Tannoy Speakers

So we've been lucky at the Design Hub that Tannoy one of 4c's clients leant us a set of Definition DC8T's and some Precisions 6.4's. We've already got a bunch of Mercuries here in the office so while we had the Tannoy stuff together we thought it'd be nice getting a little family portrait on the go.I've even done a few mixes of my own music on both sets of speakers and this has enlightened me to a good few inaccuracies that went unnoticed on the studio monitors at home. I've heard the Tannoy sound described as 'critical listening' and with the Tannoy Dual Concentric design being the monitor of choice from the mid 60's and throughout the 70's in british studios this reputation is well deserved. It has to be said in the days of modern hi-fi this sound is either a love or hate thing, most modern systems smooth out the sound some what, fill out the bass and add high end sparkle to infer the perception of detail. Modern systems tend to flatter music that hasn't been given the care and attention in the mix that maybe it could have. This of course is good from a consumer point of view but to my ear - an ear that is used to studio monitors - this approach sounds fake, glossy and brash.On first listen to my own recordings I was pretty mortified, the accuracy of these speakers is brutal and as a result I pulled back my compression and heavily tweaked mid eq's to achieve better separation of instruments and reduce the harshness of distorted guitars. Put simply listening to a badly mixed / produced track on these it sounds bad, hi-fi speakers are normally pretty flattering trying to make all types of music sound good but not these, they accentuate bad dynamics, eq and anything that's over compressed just sounds forced, harsh and unnatural. Does this mean they are bad speakers, well for modern pop and rock they probably are, they do not flatter the over compressed, high spl sound that typifies modern pop music, the fact is most popular music is mixed and mastered to sound good on small speakers predominantly and as such on large capable hi-fi speakers such as these, it just sounds harsh, flat and plastic.In truth I don't think there is a better speaker than big paper coned, dual concentric's. When you listen to recording masterpieces like, Miles Davis - Kind of Blue or Steely Dan - Aja, you get the full benefit of these speakers, they sound natural, big and 3 dimensional. Old analogue recordings just sound better to me than the modern digital equivalent, yes there is hiss and signal noise but the fidelity and warmth far eclipse the drawbacks. The same can be said of source sound, I don't have any analogue source in the office but the difference between CD and MP3 is so clearly apparent on these speakers that it really makes you wonder why so many of us have fallen for the MP3 format, the answer is of course convenience and ease of use and this digital convenience has had a massive effect on how music is recorded too. Digital editing, auto tuning and synthesis means that you with no discernible talent or proficiency in music you can make a half decent record. The fact is most people don't listen that closely to the records they love, people form emotional connections to music through time and circumstance. Music is intrinsically linked to relationships, environment and memory, so in truth it doesn't matter how well it is reproduced in physical space to your average listener. However if you like well crafted, artistic masterpieces of recorded music; then your emotional connection to those pieces through a set of big Tannoy's can only be heightened and enhanced.The thing that has sounded best on them is Lalo Schifrin's theme from Bullitt. It just sounds so lucious, thick, 3d and in the room. When you sit in the middle of the stereo field you really could imagine being in the centre of that live room surrounded by the band. The music is live - one take - you can hear the band members move you can here the snares rattle when the brass get's loud. You can hear the bass players fingers move and the guitarist resting his pick on the strings between passages, you can hear the brass section draw breath before hits. I love this reality in recordings, the feeling of life, the fact that the band played the track from beginning to end in one shot, yes it is not technically perfect, there are tiny mistakes in time and tonality but to me all these things add to the brilliance of the piece. People with genuine tallent playing together, in one room, recording straight on to tape.What a totally wonderful pleasure. Cheers Tannoy.If your into hi-fi check out my post on the Munich High End show 2012 here.