Anyone using tannoy XT8F
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 6:28 pm
Any members using these or heard them? Would love your thoughts
I had them, with Rega ElexR and CA DAC Magic 100. Some thoughts:
- big big sound
- crazy dynamics. Compared them against DALI at Hifihut (they had only similarly priced Dali then, even though i wanted to hear KEF also). Female vocals where much better on Dali, but dynamics, upper and lower extensions were on Tannoys side (Vocal jazz like Diana Krall is better on DALI, Lee Ritenour or other rock/pop/fusion is better on Tannoy)
- got them on Richersound NY sales discount for ~€1000, Hifihut price was ~€1500, even i told them i know how to google and what's the price in other stores!
- at home i couldn't control the bass, it was just too boomy and too much for my room. Needs 20sqm or more
- later replaced them with Focal 1007be, which has better vocals, micro dynamics, details, but of course without size and dynamics of Tannoys. Also, XT8F has some "weird" colored sound compared against Focal (okay, focals are 3x smaller and 3x more expensive, not fair comparison), so think Rega is not good match for them in term of timbar accuracy and natural sound. Maybe some Tube amp and better DAC would do wonders, not sure (read some comments on internet that xt8f works well with softer tube amps)
thats about it, in what i remember.