Visit to Tony L - system report

A few weeks ago I headed north to visit Tony L up in Lancashire.
A visit at least once a year to catch up on things, put the world to rights and share some wine and a good curry is reason enough, however Tony had recently made some system changes that had me itching to go listen.

We come from similar audio roots, both formerly of the Linn/Naim flat earth faith and looking back over the years we’ve often used the same kit, albeit at different times.
Interestingly we’ve both spun off in different directions in recent years and though the kit has changed radically, the end game result remains largely the same as back in the black ash 80s, as you’ll see.

Some time ago Tony landed a couple of rather nice old Lenco idler decks and I think it fair to say that he was shocked at just how good these were compared to his then NA/Hadcock combination. The Lenco wasn’t as refined, didn’t have the bandwidth or the sheer scale of he NA but Tony recounts that it just made him smile - it boogied in a way that the vastly more expensive NA couldn’t match. The idler interest was piqued and soon he’d landed a pair of Thorens TD124s and now a stunning Garrard 301.
You’ll see both in the pictures below but one of the 124s and the 301 are in remarkable condition. The 301 has been to Loricraft for a service and now sits in a beautiful slate plinth, which in turn sits on Tony’s own supports which are erm... Skateboard wheels!
They work and look terrific under the slate. I think Tony should market them, with a nice audiophile price mark-up naturally.

Idlers passed me by back in the day. I grew up initially with Japanese direct drives before moving onto the British belt driven decks, so the opportunity to hear these beauties was much welcomed. But there is more.

Tony also recently came by a pair of Tannoy Monitor Golds in home made cabinets.
These weren’t just any old cabinets mind - 1” thick ply then metal lined internally with substantial bracing. The cabinet volume is that of a Tannoy Lancaster but you wont find many Tannoy cabinets built to this standard. They weigh a ton, look stunning and feel acoustically inert. I always feel a bit sad looking at stuff like this, or seeing much loved vintage equipment for sale because someone now no longer with us will have loved and appreciated such equipment for many years, and in a way rare in todays chop and change fashion driven audio scene.

On the 301 sits a SME M2-10 and Audio Technca AT33PTG cartridge feeding a Prima Luna Prologue 2 integrated valve amplifier via a Dynavector P100 phono stage.
Other sources are a Sony CDP3000ES top loading CD player (a machine I know well) and a high end vintage Denon tuner.

So what does this little lot sound like?
In a word, superb but not entirely how I’d imagined it.
Think of old TTs and 60s drivers in large cabinets driven by valves and certain expectations are created. This system doesn’t sound ‘vintage’ in the accepted sense, it isn’t laid- back and it certainly doesn’t sacrifice detail and clarity at the alter of euphony.
What surprised me was how uncoloured and clean everything sounded. Take the opening track from Bronwen Exter on the excellent Science for Girls album - clean, expressive and open in a way that few speakers manage, let alone ones with 15” bass/mid drivers.
These were better in every way than my recent experience of 12” LGMs. Large vintage Tannoy drivers clearly need large cabinets if they aren’t to sound rather weak and anemic. The clarity and ease is all there in the smaller models but they lack scale and body compared to this pair of Golds.
Moving onto The XX and some tracks from UB40’s first album gave us a chance to get some air moving. This is where that 15” driver excels because it moves air so effortlessly. Electronic drums are taut and clean without any hint of overhang and the contribution from that wonderfully built cabinet is clearly tiny. Acoustic bass is perhaps a shade warmer than some may like and male vocals are a little ‘BBC’ at times but this is never enough to become intrusive, and many will prefer it to the thinner, more nasal vocal voicing that is common to many modern speaker systems.
Back to that bass and the combination of warmth and agility is demonstrated with some Cannonball Adderley and the track Autumn Leaves. Have you ever heard real bass, live and up close - it sounds big, fat, round and visceral, and that’s just how it sounds via these Golds.
However this is a world away from from the fat glutinous mess that many modern ported speakers pass off as bass. Those attempt either to preserve the size, warmth and tonality but fluff the pitch differentiation, or partly strip away the fundamental and emphasize the harmonics (Linn/Naim style) to give something that is superficially ‘tuneful’ but utterly wrong. The Golds deliver the lot - tonality, scale and pitch accuracy.

The Adderley track mentioned was played on the Garrard and Thorens.
My lasting impression of the Garrard is one of absolute security.
I would’d say it blows other high quality decks away purely on sound quality - it is undoubtedly top drawer but different to the alternatives rather than better.
For example it sounds more secure, solid and ‘driven’ than a Linn or Rega but perhaps less atmospheric and open. So horses for courses to a large degree.
Where it really excels is the wonderful sense of stability. I’ve never heard such utterly secure and clean tracking, to the point where I remarked to Tony that the 1950s Garrard reminded me of the better aspects of CD - the cleanness and lack of noise.

I also got to listen to the TD124 briefly and enjoyed that, not in the same class as the Garrard but it was disadvantaged by the SME S2 arm and Pickering MM.
I love the look of the 124 and the engineering would put many modern decks to shame. In fact I honestly doubt that many audio companies today could produce product to this standard. Hearing a SME S2 after many years was enlightening. I’ve well and truly slagged the poor old thing many times but it sounded pretty good on the 124. I’d need to play with one at length to be absolutely sure of it’s ability, but it clearly isn’t the crap I recall from previous exposure. We live and learn.

During our conversation Tony mentioned a desire to try some solid state amplifiers with the Tannoys. We did attempt to try a Quad 303 but there was some DC on the output so didn’t risk it. I do think that Tony should explore the SS options though. My only criticism of the system was a little excess warmth and I’m sure a nice clean SS amp would pull it back toward neutral. If the Quad 303 doesn’t do it, perhaps a 306 or a modern Sugden A21.
I’m sure any good amplifier would work well, but this is classic british kit and it wouldn’t feel right seeing it driven by some American monstrosity or Chinese built kit, good as they ultimately are at the job. Keep it British and keep it vintage would be my advice here.

So a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days and the chance to hear some superb classic kit, for which I am extremely grateful.

There’s just one more thing .....

Want to hear that Garrard?
Here’s an excerpt from that stunning Adderley track ripped to 16/44 wav:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?iuyrtqonoid


Tony also has a lovely old HMV wind-up gramophone. Here’s a bit of Louis Armstrong recorded from it. This is the mono cut, you can hear the 2009 stereo remaster when released next week

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ygwxjmzim5m


A few pics:

 

Hi RobHolt,

very nice, sweet setup there--and those Tannoy-hybrids (diy-modified) speakers are looking very nice, bet they sound even better; I never heard a Tannoy "point source" speaker before, but just on specs and pictures, I marvel at how a single driver can deliver full range?

hey and some very good music in the last picture, and man, look at that library of LP's :band: all very nice;


regards,
Kenny

 

Thanks for sharing Rob.

 

Thanks Rob, good to see you as ever. Your viewpoint looks to be very similar to my own on the system. Here's a pic of the HMV 102:



The solid state amp thing is curiosity rather than any real drive to change. The Tannoys are a fairly recent addition so I'm still learning what they like / don't like. Ideally I'd like to try everything between a decent 200 watt solid state amp and a 10 watt SET. I already had a cosmetically very tidy Quad 303 (it came with the Tannoys) so I've hoofed it back to Quad for a service and bought a cute little Audio Synthesis passive stepped attenuator pre from eBay:



I'll give it a try with the 303. I'm especially interested in revisiting the 303 as it was (along with a 33) my first ever hi-fi amp. It was also a classic studio combination with Monitor Golds throughout the late 60s and 70s, i.e. many of my favourite records will have been created on that very combo. The PL2 has proved quite hard to beat in the past so the 303 may well end up in the TV system with the 33 (got one of those with the Tannoys too) and the passive pre may end up in the main system with a Leak Stereo 20, another amp I've been very curious to try.

They are dual concentrics rather than a single driver, i.e. the tweeter is mounted inside at the centre of the bass unit. The tweeter is a 2" compression driver and utilises the bass driver as an exponential horn. Some background here. I'm still amazed that a 15" driver can work so well in a two-way speaker, but it does!

Tony.

PS a couple of the pics in Rob's post above are old ones of mine; we didn't actually replinth the Garrard or remove the crappy old gas fire!

 

Excellent. That Autumn Leaves looks remarkably familiar!
It's about time - or thereabouts - that I had a good listen to Tony's system myself...

 

I'd love to have a listen as well but after what happened last time, perhaps it's best not to mention it again.

 

Both welcome at any time! Would be great to see you.

Tony.

PS Joel, you might recognise the Monk and Ervin too ;-)

 

Dev & Tony;
I have an as yet vague notion of heading over to the UK sometime in February. This is not definite, and it isn't fixed - yet; but perhaps we could pencil in a couple of days? I might try and bully Markus into a visit at the same time (somehow we'd have to fit in SSB and Mike as well), but will also have to visit my tailor and Trickers, as well as my Mum, and set aside at least three or four days for the BM and Paris
Will bring extra vinyl!

 

That's excellent news.

Tony.

 

Love my HMV 102.
In that rather fetching blue hue.

 

What speed was that HMV recording? It sounded remarkably clear & free of pops & crackles. Excellent.

Eat your heart out Trevor Bayliss.

 

As Tony said "excellent!".

 

78-ish

We just placed the mic we'd been using to measure the Tannoys about 18" from the horn mouth of the 102.

 

hi robh, next time you are in london come up,
cheers ,
nando.

 

Hi,

Nice photos. I like the look of the Sony CDP3000ES cd player.

The speakers look the business. I like the idea of the trying a Leak amp, should suit the system.

You have got a good passive there. I have a version of the Audio Sythesis passive somewhere knocking about.

SCIDB

 

Lovely ... enjoyed.

Especially the -

Want to hear that Garrard?
Here’s an excerpt from that stunning Adderley track ripped to 16/44 wav:

Very Nice, and blew away anything i've uploaded from CD source of recent

Cheers.

 

That lot looks lovely!

Very similar setup to me as it happens; I'm using a 401, 12" Golds, and a Leak ST20 + TVC passive. I don't think it sounds 'vintage', just........... fantastic.