Tannoy Westminster Royal HE

It's a very small data point, but about five years back I took some 2A3 monoblocks into a dealer showroom to qualify the Churchills for SET amplification. They sounded anemic--at least on 3W. In addition to the lack of dynamics in this less-than-optimal pairing, the midrange lacked smoothness and refinement I was used to with the Wilsons. In that same showroom the SETs were much happier driving Cabasse Farellas.

On the topic of the Churchill, although it has an efficiency rating of 95dB/8Ohm, the 15-inch Dual-Concentric driver does require a little more power to coerce good levels of dynamics to fill up a medium-sized room. My Churchill Wideband can be driven very satisfactorily with 7Wpc, although I must also concede to the immense dynamics and scale of the CW when they were driven by powerful solid-state amplifiers.

On the other hand, 3Wpc is a little underwhelming for the big drivers; but the real potential of an SET of such output is predominantly dependent on the actual design of its power supply section. I've come to learn that with serious efforts in equipping the amplifier with a powerful power supply, even an SET can push a lot of speakers in a medium-sized room, including the Churchill Wideband.

Constantine Soo
Publisher, Dagogo

These were Cary 2A3SE monoblocks. It surprised me that they were able to develop big bass with the Churchhills (suggesting that the 3W amps were up to the job) and yet the whole presentation was discontinuous and not very musical. It was a long time ago, however, and memory is weak. I would only suggest that Dazzdax not become too enamoured of horns viewed from afar; the Dunlavy V is a very different animal and the large Tannoys leave a large footprint after international delivery.

Does anyone care to comment or happen to know if this cabinet is vented on the front corners w/45 degree angles similar to the "Onken" vents? It does seem curiously familiar...

I just heard this speaker for the first time yesterday.

I used to own the Tannoy Arden,which also uses a 15 inch concentric,but that's about where the similarities end.

This speaker is in a whole other zone.

I heard it driven with a 17 watt el84 push pull tube amp, I believe from DIY audio kit.

More than enough power to drive the speakers, and the sound in a medium sized room was very good.

There's nothing lacking with these speakers.

They are speakers you can sit back and just ooze into the music.

Nothing about their sound shouts out "I'm atweeter hear me soar, I'm a woofer hear me roar".

No, the music is all you notice and isn't that the way things should be?

So, for the flash bang,knock my socks off ,these speakers rock types,they may sound different than what those folks have been raised on.

But I think one listen on these with any type of music could convert anyone over to them.

I bought my Acoustat X monitors from the same fellow who owns Westminsters, and I can understand why ,as good as they are, the X's went and the Tannoys stayed.

Then again, at over 300lbs a piece,there might be other reasons.

But all joking aside, these speakers are not a joke,don't let their pipe and slippers look divert you away from these if you are considering a truly great speaker to hold onto and enjoy music with for a very long time.

If I were at the beginning and not the end of my audio journey, I would buy these, a good amp and front end and never look elsewhere for decades.