Tír Na HiFi

Rather than starting a particular thread.. I thought a generic one on speakers would be best.

I have just found out that a acquaintance of mine has nabbed a pair of Tannoy Turnberry SE speakers, image below



To my eyes they look absolutely stunning... a real work of craftsmanship, like a piece of furniture commanding attention. Unfortunately I have never heard these units... in fact I have never heard them mentioned on here...anybody got them on here?

On another speaker... I was in Cloney's a few weeks back.... they had a 20 year old pair of Sonus Faber's Guarneri speakers



What a beauty!! Not sure who took them... but there were in mint condition.... oh man....oh man...

Those Sonus Fabers seem to have a certain appeal for certain music.... certainly classical I would think.

Anybody any thoughts about these or other speakers?

Adrian wrote:
I have just found out that a acquaintance of mine has nabbed a pair of Tannoy Turnberry SE speakers, image below

...anybody got them on here?

I wish. I've always had a soft spot for Tannoys. Not always because they sounded accurate (they often didn't) but they sounded lovely

I've never heard those big Tannoys but I know they have quite a following. I'm guilty of judging that book by its cover, and I imagine I know what they sound like, even though I probably don't!

As for the SFs, they're much more my cup of tea. I heard a pair in the shop a few years ago and thought they were gorgeous. You know they must be something when your wife is trying to justify the purchase for you! I'd love to hear the Amatis and the Strads...

I knew very little about tannoys until recently. I thought they were just cheap bookshelf speakers made in china. From dealing with some guys in the uk and posting on wigwam a bit there is a strong following in the uk. Warm,soft but seem to produce what is regarded as a magical sound. I think the model you posted are gorgeous Adrian. the appearance to me is like real speakers should look like.

Sonus Faber are the only speakers that really trigger the want response in me....

specifically, the Amati....

I saw and heard these with Noel...... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Had the pleasure of hearing the Tannoy Turnberrys at the Scalford show this year and the sounded excellent and not expensive if I remember correctly.

Top sound at the show was from a large pair of Snell Speakers but second and third were Tannoys, I was amazed at what they could do!

Would you be tempted, Pearse? ;)

I would definitely be tempted Simon if I had to go to a smaller room and the Quads had to go, hopefully not!!!

A question I've been mulling over recently is whether speakers have improved much in recent years. I haven't kept abreast of new hifi that much, so I find myself lusting after speakers that were highly rated when I was a teenager. It's hard to know how they would compare to the current crop of hifi magazine darlings. Obviously some designs are classics (Quads and Tannoys are great examples) but I wonder about speakers from the 80s and 90s.

I think there's been a lot of trickle down - in that there are many inexpensive speakers now that sound pretty good. I do think the higher end ones are better now (so things are advancing) but it's in that sub €2k bracket that the biggest improvement is evident


Fran