Tannoy Cheviots

Nando, I saw these and thought of you.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TANNOY-BUCKIN...omeAudioHiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item35a984809a

 

how great are they?!?!

 

quote

my headphones wow island record's monitors the best of the crowd,
nando.

 

No, Would be a made to order. You could try them in a normal sized GRF cabs to give a good indication - I have heard a pair of 12" in normal sized cabs. They worked well - little less body but not my much.
I would scale them down by a couple of inches off the width / other dimensions appropriately.
To try them in normal size cabs a baffle front cutout (that I already have could be used - few mins with jig saw + some more felt needed to ensure mag cover fit too.

 

I've only just realised that that was my 5000th post.

I'll PM you when I get them.

 

Looking foward to listen to my cheviots tomorrow before i put them up for sale, nice one dev,
nando.

 

hi guys, how did the test go? opinions welcome, thanks DEV. & CO.
nando.

 

Big thanks to Dev for his hospitality yesterday and for keeping me fed with some lovely food. Shame that Joseph had car problems and couldn't make it.

I took along a small macbook pro and pocket hard drive which we connected optically to Dev's Meridian DAC. I love computer audio - 1000 lossless albums that can sit in a shirt pocket and travel anywhere.

We had a good listen to the Cheviots which have been effectively rebuilt.
From speaking with Joseph I understand that the speakers have been rewired, crossovers rebuilt and the 12" DC drivers have been re-coned and coiled - so effectively a brand new driver.

I've heard a few Tannoys now, my own Chesters and LGMs, some 15" Golds, some more recent 15" pro DMT monitors and Dev's D700s.
The Cheviot shares a few characteristics with all of them. Music is always clean and unforced with a sense that the speakers is never working hard. Very hard to convey that in words but it remains the preserve of large speakers and drivers IMO. Best way to describe the effect is that the soundstage, tonality and dynamic contrasts do not shift unduly with changes to replay level.

These Cheviots seemed more extended and open at the very top than I recall from other DC drivers using the pepperpot tweeter. They filled the (large) room easily and images were stable as you'd expect from the DC driver. The expected big, open and spacious sound was a very easy listen for many hours and there was the usual lack of stunt effects - no silly bass lift of mid humps to make the speaker impress on selected demo recording. These sounded good on everything we played.

This is still a relatively small Tannoy enclosure and bass, while natural and in good proportion to the rest of the range, didn't get particularly low. The D700 goes considerably lower and with greater authority.
The speaker was sometimes a bit too distant and I suspect more than a little LS3/5 effect in the presence band - I wonder if the crossover build was done precisely to original spec or if it (and therefore the characteristics) has been modified.
There was also some cabinet contribution on clean speech recordings so perhaps some work in that area might reap rewards.

The cabinet is pretty shallow and so the speaker can sit fairly close to a rear wall, which is always useful with a large speaker.

The day's play didn't stop at the Cheviots and I was interested to hear the Crown K2 amp that was sitting unused on the carpet.
Never heard one of these monsters and I'm glad that Dev let me listen in place of the valve Rogue amp. The bottom end was clearly better but I confess to not finding anything objectionable about the rest of the performance, and I'd expected to find it a bit rough and uncouth. It did very well IMO and given the used prices of the K1 & K2 these are something of bargain.

 

thanks rob&co, dev i must taste that food i missed on, lol, it is nice to read rob's comment's however i now will put them for sale to "with hope" they get a good home, thanks chris for your comments on the phone while i was here and missing the fun, blasted cars next time i will go by horse and cart, see you soon guys,
best regards,
nando.

 

chris, read this.