Dr Bass, i just don’t think the 300 tube amp is cut out for a modern Tannoy.
Our point of disagreement is that.
It’s not whether a Tannoy is good or bad or a 300 tube amp is good or bad
I would take the neutrality of a ATC over a modern Tannoy. And when i say modern, it’s what’s available today. Yours are probably over two decades old.
You know i was considering a vintage, original GRF. But even there you know i was recommended a 100 watt CH Precison amp.
The only Tannoy that really works with a 10 watt amp is the Cornetta. We both know that too
Hello Prem (and any others that might have a lurking curiosity or an abiding interest in this topic / discussion) -
I extremely seldom write / post here but on this occasion, without meaning to appear adversarial or hostile, I'd like to disagree
politely with the statement -
"The only Tannoy that really works with a 10 watt amp is the Cornetta......."
I'll tell you WHY:
from REAL, first-hand, almost daily experience and use / listening - I own 2 pairs of vintage Tannoy rectangular GRFs (a 3rd will "arrive" here early next month !) - I power them BOTH alternatively with - a) a humble vintage QUAD II valve power amp (rated for max. 12~15 W on a good day); and, b) a vintage 1980 HITACHI MosFET power amp (rated for a respectable 70 W / Rms per channel). With BOTH my pairs of the mighty Tannoy GRFs and both alternatively powered by either the modest powered Quad OR even the Hitachi "using" less than 5 W during most listening sessions, I can never turn up the volume much beyond the 9 or 9:30 level on the pre-amp's volume control. By then, the "sound" (music output) is already SCARY loud - the house-help from the building across gleefully smile, my children rush out from their rooms shrieking that MY music is drowning out their's emanating from THEIR headphones as they listen to their "junk" (music !) on their respective phones through their headphones and my wife cautions me that the neighbours will soon arrive at our door and pound it - saying "music tho-daa slow kaa-roe...." OR our in-line home intercom will soon start ringing (but alas we wouldn't hear it in any case !) as the neighbours begin complaining that they cannot view TV in their own homes ! This was just a mirthful and lighthearted creation of a scenario that could easily be precipitated - the bit about our children complaining and my wife cautioning and admonishing me and the trio of househelp from the next door building craning their necks and vicariously enjoying the music from well over 50 m away is a regular occurence though !
The point of the above IS to illustrate and hopefully convince any nay-sayers or less than credulous ones that for the bigger Tannoys (15") in the larger and more complex (horn loaded) enclosures - a mere 3 to 5 watts is almost always sufficient to already reach uncomfortably loud sound pressure levels - any more would be fool-hardy and "destructive" to the speakers, your own hearing AND would serve to very quickly sour good neighbourly relations unless you live on a ranch of 500 acres in rural Wyoming or Texas !
So, just as my humble 2 pence's worth of comment and attempt to both enlighten and highlight the slight inaccuracy in the comment -
"The only Tannoy that really works with a 10 watt amp is the Cornetta........."
The above is NOT true..........I can vouch for it being an actual, regular user and listener - so much so that I now NO longer regret having sold my beefy, muscular, vintage 1955 McIntosh MC-60 tube amps (rated at 60 W per channel) - I am getting by just fine with amps that put out less than 20% of their brawl and am, truly, missing nothing or definitely NOT much ! I have learned and can attest to it that IF you have the mighty old vintage Tannoy GRFs in your system and IN your home, you can easily get by and be satisfied with "minimal" wattage amps of possibly even single digit power output - the key is to have nice, clean, warm and stable power - I experience THIS fact every day !
I close by already apologizing and asking to be excused from any likely retribution IF I have inadvertently and unbeknownst stepped or tread on anyone's (musical) toes here ! Peace.
Sincerely,
Ronnie K. Marker
