After missing out on a buy-now (I was about to press "GO" when it went before my eyes ...) I am looking for some Tannoys.

I'm ideally after 12" Monitor Golds with crossover, possibly drivers only if that's what you have to offer.

Thanks in advance,

Dom

Singer/songwriter at: www.dominicblaazer.net
180g album, "The Lights of Te Atatu" released 2018

Dom, do these fit the bill? Cabinets aren’t ideal, but 12” drivers look tidy.

www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/home-audio/speakers-and-stands/floor-speakers/auction-3089373025.htm

A most comprehensive Tannoy site here, models, cabinets, & etc.

www.hilberink.nl/speaker.htm

Specifically on the DC series, 1987:

www.hilberink.nl/codehans/tannoy65.htm

A friend has a pair of Monitor Gold 12" in the (smallest, worst) Lanacaster cabinets in his garage workshop, 'cos low WAF.

I think they would respond better in better, larger cabinets. Woodworking skills needed ...

Anyway, that's a great resource to book mark.

This vendor is still trying to sell these, in the basic Lancaster cabinets;- evidently too high priced!

www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=3090665346
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Tannoy Monitor Gold 12" Dual Concentric Loudspeakers - Pair(Original Enclosures)
Closes: Wed 19 May 9:45 am (#3090665346)
$2,799.69 no reserve
Buy Now: $2,800 buy now
_

So the TANNOY DC 4000 Dual Concentric Speakers as above could be a better buy... ?

www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=3089373025

And could they benefit from a larger, more elaborate cabinet later down the track?

But they might be something just as is. Fun to decide, maybe.

If you have the money ...

Hey, thanks for the quick replies everyone. Rest assured, I have both these on my radar.

If I remember rightly, the $2,800 ones I think last went for $1,800 (not sure if this owner) and the cabinets are an absolute crime. No chance at all at that money - half that, maybe!

Raveydave, I've already bid on the DC4000s but won't cry if the rich boys fight over them. I am dreaming of fixing up the cat-damaged fronts with my sweater-comb, though.

I decided drivers only might be fine as nearly all the cabinets I see are in "unloved" condition and I could ask a pet woodworker to make some nice ones. Not as huge as can be though, as we live in a shoebox and my Spendor SP1s are a nice size, so we wouldn't go much bigger than that.

But it's an option, as you say, RdM, down the track. And tell your friend he needs to sell them to me!

Singer/songwriter at: www.dominicblaazer.net
180g album, "The Lights of Te Atatu" released 2018

If those DC4000 sell for less than $1.5k, I’d be very surprised. 😳

Stating the bleeding obvious, but Vintage 12” Tannoys are very collectible & desirable... and nostalgic, cashed-up boomers have money to burn!!!

The standard TM price for 12 inch Tannoy MGs is $1600 and the 15 inch about $3k. The trouble is most come in NZ made lightweight Lancaster cabinets which for the 15 inch are too small anyway. (Both use the same cabinet, ported for the 12 inch and IB usually with the port just blanked off for the 15 inch. So the best bet is to get good drivers in crappy cabinets and get a friendly cabinet maker to make new bigger ones. My 15 inch MGs were made by a coffin maker and the volume is 30% bigger than the Lancasters. Thiele-Small parameters are available for both but the Q is too low to calculate as per TS formula so you have to use a Butterworth B4 alignment for a ported cabinet. They benefit from a super tweeter.

These big Tannoys any good in an open baffle ?

No, one of the counter-intuitive oddities in speaker selection is that low Q / big magnet speakers provide less bass (and increased mid range) than low Q / small magnet speakers. That is because low Q speakers have better low frequency dampening as one would expect and tend to suppress the typical slow decay of bass notes from instruments. I have experimented with low Q Goodmans 301s (.25) and high Q Goodmans 201s (.7) which have identical frames and cones. On audition the 201s proved suitable for an open baffle but not the 301s. A speaker with a Q between .45 and .6 works best in open baffle - open baffles need all the help that they can get, albeit resulting in a somewhat uncontrolled bass. Some bass is better than no bass I suppose which is another reason that SE valve amplifiers which typically have very low dampening (i.e. less than 8), sound Okay driving OB speakers. I'm mindful that Linkwitz OBs with the recommended SS power amps appear to contradict this argument but they do utilize two bass drivers. That's audio for you!

Thanks

I wouldn't even rush in to the DC4000 pair; - as you wrote, let them.

Looking in www.hilberink.nl/codehans/tannoy65.htm as above ... it seems a slightly bumpy bass response.
Also falls off. It's a smallish cabinet. Maybe room positioning helps. Quite old now.

Maybe save for something better?

Further to that, looking through the databases at the specific model speaker (and crossover number) for those:
They made so many! Almost all different.

The DC4000 used a type 3149 speaker drive unit.

24.5"x16.1"x11.1"
49Hz-20kHz +/-3.5dB 92dB/W/M

(The low E on a bass is ~ 41Hz.) Maybe room reinforcement might help.

Almost the only other one that used it was the SRM 12X (Super Red Monitor)

33"x17.5"x11"
52Hz-20kHz +/-4dB 92dB/W/M

The larger (and earlier) Edinburgh used it seems first 3149, then a later 3149W variant. (W?) Others too.

40"x26"x16.5"
30Hz-20kHz +/-3dB 92dB/W/M
with a different crossover again.

So don't rush in to it, take it slowly, I mean, thinking about hi-fi upgrades! ;=})


That info extracted from both of
www.hilberink.nl/tannoy/jpvanson/speakers.html
www.hilberink.nl/tannoy/jpvanson/drivers.html

~

Thanks, RdM. Yeah, I'm definitely not financially gifted or desperate enough to pay thousands for the first thing I see and regret it later!
These will be it for the foreseeable - until we go somewhere I can fit ESLs! By that stage I may not be able to hear all they have to offer but hey.
D

Singer/songwriter at: www.dominicblaazer.net
180g album, "The Lights of Te Atatu" released 2018

Sitting here with our lovely new-to-us 10" DC Monitor Golds.

I can see what the fuss is about. Listening to my own LP, I'm there, it's me singing. If they get that so right, I'll take their word for the rest!

Singer/songwriter at: www.dominicblaazer.net
180g album, "The Lights of Te Atatu" released 2018

Photos or it didn't happen

How old are they?

In original cabinets?