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Tannoy System 15 DMT II

Posted by audio39 (A) on July 23, 2014 at 07:55:39

I very recently purchased a Pair of Tannoy System 15 DMT II’s after owning a pair of Harbeth M40’s for quite a number of years. The M40’s kept my attention longer than any speaker has in the 40 years I’ve been enjoying this hobby.

When I first got the Tannoys home things began with a - bummer!! I set the Tannoys up in the same location as the Harbeths had been, this being 50” from the back wall, 7’ apart, and 11’ from my listening position. There was absolutely no bass, and the 2 channels remained 2 channels. Simply moving the speakers back a little more so that they were now 30” from the back wall resolved both issues. The only other issue that arose in the early hours was related to the custom stands that came with the Tannoys. The stands are ~19” in height and this places the tweeter too high. I moved the Tannoys over to pair of Sound Anchor stands that are 14” in height and this places the tweeter at ear height.

With roughly 80 hours of music play on the Tannoys now I’ve decided to share my thoughts on these butt ugly speakers.

Obviously I spent a great deal of time in the early hours comparing constantly the Tannoys to the recently departed Harbeths. The first difference of note was the sheer amount of low frequency energy the Tannoys are capable of vs the Harbeths…a 15” driver clearly makes a difference. The Tannoys presented a wider image, the Harbeths are capable of creating a deeper (front to back) image however.

As time has passed I’ve noted that the Tannoys place vocals and instruments higher in space…Ann Wilson is about 5’-6” tall in my room vs perhaps 4’ tall when I was running the Harbeths. Both the Tannoys and the Harbeths can be listened to for hours with absolutely no fatigue, and both are excellent at rendering vocals.

After a few days had passed I stopped comparing the Tannoys to the Harbeths and just started listening to “them”. The clarity is really surprising, clearly these are true “monitors”, and as such are capable of great detail. But even so, the detail is presented in a palpable fashion, you never feel like you’re hearing one thing over another, the music is delivered with cohesion. These speakers are the cat’s ass when you want to listen to the likes of Led Zeppelin. Bonham’s heavy hands are laid bare for the listener, the energy is awesome. When Page steps into it his riffs are heading your way as he steps forward in the room and delivers in spades, and here the detail the Tannoys are capable of is really noticed…they just don’t miss a note. As for Plants high notes…real, that’s all I can say, real!

When listening to groups like the Corr’s, the Tannoys let you hear the many layers of harmony. I can follow Andrea through the many voices and I’m certain I could count the number of singers if need be. The most interesting aspect to me is that there is room between the performers, there is space between each singer, and there is space between the vocals and the instruments – it’s an absolute pleasure to close my eyes and the picture of the performance unfolds in my mind. And when that picture includes Andrea Corr….!!!

I’m very pleased with my purchase, and more than surprised at the performance available at the asking price of these speakers. I now get the Tannoy dedication; there is real music to be heard through these transducers - real music!

Edits: 07/23/14

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

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