Townshend Glastonbury 2

I saw a pair of Townshend Glastonbury 2 speakers on hififor sale for £375 today.

I dont really know much about these except that they caused a bit of a stir in the 80s I believe. Does anybody know what was special about them and what they sound like?

Would they be worth a punt at this price?

cheers, Robbo

 

Robbo, the big mean, dynamic and sodding heavy, metal drivers too, seriously 'Rockers' stuff, but 'manly in the Dynamics dept' WM

 

Were these the one's that were lined with carpet and then filled with plaster?

 

That rings a bell, but I have no real idea about them apart from a vague recollection of an HFC review way back in the 80s

robbo

 

Zanash, I think that was the Sir Galahad's ? either way they Heavy

 

Hi

The Glastonbury II are a heavy (40kgs) speaker. They consisted of a black aluminium shell that was lined with carpet. A plaster was then poured in to build up the thickness to 1 1/2 inches. This was time consuming & required six pours. Also a long drying time. On top of that was added 3/4 inch of underlay. This was done to make the cabinet inert.


The speaker uses a Aluminium bass/mid driver & a ribbon tweeter. There is also a front reflex port. The speakers were just under a meter tall.

The speakers were a revealing speaker and can sound stunning in the right conditions. I have heard them sounding very good on a number outings. They do need a good front end & quality amp. I have heard these on the end of a Rock Reference & EAR amps. They can sound leaner than a lot of convertional speakers.

They were an easy load with a sensitivity of around 89db/w/m. I think they could handle at least 100watts.

I do understand that a studio did use a pair for monitoring.

May be worth a look. I would check the drivers for damage from being over driven use.

SCIDB

 

Dean,

Do you have any reviews of them?

Cheers, Neil

 

Hi Robbo,

I have a review from HiFI Answers of them to hand. This gave them the thumbs up. I'll try and see if my scanner is working. Failing that I could send you a photo copy.


SCIDB

 

Thanks SCIDB,

I am not sure how successful I'll be with these, as there are a number of people interested. The guy also said there is very slight damage on one of the drivers, which doesnt sound good.

Cheers, Robbo

 

I have heard these speakers on a number of occasions and have always thought they sounded really good. I agree with SCIDB

JC

 

here is a piccy of one. I am quite tempted. I may try to hear them at the weekend.

Robbo

 

Hi Robbo,

You have to let us know how you get on.

My dealer has a pair in his shop waiting for repair. I understand the drivers (which are damaged ) will cost around £150 each to repair.

I think the drivers were made by Ted Jordan. They have a site here .

Not sure how much these are but they may be able to help.

SCIDB

 

Crickey, those little things weigh 40kg each?!

Just noticed, this discussion has a somewhat topical ring to it, seeing as "Glastonbury" is currently in full swing.

 

Surely that should be full "paddle"...

Cheers

 

Aha I wondered why it had started raining

 

domfjbrown and ilockyer have both been camping out there since Wednesday night, so I'm sure we'll be getting first hand accounts on how much mud and water they managed to ingest on their return.

 

My favourite Glastonbury story was a mate who went about two or three years ago to the really wet one. There was a massive group messing around on a big mud slide, so he went down, caught his backside on a flint sticking out of the ground, and spent most of the weekend in casualty with a severely ripped arse cheek. Ouch:banghead: