Hi Charles,

In all likelihood the 12" is more like the 10" that need little power.

In my experience there are more great sounding amps under 100 watts than there are over 100 and the ratio gets better under 25 watts.

david

dkarmeli October 26, 2014 23:25

Charles, there are several generations of Tannoy speakers, the ones under discussion here were the original Monitor series and Dan's HPDs. With each new generation the speakers lost some of their efficiency to higher power handling. The earlier Monitor Silvers and Reds are more sought after and rarer than the later Monitor and HPD speakers. They used to come in 15"/12"/10" drivers. I have several of the early Tannoys, both with 15" and 10" Monitor Reds and Monitor Golds in original GRF and Autograph cabinets. My personal experience is that the 15" speakers do need power to come alive but the 10" Monitors can be driven with anything. Sonically there's discernible difference between the drivers and bass extension is a function of both the cabinet and the driver size. Traditionally the larger Tannoy cabinets came with the 15" drivers and had the deepest bass.

Dan's a 12" driver which I have no experience with but is a HPD which was least sensitive of the Monitor series but according to Dan seems to be easy to drive; I never had a 12". His drivers are also unusual because he's removed the rubber surrounds which made the cones heavier and more difficult to drive.

Hope this helped a bit.

david

dkarmeli October 26, 2014 20:45

Now I understand the island connection Dan. Actually you're not completely wrong about the 15" Tannoy drivers, contrary to common belief they like power and need current to come to life. Of course you can get a beautiful, pleasant sound with a low to medium powered tube amp but the bass will be slow. The 10" Monitor speaker has nearly all the attributes of the 15" Monitor but is easy to drive.

david

dkarmeli October 25, 2014 20:09

Thank you for the kind words Dan. Funny I was looking at your beautiful plinth
for the 401 earlier today and admiring it. I like early Tannoys a lot but my
experience is limited to the 15" and 10" Monitor Reds and Golds,
never had a speaker with their 12" drivers. The Lamm SETs are a great
match for these vintage horns and brought me back full circle to them. For a
while I got very tired of the pleasant but colored sound of the typical SET or
vintage push/pull amps that one typically paired with these speakers and went
after a different sound and all kinds of modern speakers until I came across the
Lamm's ML2 amps back in 2000 or 2001, now I'm set for life, (pun intended!).

david

dkarmeli October 25, 2014 04:47

Thank you Dnath! The subs are crossed over around 70 hz and very low level so to fill up the bottom without muddying the mids.
david

dkarmeli October 14, 2014 14:34

Dev, I knew of the company but not the man behind it. Good to know, thanks.

dkarmeli September 26, 2014 18:38

Dev, no I don't know Alfred.

dkarmeli September 25, 2014 22:26

Thanks Isochronism, the offer is open ended.

dkarmeli September 25, 2014 22:25

Hello twins! Isochronism you picked on the one thing that's not for sale. You're both welcome to stop by for a visit and meet the Bionor's sister, she can go home with you.

dkarmeli September 25, 2014 04:51

They're working on the AF0 but its still on the drawing board, or it was in July when I visited them.

Aside from convenience the 3012 is one of the best tonearms sonically that I ever owned, and I had many. I can't comment on what you lose to the connections, if anything only that I prefer sonically it to every fixed heashell design I heard, including other SME arms. Grahams are among the best sounding tonearms too and they have removal wands. Don't know anything about your REED arm, just looks finicky in the pictures. You should try it since you already have it!

I have a TDCO1 Ti but haven't tried it yet. The A90 was a fantastic cartridge shame Ortofon stopped making it. I haven't heard your particular cartridge only the early My Sonic Lab designs, nice but colored, prefer more neutral sound like the A90.

dkarmeli September 24, 2014 18:29

Hi Dev,

MS tables are still under valued, there weren't that many of their top models ever made and sonically while slightly different they're in the same league as the AF1. They're built like a tank, simple to set up and can potentially work forever maintenance free. Not to mention that in the past 60 years there were fewer than 10 tts I know of made that were truly REFERENCE quality and two of them were from Micro Seiki, AF1 is from the same stable and is built on the same principles. So the prices are relative, specially if you consider the number of pretenders selling for a lot more.

I have and both the Dura and the SS platters and I like both but if pushed I'll take the SS over the Dura. IMO the SS is more neutral and it definitely has more bass extension and delineation but the Dura has more body and energy in the upper bass which makes it very musical. Good thing is that we have the choice to fine tune the table according to our musical tastes and the system.

I'm using SME 3012s almost exclusively on all my tables and too many cartridges to list (look at the system pict) from early Neumann DST to the latest Ortofons. I probably have more Ortofon cartridges than any other brand and they're in constant use. What cartridges are you using?

dkarmeli September 23, 2014 15:02

Hey Whart,
Good catch, I used to do the shows with Vladimir back then, his electronics and my vintage tables and speakers. I stopped after a couple of bad experiences with shipping. Most of this stuff is irreplaceable.

I see that you're also n the Horn & Lamm camp, so you know exactly what it's all about.

dkarmeli September 23, 2014 04:22

Hi Dan,
Yes, I remember you. I'm happy to hear you found what you were looking for. Which platter do you have on your AF1?

dkarmeli September 23, 2014 04:16

Unoear, been with Lamm for nearly 18 years now, I see you know all about them too. The Bionors aren't going anywhere either.

dkarmeli September 23, 2014 04:12