Ocellia vs Tannoy?


Hi,

After having been in this hobby for a while and having tried and owned different systems with speakers like Dynaudio, Coincident, Brentworth, DIY speakers from Lynn Olson and Troels Gravesen and most recently Vapor Audio Cirrus (an excellent speaker but without the high efficiency I'd like), I had the oportunity to hear a good SET amp in my system and was blown away by the musicality of it, specially the fluidity, platicity, tunefulness of the music. As I'm mainly into opera and classical, this fluidity reminded me of what I love about going to the concert halls. Unluckily, this SET didn't have the power to reproduce big scale symphonic in my 87.5 dB efficient Cirrus.

I haven't been able to erase that experience from my mind, so now I'd like to make myself a system which puts the musical values first and not the usual audiophile values (tone, dynamics, timing and fluidity vs soundstage, extension, ultimate detail, etc.).

So, in the search for a really musical speaker, I've narrowed my search to two options: Ocellia (either the .21 or the .30 Signatures), or Tannoy (either Kensington, Yorkminster or Canterbury), which many people regard as superbly musical speakers. Even of they're not the same technology (wide-bander vs Dual concentric), I think they share many of the same characteristics which I'm after: paper domes with Alnico magnets with point source emittance for vibrant, colorful and solid imaging, excellent micro and macro dynamics, a very fluid sound and good eficiency to be able to use low and mid power amps.

I know it'd be ideal to listen to both of them first, but that's not possible since I live in Mexico and neither of them has distributors here, nor do I know anyone who has either, so I'd appreciate the opinion of those of you who have heard them.

Also, my room is a bit small: 3.3 x 5 m (10' x 15'), so I don't think it could handle big speakers well.

Amplification would be a DHT SET or PP amp.

Hope you can help me
Regards,
jjbraham
The Tannoy Kensington could work very well in your room size with DHT SET amps of 8 watts or greater. These should excel at vocals and classical music, unless you play your music at extreme volumes. The dual concentric design offers exceptional imaging and coherence. The higher sensitivity rating of the Canterbury may be misleading, and higher power may be required to adequately control that large driver.
Tannoys work well in smaller rooms near field or close to it as well. They are very versatile with placement. One of their best markets is the Far East where there are plenty of small rooms.
I use Tannoy K'tons in a 11x14 room. it works well, but feel they would breathe a little easier in a larger room since I do prefer them away from the rear walls in order to get better depth . Despite that they sound very good as you really connect with the music well.
I am not sure of the SET though. My guess is a good PP will do far better in terms of getting the best out of the Prestige series.
which model speaker from Coincident did you have ?

I have a pair of Coincident Total Victory IV that I purchased used 4 years ago and they are very good with classical music.
My room is 11.5' x 17.5' .

I intended to purchase a pair of Super Victory speakers but I came across a good deal on a used pair of TV IV's that I couldn't pass up.

I would recommend the Super Victory's call Israel and get some info.
They sound very good with set amps.

12 years back I sold a pair of Coincident super eclipse and regretted selling them.

I won't say want I replaced them with but for Classical I enjoy the Total Victory IV.

I have an 8 watt and 15 watt dht set amps that I enjoy .

If I came across a good deal on used Referance Extremes I would buy them.

Good Luck, I know it's a tough decision when you can't audition .

Abill