Is there Tannoy Magic / Should I buy a pair of Tannoys as "accessory" speaker?


I have a decent system, and am running JBL 4367, with either Parasound A21+  (300w solid state) or Canary M600 (50w tubes) and am Tannoy-curious. 

I'm familiar with the current state of the brand, I understand that the "new" speakers aren't made at the old factory, and that much of the "shine" has worn off the brand over the last several years.  I'm also aware of the newer company with much of the former Tannoy brain trust.

I have never heard a Tannoy speaker.

My room is just barely, small, at 16' wide 13' deep and 9' ceilings.  It opens at the rear, almost but not perfectly symmetrically, behind the listening position, via a set of pocket doors that remain open, to a much larger room.  The JBLs, with their 15" driver (thanks to a bunch of acoustic treatments) are not "too much" for the room, so I don't know that the Ardens (for example) would be, either.

I'm not saying I wouldn't get rid of the JBLs, but the plan is to buy a set of Tannoys, hopefully like them enough to keep them, and slip them in the system as desire dictates.

The JBLs do everything that I know of, that I want a speaker to do, I'm just looking to be inspired.

I think I need realistic bass, and so perhaps a 12" or 15" (I don't know, just guessing) model might suit me better.  

Other than figure out how to demo some Tannoy speakers in a store like a normal person would, what do you think I should do?

 

gthirteen

“no plans to change”

@pehare 

I agree with you..going on 6 years with Canterbury’s. I look at alternatives every now and then, it would cost twice as much to replace them for not whole lot of gain. One of the best purchases made in my audio journey. 

Turnberrys here for 4 years and no desire to upgrade speakers again. Prior to these, I had Tannoy XT8-F which were also nice. I used these with: a 300B tube amp and with Atma-Sphere monoblock class D with their tube pre-amp. After some tube rolling in the Atma-sphere preamp, I'm much happier with the sound with the class D- especially bass. 

I have a pair of Eatons, which I absolutely love and have ended my quest for speakers. They are very slightly warm, with really nice bass and somewhat tamed highs without losing too much resolution. Their imaging is great as well. Coming from a brighter pair of speakers, I’m really happy to be on this side of neutral, as more music sounds great. From what I’ve heard, other Tannoys can be brighter, so hearing a few models would be a good idea if possible.