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Amp recommendations for Tannoy Canterbury SE

I have just purchased the Tannoy Canterbury SE speakers and am driving them with my existing Ayon Audio Triton II KT88-based monoblocks delivering 100 Watts per channel. My only source Ayon CD-5 is connected directly to the Ayon monos, since the CD-5 has got a decent volume control. I listen to mostly very fast and dynamic music including rock, techno and others.

My initial impressions are that I am not getting speed, punch and tight bass. I am wondering if this is possibly due to an amp mismatch. While the tube amp's 100 Watts seem more than adequate for Canterburys 8 ohms and 96db spec, I wish I could get better results.

I am seeking recommendations on what could be the best suitable amp for the Tannoy Canterburies. I am open to both tubes and solid state.
- What could be some of the best Tube Amps as well as Solid State Amps that could be a good match ?
- Existing Tannoy Prestige series speaker owners - what amps do you use ?
- Should I be looking at tube amps which are based on tubes other than KT-88 ?

If you have any other recommendations in positioning/configuring the Canterburies please let me know too.

Many thanks in advance
Wilfred
wilfredt
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Wilfredt,
Another difference factor between the two Tannoys could be load impedance(yours is rated at 4 ohms).My speaker is 94db sensitive(less than your Caturbery). However the load is 14 ohms(minimum 10 ohms). I drive these speakers effortlessly with an 8 watt SET 300b amp(my experience and sucess with SET 300b amps is identical to Jeff Day`s) What`s the load impedance of the Westminster?
wilfredt OP
36 posts
 
Charles1dad, the nominal impedance of both Canterbury and Westminster is rated at 8 ohms.
dover
2,247 posts
 
Wilfredt, the biggest difference between the Westminster and the Canterbury is that the Westminster is a back loaded horn design. This means that the driver movement is heavily rebutted by the backwave in the horn. The Canterbury is a distributed port design, more like a base reflex, so the driver has considerably less back pressure and can move back and forth much more freely. The main differences in sound are that the back loaded horn, by dampening cone movement, provides a cleaner more neutral midrange. On the GRF PRO's which are also back loaded horns, they provide a much more even midrange. The base reflex will give a lumpier bottom end and the midrange can be a little more uneven. I do think that the Canterbury's require more control than valve amps generally provide. There are exceptions such as the unity coupled EAR 519's & 549's and MacIntosh's or OTL's. You should probably try a few different amps on your speakers at home so you can get a feel for what works in your system.
wilfredt OP
36 posts
 
Dover, thanks so much for your inputs. Looks like I will need to try a few different amps to find the best match.
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islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
Hello Wilfredt, all,

A lot of good input on this thread. FWIW, I thought I would mention I have been using a Sonic Euphoria tranformer-based passive line stage for years, and have always been happy with the gain (or, more rightly, attenuation) provided. Since I've switched back to Tannoy and tubes, I've been curious what an active line stage would do, but resources always seem to go elswhere.

I have used from 100-300 Wpc SS amps with my current Tannoys, but the VAC PA 35.35 remains the best match of what has been avaiable to me. Actually, I take that back, Zsolt Mathe brought one of his Z-Infinity Z-100 (50Wpc) amps over (he wanted to hear it through my speakers), and it actually sounded better to me than my VAC. I don't know how the two amps would stack up now that the VAC had its factory upgrade, but I think it would be close.

Anyway, an enjoyable discussion-
Regards,
Dan
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