Looking for opinions on Tannoy Prestige line.

James63, I recently had exposure to most of the Prestige line so will be happy to share my impressions.

First up, a local dealer had taken on the Tannoy line and presented a demo session to our local audio club with the Westminster SE. I don't believe the room/set up was optimal (designed for home theater) but I was able to hear enough positive sonic characteristics to stir my interest.

Next a friend and audio buddy arranged for a home audition of the Yorkminster SE from this dealer. That was a far more rewarding experience, so good that I suggested to my friend that he could stop right there and never look back. Instead he later tried the Westminster SEs but apparently (I did not hear that trial) they overwhelmed his room and were not as well balanced as the Yorkminsters. But then he had the chance to hear the Canterbury SE in his home. They were the best match of all and he bought them. I will avoid the usual audiophile blabber and simply say they provide as much connection/emotion with a live musical event as any speaker I've heard.

Based on these auditions, I might suggest two guidelines -
* the size of the Tannoy driver/cabinet will be critical to the best match in your room/acoustic environment, and
* in spite of the efficiency ratings of the Tannoy models I believe both quality and power will be important in matching an amplifier. Some SETs might work but that would be conditional on your listening level and types of music. Since you enjoy hard rock I doubt a SET with <25 wpc would be satisfactory.

Best of luck in finding your answer.

Hi James, I have heard several members of the Tannoy Prestige family in different systems - the Turnberry, Kensingtons, and a couple of Westminister Royals. Being somewhat of a fan of high efficiency and dynamics, I compared them to Avantgarde horns.

The Avantgardes definitely sound more dynamic, but some among my group of friends thinks that the dynamics are exaggerated on the AVG's and the Tannoys are more realistic.

Where the Tannoys have it all the AVG's is coherence. There is no way to make a large multi-driver speaker like the AVG approximate a point source like the Tannoy dual concentric driver. This has attendant benefits on soundstaging and image size. The AVG's always sound too big and a tad overblown compared to the Tannoys.

The Tannoys have a warmer and more romantic tone than the Avantgardes. On every model I have heard, there is a rosy midrange coloration that makes the midrange sound fat. Not a good thing in my opinion, because I prefer my speakers to be more neutral - but certainly quite appealing with some types of music. According to one owner, this coloration is exaggerated with certain types of amplifier and can be "tuned out" by careful amplifier selection.

Tannoy makes and sells a super tweeter. If you do go down the Tannoy route, you should strongly consider getting one of these because it makes a hell of a difference to the resolution and soundstaging.

There is a lot better out there.

I have the Tannoy Kensington SE. It' the last speaker i will ever buy. There is always the Westiminster's though,
hmmmmmm......................

Dsholl1,

In your system thread you comment on choosing the Kensington over the Sophia 3. Can you give me any more details on why you chose the Kensington?

Thanks,