gold mine of information for everything WRSE. Have fun.
borg7x9 OP
91 posts
 
After much wailing and gnashing of SET's . I have come to the conclusion that the Westminsters love big power. The Sophia electric 300b's didn't work for me, and the parallel mono block 845's didn't work very well either. Right now however they are sounding fabulous. With a Plinius sa250 in class A/B mode. Sounds much nicer than when in class A. Seems odd to me. I will qualify this by saying I've moved house and have the Wests in a better room so they sound very different anyway. So if anyone was to ask my advice in driving these speakers in the future I'd be recommending bigger amps. Just based on my personal findings. Thanks all.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
I've never had Tannoys any larger than twelve inch, but in 45 years (off and on) of using them, I have concluded that they are an un-fussy speaker to drive.

I have used an Aragon 300 Wpc SS, Plinius SA 100 MKIII, a factory-upgraded Assemblage Audio SET 300B, a Class D Audio CDA 254L (the last two amps are currently in use), and, to start it all off 45 years ago, a 45 Wpc Kenwood integrated, with 12" Monitor Golds.

In every case the speaker sounded good. Now, with much better ancillary equipment, my current custon HPD 315"s (converted to Hard Edge surrounds, in massive 150 liter, bass-reflex enclosures), are a speaker I happily live with every day, and will do so until my time is up here.

I listen every day for 3-6 hours, without listener fatigue (just old man falling-asleep fatigue).

Tannoys do repond very well with high power, or, in the right circumstances, with quite low power. They are just plain great speakers.

Regards,
Dan

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,874 posts
 
We found that our little amp with 30 watts sounded fine on them but our next amplifier up with 60 watts did the job a whole lot better. I am really of the opinion that the speaker is a lot happier with a little power behind it. Most SETs IMO just don't have the power.
bvdiman
491 posts
 
Borg, as per my earlier postings I concur with yours and Atma's recent findings.
In my case, it was SS FM Acoustics 611 (250w class A), or if tube, the mid powered VTL90s (4 x WE300Bs/side) 90w P/P triode that did the job best w/my old TWRs.
Must've been a long winding and road (frustrating at times I know), glad you're finally 'there' with your preference--well at least for now.. ;) Enjoy!
More to discover