Tannoy CRF ?

[saletel]

i picked these speakers up yesterday for free, just wondering what you all knew about them....




the drivers are 12" in diameter on the cone. thanks for any info

[Bare]

Congratulations.. It's yer Lucky Day
Have a set since new .. Adequatly supported (equipment) these are likely the last Speakers you will want.
These REQUIRE a decent Amp with significant Current capabilities.. 20+ amps as a Minimum. This produces Deep Clear bass.. -3 db at 30 hz. and the dynamics are v good. sadly Tube types, just don't manage Bass in these V well at all.. But that depends on What yer Musical tastes run to.. Vocals, soft Jazz is V god on a decent SET.. But Rock is not Very.. yer choice.

Firstly Remove all that White stuff someone has stuck in there.it's garbage. Suggest Joining the Tannoy group at Yahoo and follow the Links to Crossover Upgrades (minor) and possible Speaker refoaming sources.. If yers Have Foam surrounds rather than the Earlier superior Butyl Rubber ones (they ae Permanent:-)
Beyond that just start listening to them.
I have 30 yrs experience with these.. so ask, if theres more info you want.
Oooops.. Fer Free!..
Current Market Values for those is approx $3000 a pair.

[saletel]

thanks for the heads up!

i used some tannoy monitors at my last internship so i knew they werent ****.

anyway the guy who i got them from got tehm from a coworker who was getting divorced and had to give them away, then a guy who works part time at my bike store took them home, and his wife yelled at him.... and i said ok, because i cant say no to free speakers. thanks for the heads up.

also is there a more specific model number? i see more descriptive product names for GRFs. also the inputs where pretty cheesy but didnt look original,.

[saletel]

oh btw for amplifiers, i have a hafler dh-220, p230, (high powered)

then low powered i have a sampson servo-120 and a crown D-75 (older)

what would be a better choice? do these require a lot of power or little?

[Bare]

Firstly These are GRF's .. Guy Fontain.. (tannoy founder's.. best design) Rectangular horns. These require NO work other than to reverse the Ravages of Time. Hopefully they are Few.. BUT are absolutely worth reversing.. whatever it takes.
Uhhh.. where are the Treble and Energy Controls.. They fit into that Rectangular cut out? Some have removed these in the delusion that they 'got inna way' sonically. they don't.. But if you don't have em there is a Work around.. Hopefully the Crossover is intact Beige Plastic coffin like Box which Via a black Cable plugs into the Speakers input plug... the Xover IS critical/essential.. It can be reproduced but NOT without serious Hair pulling.. Don't Ask :-)
Power ?? ..4 watts onna Set is Plenty.. Reference to hi current refers to the ability of the Amp to adequately control the Cones.. they are Big and heavy.
Damping Factor is just words.. Meaningless nes in my Experiences.
Exposure, Arcam. Krell all have serious Current capabilities.. You choose :-) Hafler Dyna will be OK.. (I have an old One Too).. But do not judge the Speakers on the sounds produced by the Dyna/haflers.. They simply don't do the speakers justice..
But will work Fine.
You will soon find that the sound simply 'grows' on you.

[saletel]

sweet crossovers intact. jsut waiting for my tannoy membership on yahoo to be approved.


link to fullsize image

http://www.mp4runner.com/gallery/alb...1010143?full=1

[saletel]

so according to my mismeasurement thinking they were 12s, but according to a website they are 15s from the cross over. i then measured my 8s which came out to a 6 1/4" cone so i guess im on track.

[Sylver300B]

Originally posted by saletel
i picked these speakers up yesterday for free, just wondering what you all knew about them....
the drivers are 12" in diameter on the cone. thanks for any info

Hi Saletel,

The drivers you have are the famous Tannoy Reds. Among the most sought after items on Ebay. These drivers, clean as yours, can fetch prices between $2000 and $3000 easily, and sometimes more. Have a search among closed auctions.

There is no "refoaming" necessary, since your drivers have cloth surrounds.

Here's the course 101 on vintage Tannoys. Tannoy have not made many series of these vintage drivers. Its easy. The first Tannoys were the Black serie, a model that established the main guidelines at Tannoy for decades: enameled ironcast frame, paper cone, crossed over at 1000hz or so, to a coaxial mounted compression tweeter (horn) using the same alnico magnet as the woofer. This the recipe that remained... til'.. well, it's over. More later anywayl.

The series based on this design are: the Silver (mainly 40-50's) same design with Silver coloured frame,
then, the Reds, mainly made in the 50-60's I think, Same basket, but silver/blueish enamel, and the famous "Red" dustcap, while the previous serie had a cotton cloth covering the whole driver.
And then came the "Gold" serie, same driver with Gold basket,Then, in the 70's, the transistor amp, and the need of more enduring drivers, and smaller boxes.. lead to the HPD serie (High Performance Dual) with Gold baskets, and... "Girdacoustic" reinforcing ribs.. (for extra pleasure.. oops, extra rigidity.. ) and.. the damn foam suspension, and extra power handling.

You have it. The best Tannoy ever produced, all used the same baskets, Alnico magnets, Compression horn tweeter.. and they were produced for over 40-50 years..

These drivers, or some equivalents are still produced, but as a rule, Tannoy did hide the fact that almost all their recent drivers no longer use compression horn tweeter, but rather, a less expensive metal dome tweeter, mounted in that horn.. .whew.. too bad.

[Bare]

Couple of links to keep you entertained:

http://www.hilberink.nl/speaker.htm
http://users.bigpond.com/tunnelgap/Tannoy/mods.html

More than enough Info to whet yr appetite.
The type/colour of the 'prefered' Tannoy Model is dependant almost Purely on the ones the person saying it Owns :-).. ALL the Alnico powered ones are Good

[Scottmoose]

Reds. Reds. You lucky, lucky...
Ahem. I shouldn't go on, I've an early pair of 12" Golds in immaculate condition, which I'm quite happy with, so I should not covet my neighb... damn! There I go again! (silver dreams, silver dreams;-)
I beg to differ that tubes don't work with these in the bass regions; I had a pair of World Audio Design KEL80 monoblocks which drove my 12" Gold DC drivers quite nicely thank you. In the horn a SET will do fine (not that I'm much of a fan of SETs) Mine were in scruffy Lancaster cabinets (terrible) when I bought them. In fact, they're back in them again until I have a MONSTER listening room (Ha! I can dream, can't I?). I did, for fun, rough up a pair of 8' tall TQWTs for them in MDF, although I dismantled quite quickly: in a small UK room, these were just comically large.
You'll never feel the need for another speaker again once you've set them up properly. The DC drivers are the best all-rounders I've ever heard for filling a large space. I even like the HPD variants, providing they've been serviced properly. Congratulations on your aquisition.
Best
Scott