Tír Na HiFi

Great start to this thread

Well Dermot, funnily enough Speakers did not seem to command such attention as sources do on here (casual observation on my part, not a statistical fact). It was only when my colleague mentioned Tannoy's that I had to go and do some looking up on the web. To be honest I had completely forgotten they had even existed (shame on me).

I myself have B&W 801's, which are a good speaker, I would not say the best speaker.. as I have not heard all the others, and there is always a better one around the corner, but 801's are good.



However I would love to play around with other units, starting with Tannoy's, Harbeth and so on. In fact those P3ESR's I heard in Cloney's last year were divine. The Quad speaker range seem to command an almost religious cult following (which I admire) and I find intriguing.

But Tannoy's... never heard them mentioned on here before. The Sonus Fabers... well they are like works or art, held in high regard especially by classical listeners.

However despite the fact that I have changed several components over the last 7 years, from amps to CD players to vinyl.. I have not changed my 801's. I am wondering would a change of speaker ... do me good?

Perhaps a clear out every 7 - 10 years is good for the soul / ears?

Me foot's killin' me. Thank God I have 2.
Play Black Uruhu loud. If something in the room rattles audibly and you can dig the vocals then your speakers are pretty fine.

Adrian wrote:

Great start to this thread

Well Dermot, funnily enough Speakers did not seem to command such attention as sources do on here (casual observation on my part, not a statistical fact). It was only when my colleague mentioned Tannoy's that I had to go and do some looking up on the web. To be honest I had completely forgotten they had even existed (shame on me).

I myself have B&W 801's, which are a good speaker, I would not say the best speaker.. as I have not heard all the others, and there is always a better one around the corner, but 801's are good.



However I would love to play around with other units, starting with Tannoy's, Harbeth and so on. In fact those P3ESR's I heard in Cloney's last year were divine. The Quad speaker range seem to command an almost religious cult following (which I admire) and I find intriguing.

But Tannoy's... never heard them mentioned on here before. The Sonus Fabers... well they are like works or art, held in high regard especially by classical listeners.

However despite the fact that I have changed several components over the last 7 years, from amps to CD players to vinyl.. I have not changed my 801's. I am wondering would a change of speaker ... do me good?

Perhaps a clear out every 7 - 10 years is good for the soul / ears?

Listen to Gerry :) You would love to 'play' around with other units. Ha ha famous last words Adrian. I don't know whether you can handle all the trauma that goes with going down that very enticing road. If you can (and you haven't tricked your mind into doing it!) then by all means. Is it not also true that speakers are notoriously difficult to audition in the home especially more so when the acoustics come into play and all that jazz and for the necessary lenght of time too. And we haven't even gone into break-in time! Anyway, despite all the warning signs we still go ahead and do it and then wonder how we did without the fantastic system we once had! But, I digress, I once heard a pair of Harbeths in the misty old days up in Cloneys and I was smitten. Can't remember why I didn't take the plunge then but that's another story.

Finally, speaking from experience of actually trying to 'improve' on my rusty old Castle Howard's - actually the very last speaker I would have put on my speaker short list (not 'cool' enough!) - in the recent past; I've come to appreciate their beguiling qualities as the years roll on and it's hard to believe that they're actually coming up to their 20th anniversary in 2014!!!! So they must be doing something right. Right? And to think I had them packed up for return after only a week's audition! To this day I'm eternally grateful to Noel C for changing my mind. And yet........you always will wonder, won't you? Anyway for the record I've changed my speakers four times since I got bitten by the hi-fi bug back in '76.

I always thought castle were pretty cool....!

jaybee wrote:I always thought castle were pretty cool....!

Nice one jb :) I'll give them a hug before I switch off tonight just to show I really do appreciate them ;)

I was madly in lust with a pair of Howard S2's in Cloney many moons ago..

Santos Rosewood they were...

yum....

jaybee wrote:I was madly in lust with a pair of Howard S2's in Cloney many moons ago..

Santos Rosewood they were...

yum....

Yum indeed :)

I have a pair of rosewood Castle Pembrokes doing duty as fronts on a modest TV system. They're very civilised.

Ivor wrote:I have a pair of rosewood Castle Pembrokes doing duty as fronts on a modest TV system. They're very civilised.

I remember them :) You're right, they are very civilised. Maybe too much so? In relation to my own boxes anyway; I recall trying out my own Castles doing duty as fronts from the laptop and I didn't like them at all! That was my one and only venture into 'cinema' sound and last :) But then what would I know??? Actually, now that I remember, I hitched up the Tivoli Model 1 to the tv (and laptop too) around the same time and I much preferred the sound from that! Much clearer and more intelligible dialogue plus excellent bass too. Well for my ears anyway....