Amplifiers to partner Tannoy Monitor Gold 15s

These are fine sounding speakers and deserve a good quality amp so looking for recommendation of the same vintage to partner the Tannoys. What amps do other fellow vintage Tannoyists use?

I fancy trying valves with them and maybe even a vintage solid state if they are a good match for the speakers so won't rule out SS at this stage.

Vintage electronics has great sound but are hard to repair and would certainly need servicing and replacement of components. My main concern is ‘spotting' good and bad equipment which is out of my league as I have very little audio electronic knowledge.

The obvious choice is Leak/Quad/Sugden/Radford etc. But some of these ‘iconic' amps may be beyond my modest budget of £800. However if a good quality amp matches the speakers leading to system synergy then I will consider increasing the budget to achieve improved musical performance. The quality of the music is more important to me than ‘loud' music.

Looking forward to any suggestions

 

Do you want something that matches visually? Amp circuits haven't changed a lot over the years, and if anything only got better, so something from the Tannoys era will internally be much the same as a 10 year old amp that could well be less in need of servicing.

Edit: Actually the Golds are older than I thought, starting in '55. So I'd have to say modern solid state amps are better than those from the Tannoy Gold period.

 

For vintage you could try:

Rogers A75/2 or A100 (SS)

Quad 33/303 (SS)

Leak Stereo 20 power amp with a passive pre. (V)

Radford STA25 with passive pre. (V)

All but the Radford would come in well under budget leaving some cash for a service.

 

Leak Stereo 20 with passive pre and Tannoys are generally considered a good match. The Leak drove my Tannoys (admittedly slightly more modern) well.

 

I am quite fond of the Leak 20 and have read a lot about it on the web.

So it would be a blind purchase if I go the vintage route as it would not very practical to haul the speakers for a demo with any potential purchases due to the size of the Tannoys.

This is the reason for asking you guys on here to see what is suitable for the MGs.

I have a NAC 42 that i am not using, would this be an unusual match for the 20?

Should I stick with the Leak preamps which I believe are not very good even after a service/upgrade.

 

If you are on a tight budget the Yaqin MC10 integrated amp works very well with the Golds.These are regulalrly for sale on ebay or through Chinese direct sellers.make sure you get a 230 or 240 volt one though.
It sounds shockingly good actually.
It sounds like a good vintage valve amp but has surprisingly good bass.
You can do better but you would need to spend ten times as much.

 

I know there are some decent amps from the Chinese manufacturers but my main concern is build quality and the lack of service back up should they go 'pop'.

I think for my initial foray into the 'valve' camp I would prefer to stick with the tried and tested amps from QUAD/Leakl etc.....

 

I don't think that you ought to limit yourself to valves and vintage. I currently use a Sugden A21a with my 12" golds, and also found that a Unison Research Unico integrated (hybrid) 80wpc jobby sounded really superb with 'em.

Of course I do also have a Leak ST20 which I sometimes use, and it does sound great

 

I'm now considering newer models from Luxman and Almarro.

But have to travel far for any demo as dealers are not wide spread across the UK. Would love to hear what all the fuss ..........about these 'high end' gear.

I am visiting friends over the summer break so can anyone here recommend any dealers in London, NW England and the Midlands area that sell the above brands.

Thank You.

 

Unfortunately the Almarro 318B will not drive the Golds quite properly.It comes close but will not go very loud.A shame because I own one and was hoping it would.
Superb sounding amps but obviously they can't deliver enough current.

The Redgum SS amps sound very good with the Tannoys.

 

After a lot research on the vintage amps especially the Leak 20 I have seen prices of the 20 going through the roof with a recent one went for nearly £900.

They are no doubt a very good sounding amp and will always appeal to the 'collector audiophile'. Sure they wont lose much when come to resale as there will always be a demand for vintage gear especially the Far East crowd.

Looking at some of the large collections of gear in lock up warehouses is plain crazy.........it has become an obsession for 'them'.............." I have more than you mentality". For god sake just enjoy the music.

Anyway rant over I will now consider a modern alternative. Any suggestions?

 

I have read the 318B is a great amp and imo a beautiful piece of design. Any other Tannoyist have experience with this amp?

 

HiFi Pete

I use a Glasshouse 300b on my GRF Memory speakers which use the 15" 3839m radical series driver.

TonyL uses a Prima Luna on his monitor Golds

Tony and I live fairly close in the Northwest, if you want to grab a listen then pm me I am sure we can sort something out. (We both have Quad 33/303 available too)

 

Thanks for the offer Andy 831.
I'm arranging a demo of the Luxman SQ-N100 valve amp from a local dealer next week. Read good reviews from 6Moon.
It's not a model that gets a mention on hi-fi forums. Has anyone here any experience of this amp with a pair of MGs?

 

question, why would anyone want to put an engine of a mini on a ferrari's car?

 

An odd statement Nando, even by your standards. Do you mean that he won't have the power to drive the Tannoys?

 

I thought the Tannoys are not too fussed with a low power valve amp.
I am little bit confused with the comment by nando as well. Not enough power to driver the MGs?

 

quote

hi dev, tannoy's are not power hungry but they need control and speed,the power output of a valve needs voltage and amps to control 15" dc's or even 12" , vintage valve amps if re-condition and upgraded to maximise the current output then watts minimum to control 15" golds i will put it at 40 watts, IMO,

 

My D700s are not an easy load but the Leak Stereo 20 drove them well. The Luxman SQ-N100 has similar output, so it may be OK. It may not have the headroom offered by more powerful amps such as WAD or (my favourite) the Rogue but let's see what hifipete has to say after his testing.

 

I personally use Manley Snapper valve monoblock amplifiers (100wattts per channel) with my 15inch Tannoys and they sound superb, I believe Tannoy's are one of the favourite speakers of Mr Manley, I also use an Aragon 8008BB (bipolar push /pull transistor design with plenty of voltage and current, voltage rails are around 72volts I believe with a massive 2KV transformer) with great success, both these amps provide much better bass extension, control, and attack than any of the other smaller amps I sometimes use eg 300b SE and mini class D amps, one of the better lower powered valve amps I have used is a small Norh SE9 amp this uses a single EL34 in single ended configuration producing around 9 watts I believe, and this sounds great with the Tannoys aside from just missing out on the bass extension and authority of the bigger higher powered manleys and aragon amps, I think you need to also bear in mind what type of music you enjoy and play most.