

- Original tannoy dual concentric drivers#
- Original tannoy dual concentric driver#
- Original tannoy dual concentric professional#
Tannoy’s answer, in 1983, was the Mercury range of loudspeakers the new Mercury range made use of vinyl wrapped, particle board enclosures, and multiple drivers in a conventional ‘book-shelf’ format. Additionally, consumers were demanding ever more compact loudspeakers to fit into modern interiors. Tannoy had built an enviable reputation for building ‘no compromise’ loudspeaker units, featuring the finest materials and construction methods values at odds with the new ‘budget’ Hi-FI market. No longer was ‘made in Japan’ a sign of a cheap product – offerings from Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer, Technics et al made people sit up and take notice. The 1980s saw a big shift in the Hi-Fi market the ‘gimcrack’ offerings of the far east, specifically Japan, had suddenly become very serious contenders. Legendary producer Martin Hannett is also reputed to have had numerous pairs of Tannoy Monitors, custom ordered to suit his requirements. Vangelis’ hugely influential score for Blade Runner, was composed with the help of Tannoy Dreadnaught speakers.
Original tannoy dual concentric professional#
Tannoy’s professional loudspeakers had, by the 1970s, earned a supportive fan-base amongst professional users. Tannoy Monitor Gold’s in use at Abbey Road Studios – 1971 It seems fitting then, that today we refer to studio loudspeakers as ‘Monitor Speakers’. At Abbey Road, TANNOY monitors were used in the recording of many famous artists such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

AKG weren’t the only ones to recognise the outstanding qualities of the TANNOY monitor speaker, however.īack in the UK, studios began fitting the monitor drivers in cabinets and using them for critical listening purposes in recording studios possibly the most famous of which being EMI’s Abbey Road studios.
Original tannoy dual concentric driver#
The new loudspeaker driver had a frequency response so wide, and so flat, that the very first units sold went to AKG of Austria, where they were used as laboratory reference speakers for developing AKG’s prestigious range of microphones. By placing the HF driver at the centre of the main driver, as per TANNOY’s Dual Concentric design, time alignment is outstanding and phase issues virtually eliminated. Placing two separate loudspeaker drivers in an enclosure can result in some inherent issues: sound emanating from the two drivers may arrive at the listening position at different times, creating phase issues and, in turn, mild comb filtering. What WAS revolutionary, however, was TANNOY’s arrangement and positioning of the drivers. Wharfedale had released a gargantuan two driver loudspeaker in the 1930s for example. Two-way speakers, whilst for the time being a high-end feature, were not in themselves a wholly new idea. The key to the Monitor’s incredibly clean, wide, and transparent response was the introduction of TANNOYs famous ‘Dual Concentric’ technology. That revolutionary product was the now legendary TANNOY Monitor loudspeaker. In 1947 Tannoy displayed a new product at the London Radio show, one which was to revolutionise audio reproduction and invent a whole new market sector. TANNOY’s prominent branding and ubiquity ensured that the TANNOY legend had been firmly established. With the onset of war, Tannoy PA systems were purchased in great numbers by the Ministry of Defence and used extensively for important public speeches by figures such as Winston Churchill. Mobile vans with ornate horns labelled TANNOY with the now famous ‘lightning flash’ design feature became prominent fixtures at outdoor events. Very quickly, TANNOY became associated with portable, mobile public address systems so much so the word ‘Tannoy’ is now listed in the English dictionary as a generic term for a PA system. The name itself was a cunning contraction of TANtalum/allOY – the two materials used in the company’s rectifiers. It took another two years, however, until the famous name TANNOY appeared. Tannoy’s history goes back as far as 1926 when Guy R Fountain founded the Tulsemere manufacturing company in London. Thanks to the pioneering efforts of a historic British Brand, the subject of today’s blog, we have come to refer to a powerful, intelligible audio system as a TANNOY. If two things need sticking together one uses Sellotape, and if a permanent marker’s required, reach for a Sharpie.

For example, one does the cleaning with a Hoover, an off-road vehicle is a Jeep. Certain brand names become so entwined with a particular item, that the brand enters into our lexicon.
