Experience with Tannoy Westminster Royal Gold Reference

Dear Melbguy1 and Marco1, thanks for your input. Audio Note sounds great, but unfortunately don't have the bank for it now, don't know if i will ever have actually!! To power these speakers i guess it would need to be the Kagura model, which is over $200,000 i think, and without offending anyone, i think these prices are ridiculous for home audio gear; more expensive than a very good house for just one element of the chain. I have a friend who is sound engineer at the english Arsenal football team, and he tells me that profit margins on such equipment is above 100%. Do these speakers really need tube amps?? What do you guys think of a very good SS amp playing pure ClassA with zero negative feedback, the likes of Pass, Boulder, or Gryphon? Wouldn't it have the quality and power at the same time. I have read and heard that many of us often use too low powered amps. If some McIntosh, which are very average amps, can do some good work with Westminster as already seen, than logically wouldn't a pair of, let's say Gryphon Colosseum or Pass XA200.8, work marvels at a price still high but more "reasonable"??

hddg -
For what it's worth I own a pair of Tannoy GRF Professionals, these have a back loaded horn similar to the Westminsters but with a much longer horn. The GRF Professional Speakers are physically about the same size as the Westminsters. I have heard many amps on these speakers and prefer by far very high high quality solid state amplifiers rather than tubes. I first head them with a heavily modified Perreaux 5150B, 500wpc, and the improvement in timing, particularly on large scale orchestral music with the headroom provided by this amp, is audibly superior to many high quality tube amps auditioned over the years. Tube preamp/solid state power amps are my preferred combo.

Hi Dover,
Thanks for sharing your experience which is certainly worth, and helpful!!
Tube preamp and ClassA solid state seem to be a good way, and very often come around as highly recommended all over the net, especially for large audio systems, whereas all tubes seems best for smaller scale setups.
What are you actually using with the GRF?
Thanks

I second the rec for Vu and Deja Vu audio he's got the best ears of anyone I've ever met and his guy Aldo is making some amazing gear from a mostly vintage parts, truly special. And Vu knows horns inside and out.

Hddg, the Tannoys are highly efficient speakers aren’t they? If you’re looking for SS amps which sound musical & tube-like, i’d check out Vitus Audio Signature series and Pass XS series. Dartzeel also make some nice gear.