Comments on Tannoy Kensington SE - Room size


I have auditioned the Tannoy Kensington SE at In Living Stereo in NYC with Shindo electronics and I must say the I was extremely impressed. (I have a Monbrison and Quicksilver 6C33C monoblock triodes). There is a dynamic orgainic musicality to them unlike virtually any other speaker I have auditioned. Also very emotionally engaging. No hi fi thrills. No supertweeter or bass down to 20hz, just plain musical. Why don't more people have these speakers or other tannoys? The size of my room is 13.5' x 17 x 8. I do not believe they will overpower the room. Any comments as how they will play in the room or the speakers?
aronsss
Yes, the orchestral stuff (a small segment of my LP collection, but a highly enjoyable one at that) is incredibly demanding. You'll need either lots of power or very high efficiency speakers (upper 90's at least). Perhaps someday, go for a 2nd system with Tannoys a high-power PP amp? Or, go for the high efficiency Tannoy Westminster SEs, assuming an accommodating room & budget :)

I do so love the midrange of the Kensington SE. It has a certain "magic" to it that gives me chills. I think it might be due to the Alcomax/Pepper-pot driver used in that model and the Yorkminster/Canterbury/Westminster. The Tannoy tulip-waveguide speakers are also excellent (I've heard Glenair 10, 15, and Dimension TD10), but don't have that touch of sweetness/honey like the Kensingtons.
Mulveling,

2nd system is a cool idea. Islandmandan, who has an amazing Tannoy system based on the HPD 315's and cabinets he designed, has given me some very fruitful ideas on how to build a system from scratch by buying used Tannoys Drivers. This way I could get a feel for Tannoy with my Pathos TT and not spend an arm.

THanks!
Hi guys,

My Canterbury´s sings with anything you drop on the chain but if you want to do critical listening and get the last drop of juice , big bad class A SS amps are the way to go.
I had a lot of vintage JBL , Altec, EV , Monitor silver-red-gold-hpd Tannoy´s and some WECO speaker parts ; them all sounds their best with SET amps.
On the other hand these new Tannoy breed likes power , IMHO them are prepared to manage it but vintage horns does not.
I also have Canterbury's,I power them with one of the best amps in the world Sroll Lyric wih 500w amp.I have tried Leben and Almarro but it was not as good as Sroll by big margin.Many Tannoy owners using them with sets and I don't understand why.Maybee because they listen jazz, chamber and accoustical music?I listen also hard rock and especially progressive rock.
I wonder how would these Canterbury's compare to Westminster's?Anyone have experience with both of them?
A follow-up on my custom Tannoys. I was having problems with what I thought was an amplifier mismatch, but it turned out to be a wiring error I made in hooking up the crossovers to the somewhat confusing star grounding Tannoy uses. Now, just about any amp hooked to them makes them sing, but especially the Plinius SA 100 MKIII. They also sound magical with a VAC 35.35 35Wpc EL 34 amp, and very nice with the Sophia Electric Baby, at 10Wpc.

Now that the spiders are loosening up on the new woofer cones I intalled, the bass is excellent, very extended and tight. These are very natural sounding, great imaging, with a deep, wide, soundstage. Those premium parts in the crossover, and the excellent design (thanks, Arthur and Roger), are really paying off. Couldn't be happier.

Dan