From Our Readers (21-1): Craig S on Tannoy Canterbury SE (detour Goodmans)
Virtual Home Visits (16): Tannoy Canterbury SE
Editor: (1) Although I seriously restrict my email correspondence, I do have interactions with a few. With their permission, I am going to collate some of these into articles for this new reader driven series. It is a wide (and wild) world out there, and most real world systems don't at all read (and look) like the magazines; (2) As you know, I have been a Tannoy Canterbury user for a long time and have profusely written on them (just search the blog), hence my greatest welcome to this current article from another user. Thanks Craig S!
A bit of the sweet life with the Tannoy Canterbury SE
Maybe I should retitle this piece “Life with Two Tannoys” because this line of loudspeakers, Tannoy Prestige, is one of the very few, if not the sole loudspeaker brand, that prices its speakers each, as in per speaker. If you would like a stereo pair, please double the price. That is just the beginning of the unique qualities of this maker. So now that you know they cost exactly twice what you thought, let’s move on. These things do have personality.
What personality?
The Tannoy Canterbury ownership experience is a little different, I found. They look different - not an eyebrow would twitch if these speakers were situated in a photoshoot of a madman's seaside villa for October 1955's edition of Esquire magazine. They are huge and look like fine walnut furniture. They have curves, vents, brass plates, and unabashed table-tops that extend past the sides, unlike the monkey coffins or overwrought dystopian transformers that many other speakers seem to aspire to. The simple, single monster 15-inch driver is dark blue and in the centre is a gleaming copper tweeter assembly that looks like it was designed by Jules Verne.
They have different feed and caring needs too. The new owner is quickly apprised of this distinction when, upon unboxing, he discovers, besides a speaker, which admittedly was rather expected, a proper jar of dark paste wax - and you as owner are expected to apply it. There is more work too: Canterburys have variable ports - you the owner are expected to vary them, with the special supplied porty stick. The grills, useful if you have feral cats or mothers-in-law, have golden locking skeleton keys that work flawlessly. Do not lose these! But you will probably keep the grills off. Finally, the Canterburys have adjustable crossovers so you can tailor them to diplomatically get along with many more rooms and sources than humanly possible.
Where did these things come from?
Tannoy's have a history. Founded in 1926 in London, they became the leading brand of public address speakers in the UK by the 1930s. By then ubiquitous in schools and other factories throughout the UK, a PA speaker was then just called a Tannoy, much like we call a tissue a Kleenex in North America. In 1947, another Tannoy invention, the dual concentric driver, was debuted at the London Radio Show, marking a new emphasis on fidelity, it wasn’t just about voice anymore. Fortunately for us, they soon came to dominate theatre, studio, and home hifi loudspeaker markets. In 1973 Pink Floyds' DSOM, which may be familiar to some readers, was recorded at Abby Road Studio 2 and monitored on Tannoy Golds. In 1987 Tannoy merged with the venerable but much smaller Goodmans, which, if the reader will permit, recalls a fine memory.
My very first purchased speaker was a single Goodmans Axiom 12 in a huge 1950s reflex cabinet bought at a garage sale from a prickly old man in my neighbourhood. I complained that there was just the one, and he basically said something to the effect “don't be an idiot, boy.” Attempting to prove non-idiot status at the garage sale, and getting the nod from my Dad, my 12 year old self bought that huge Goodmans, wired it up to my grandparents' tube console (mono anyway, so) and heard a sound I have been trying to replicate ever since. I'm sure that latent memory lead me to the aesthetically similar Canterbury SEs 35 years later.
In short, whether from someone's childhood experience or enjoying spectacular works mastered through them in a studio, or just hearing the principal's voice too clearly at school long ago, Tannoy has an intriguing pedigree that has touched millions.
Is this an audio review?
Oh right, they sound different too. It is entirely possible, as some commentators have reported, to make them sound like two gigantic transistor AM radios. It is also possible for your wife to be a completely different person when she is dining with George Clooney than when she is with you. We can observe, if you will, with Mr. Clooney she is taciturn, indifferent, and maybe chews with her mouth slightly agape. Posture gets a little slouchy and pounds seem to materialise from nowhere to the midsection. She just doesn’t care. With you, to state the obvious, it’s completely different. She is all doe-eyed, gracious, the perfect balance between doting and dependent, and through your eyes (which is all that matters) looks just like the day you met her. Tannoys are a bit like that. They care who they are with. Some sources, it is true, will get the AM radio treatment, so please pair them with suitable company to get the magic in abundance.
So, about the sound. I am no reviewer, rather I am a normal man with a proper job, so discount or credit my observations as you see fit. To my ears, the sound is best described as natural, organic, of its own life force. Like many interesting sound signatures, one best perceives it by comparison. Compared to minimonitors, for example, the 15”dual concentric drivers step up and command the room. There is an effortlessness to the whole presentation. Some people don't like the pepper pot tweeter, but I do. Late night low volume listening, often while reading, is like noticing shooting stars in a dark sky - little delightful surprises, details, aural caresses if you will, that I have never experienced with other speakers. Compared with another format I like, 8”single driver horns, I don't perceive any loss of speed or subtlety, but do hear a huge improvement in neutrality, or should I say, no obvious annoying artefacts regardless of what is being played. And not to be vulgar, but the Canterburys can move air, big time. Some bass notes are chuckle-and-wow-inducing, even while alone with no one to show off to.
Let's talk more about sound, especially in different conditions and with different music. The room where my TCSEs sit is small, too small I thought. I was worried about paying the piano movers to ship them between two houses in different cities only to have them arrive in a 12 by 15 foot room, with 9 and a half foot ceilings. The materials in this nice old Victorian are lath and plaster and lots of wood. The room is pretty lively so heavy curtains and a fat Persian changed the balance nicely. Big plants are natural diffusers, I suppose, but I know nothing about that. In my experience, carpeting and heavy upholstered furniture make a big improvement in a room like this, so that's what I did. I'm sure it could be better.
I was surprised to find the room does not seem overwhelmed at higher volumes. I can get pretty significant SPLs from these large boxes, driven by McIntosh MC601 monoblocks. I did try a few other amps with these speakers, including some well regarded low watt tube models, but they seem very happy with the 601s. I like the meters too, what else are you going to look at when worshiping at the the home altar? I am embarrassed to say that if the meters are correct, many hundreds of watts can go through these Tannoys and they sound completely nonplussed - cone breakup simply does not happen at any level.
There is a universal diplomat aspect to these speakers as well. I like small group renaissance and I like AC/DC. I like Khatia Buniatishvili and Valentina Lisitsa. (Do I repeat myself? Just kidding ladies, I love you both equally!) And I like Byrne. Bowie, Eno, Ferry, and a whole bunch of the usual suspects you have heard of, and maybe a couple you haven't. Roon helps me expand my horizons, a painful need, and in the end I end up hearing many different sounds and sound types on this stereo. Risking complete banality, it all sounds good, very good. Comfortable, I'd call it. I am never in the position where I think - hmm, wouldn't it be nice if this were a little livelier, or lusher, or more dynamic, or smoother. It seems to be just the right sound at the right time, but not due to a boring cast, rather it seems due to all-round athleticism of these Tannoys, or as I call it, their diplomatic nature with music and rooms.
How does it feel to have pet Tannoys, after you've settled in?
Loyalty is a rare phenomenon these days. Could it be because so much is changing, politically, socially, technologically? Could it be because where we once assigned merit, it has become obvious now that no merit really existed? There is something to be said for slow steady improvement on an already excellent, time-tested, proven model, and enjoying the art of a fine maker at its peak of refinement. Cartier in the 30s. Beretta in the 40s. In the 50s Rolex made beautiful machines and in the 60s, Hasselblad. The 70s gave us a special machine named James Brown, and Mercedes made beautiful civilian tanks for us to drive in the 80s, thank God. The 90s? Whatever. And the 00s are post 9/11 so devoid of traditional cultural vitality necessary for beautiful works, with the exception of some rare makers, like Tannoy. With the Canterbury model, we are buying decades of refinement expressed in a beautiful, coherent device of great integrity.
There is a cost to loyalty, borne by the loyalist: commitment. There is a significant risk that these machines will take a place in your heart and not leave, like a favourite golden retriever. I have heard many men declare that they will not give up their Tannoys, Some, quite reasonably, want to be buried in them (owners of the larger horn models, presumably). Other audio flings may come and go, but there is a rare rightness these beautiful instruments provide to their lucky owner that makes the world seem, at the very least, tolerable, and on a good day, outright glorious. That's worth hanging on to.
So is it all good news?
No, there is one huge caveat. The Tannoy Canterbury SEs are exactly the perfect height and size for tipsy women to lean over, and these things attract them like supernatural magnets. You must be on constant watch during your dinner parties for errant cocktail glasses or other dewy things attempting to alight upon your Canterburys.
Other than that, they're perfect.
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