My new (to me) speakers, Tannoy HPD-385's
Face
Posts: 14,340
I loved the sound of my Tannoy Saturns, but the bass wasn't there. I hate the idea of using a sub for 2 channel, so I started looking for larger Tannoys. Particularly the D700, D900, S10(maybe, only if cheap), or possible some older ones. I looked for over a month, ebay, CL, Audiogon, etc... I came across a few sets, most were overseas though. One set was in the US, but of course the seller was in CA and didn't respond to my emails. :rolleyes:
Then I came across a pair of Tannoy HPD-385's in Arden cabinets. The were recently re-coned and have new diaphragms. The internal wiring was also changed over to Kimber Kable and the binding posts were upgraded. The only problem I saw was(besides their mammoth size), the exterior of the cabinets were painted white.
So I decided to check them out anyway. Fortunately for me, the seller had them hooked up to very similar McIntosh equipment to what I have.
He put on some satellite radio(garbage) to audition the speakers. Luckily I brought a couple of CD's. After listening to a few tracks from each, I decided to take the speakers. But before leaving, I checked out the rest of the room. He had some really big JBL's that were 250lbs each! Also some Altecs, misc custom speakers, a lot of McIntosh gear, and some nice tube gear.
I got them home, waited for my father to come by and set them up, then fired them up without wasting anymore time. My initial impression was of disappointment. Then I remembered the speakers had roll off and energy knobs. After playing with them for a little bit, I got them to sound much better.
Comparing them to my Saturns was tricky. The have a similar sound, but different. The HPD-385's have all the low end I could want. The bass is plentiful, but slightly less "snappy". As for the midrange, it seems a little distant. Treble is right where it should be, no complaints at all. Another difference is imaging. The Saturns imaging was great if I was sitting in my computer chair beside my table or if I was on the couch in the back of the room. As for the HPD's, I need to sit further back. On the couch across the room from them, the imaging is great! Move a few feet forward and it greatly starts to diminish. I have less toe in on these than I did with the Saturns, that could be part of the reason. They are also a little more forgiving than my Saturns. As I mentioned before, the previous owner just had them re-coned and had new diaphragms installed(Aug 07), and claims he hasn't put many house on them since, so they need to be broken in. My Saturns were horrible out of the box. They needed 10 hours to start sounding good, but 60-80 hours till they were fully broken in. Since I'm home on disability for another couple weeks, they should be broken in soon.
Please ignore the paint samples. Once I get better the room will be painted and a new floor will be put down.
Then I came across a pair of Tannoy HPD-385's in Arden cabinets. The were recently re-coned and have new diaphragms. The internal wiring was also changed over to Kimber Kable and the binding posts were upgraded. The only problem I saw was(besides their mammoth size), the exterior of the cabinets were painted white.
So I decided to check them out anyway. Fortunately for me, the seller had them hooked up to very similar McIntosh equipment to what I have.He put on some satellite radio(garbage) to audition the speakers. Luckily I brought a couple of CD's. After listening to a few tracks from each, I decided to take the speakers. But before leaving, I checked out the rest of the room. He had some really big JBL's that were 250lbs each! Also some Altecs, misc custom speakers, a lot of McIntosh gear, and some nice tube gear.
I got them home, waited for my father to come by and set them up, then fired them up without wasting anymore time. My initial impression was of disappointment. Then I remembered the speakers had roll off and energy knobs. After playing with them for a little bit, I got them to sound much better.
Comparing them to my Saturns was tricky. The have a similar sound, but different. The HPD-385's have all the low end I could want. The bass is plentiful, but slightly less "snappy". As for the midrange, it seems a little distant. Treble is right where it should be, no complaints at all. Another difference is imaging. The Saturns imaging was great if I was sitting in my computer chair beside my table or if I was on the couch in the back of the room. As for the HPD's, I need to sit further back. On the couch across the room from them, the imaging is great! Move a few feet forward and it greatly starts to diminish. I have less toe in on these than I did with the Saturns, that could be part of the reason. They are also a little more forgiving than my Saturns. As I mentioned before, the previous owner just had them re-coned and had new diaphragms installed(Aug 07), and claims he hasn't put many house on them since, so they need to be broken in. My Saturns were horrible out of the box. They needed 10 hours to start sounding good, but 60-80 hours till they were fully broken in. Since I'm home on disability for another couple weeks, they should be broken in soon.
Please ignore the paint samples.
Once I get better the room will be painted and a new floor will be put down.
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
Post edited by Face on
Comments
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Cool
Must say though
What a weird view you got there... lol- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit. -
That is one sweet man-cave, even have the computer right there, hell yeah. I built my system around my computer and arranged my livingroom around my system(s), but I see you made good use of an extra room.
The important part is that it sounds good. You have Mac gear too... so that is jealousworthy right there. -
I'd lock myself in that room for days at a time in a heartbeat.
Cool picture, how do you take pictures like that? -
Thanks guys!
I believe it's called a "fish eye" lens.BaggedLancer wrote: »Cool picture, how do you take pictures like that?"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche -
Thanks guys!
I believe it's called a "fish eye" lens.
Neat, really glad I'm not a fish, but pictures look cool! -
I've been doing a little playing around. I changed the interconnects between the amp and pre from Goertz Sapphires to Goertz Micro Purls. While doing that I realized I had the speaker cables were hooked up to the 4ohm taps on the back of my amp, doh. Between putting 10 hours on them, switching interconnects, and hooking them up to my amp correctly, they sound like they're "opening up". I may also try plugging up one or two of the three ports. This is commonly done on the new models. It tightens everything up a little.
As for the midrange sounding "distant" and the less snappy bass, it appears that's from the cabinet's poor design. There's little bracing in these massive cabs. I have a friend who's a excellent carpenter, I may have him build a new pair of cabs for me, with a nicer finish than piano key white. "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche -
Awesome man-cave, all you need is a Farrah poster.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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Beautiful set-up, congrats man.2007 Club Polk Football Pool Champ
2010 Club Polk Fantasy Football Champ
2011 Club Polk Football Pool Champ
"It's like a koala bear crapped a rainbow in my brain!" -
Nice setup and Congrats on the speaks.
engtazengtaz
I love how music can brighten up a bad day. -
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Ahhhhhhh....Tannoy's!Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
I would locate the computer somewhere else, but if you like it there no big deal.
Enjoy the speaks, going with the dark color on the wall would be nice.
RT1 -
Thanks guys. With a few more hours on them and playing with the toe a little, they're coming around.
I have another pair of speaker cables I want to try out, but have to wait for some adapters so they'll fit my barrier strips.
Btw, also picked up a pair of Monitor 7c's today. I'm becoming a speaker addict. "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche -
I received new woofers for the Monitor 7's yesterday. Popped them in and put about 8-10 hours on them from last night till this afternoon. They are a little bright compared to what I'm used to, but still a great sounding little speaker. I should be ordering RDO's for them soon and have new caps and resistors in my shopping cart on PE.
Back to the Tannoys. I received the adapters needed to hook up my new speaker cables. I needed 2 pairs of barrier strip to banana adapters since Goertz doesn't offer anything that will work with barrier strips besides pins(no thanks). I went ahead and re-terminated the cables with bananas, installed the adapters, and plugged in the Goertz AG 2 Veracity cables. I purchased these cables used since I could never justify spending over $1,000 on a single pair of cables, so no break in was needed.
Well, for whatever reason, the McIntosh, Signal Ultras, and Tannoy HPD's weren't a good combo. These Goertz cables really brought these speakers to another level. There is a noticeable improvement in clarity and control. I don't know the reason why. Maybe because I had bi-wire Signal Ultras and only one of the two pairs of ends were in use due to the single set of terminals on the back of my speakers. Or maybe it's due to the Goertz's low impedence(4ohm) and material(silver). Regardless, I was considering selling the HPD's already, but this has changed my mind. I still may have a friend build new cabs since these can double as bass shakers when cranked. I still have a couple of things left to play with. One is the power taps on the back of the Mac. The cables are currently hooked up to the 8 ohm taps, I may try the 4ohm since the cables are rated at 4ohms. Plus I should have a pair of interconnects on the way from Ben soon. I'm curious to see how they fair against a pair of Goertz Sapphires.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading.
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche -
Those are the ****. I hope to one day have something like that.
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Quick update.
I was initially a little disappointed with the speakers. Well, that all seems to be fixed as of today. I finally got around to breaking the speakers down(with help of course) and upgraded the crossovers. I used Mills resistors, Solen caps, and silver solder to replace the 20+ year old junk. I also added a little foam to some bare areas in enclosure around the driver.
For my initial impressions, it gave me the highs I was missing. I was going to toy around with resistor and cap values to make them brighter, I'm now glad I didn't. There's also more bass and the midrange is improved, it doesn't sound distant anymore. There's a slight bit of harshness at times, but this will decrease, if not go way completely after everything is broken in. If not, I can make some adjustments via the switches on the front panel.
To be honest, I'm just glad I didn't ruin the crossovers. "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche -
How did you up mounting the new components?Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Whoa, man!
That picture yanked me back to the 60's & I'm trippin'!
Far out! Bitchen!"Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." Bob Seger -
Surprisingly, everything fit fine. The biggest caps were only 6.8uf. The most difficult part was removing the old caps. If it wasn't for someone working at Tannoy going overboard with the glue that day, it would have been a breeze.How did you up mounting the new components?
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
