Tannoy
Tannoy speakers built around the Dual Concentric driver, the coaxial design that Tannoy first presented at the London Radio Show in 1947 and has refined ever since. The collection centres on the Prestige range, in hand-crafted walnut cabinets that run from a modest floorstander to the Westminster Royal GR, a compound horn of rare scale and presence, with a compact stand-mount for smaller rooms. Audio Lounge in London can help with amplification, placement and the right model for the room.
The Tannoy Dual Concentric Driver
One idea defines Tannoy. A Dual Concentric driver sets the high-frequency unit at the centre of the bass cone, so treble and bass leave the cabinet from the same point and reach the ear in step. Voices settle precisely between the pair, instruments keep a natural size, and the sound holds together at a whisper or at full scale.
Tannoy Dual Concentric speakers became a fixture of professional recording studios, and the same principle, refined over decades, now sits behind walnut cabinetry made for living rooms rather than control rooms.
The Tannoy Prestige Range
The Tannoy Prestige range treats the loudspeaker as fine furniture. Each Prestige GR cabinet is hand-crafted from solid timber and hardwood ply, finished in real walnut veneer with solid walnut mouldings, and the original lightning-strike logo returns on the metal trims. GR means Gold Reference: the Tannoy Gold Reference drivers descend from the celebrated Monitor Gold, refined with new cone materials and with crossovers developed component by component.
Choosing Within the Collection
Tannoy floor standing speakers make up most of the collection, and the choice follows the room. The Stirling GR, which Tannoy calls the first step into the Prestige GR series, suits a modest space, and the Turnberry GR brings Prestige performance to smaller rooms with a little more scale. The Kensington GR carries the flagship version of the smaller Gold Reference driver, with an Alnico magnet system, in an extensively braced cabinet.
The Canterbury GR steps up to the larger Gold Reference driver in a substantial cabinet whose port tuning adjusts to the room, and the Westminster Royal GR crowns the range: a compound horn, hand-built in birch ply, that Tannoy presents as the culmination of decades of Dual Concentric development. Beside the Prestige GR models stands the Stirling III LZ Special Edition, also a floorstanding design.
Smaller Rooms and the Right Amplifier
Among Tannoy bookshelf speakers, the Autograph Mini-OW recreates the famous Autograph of the 1950s in miniature, with a compact Dual Concentric driver in a handcrafted oiled walnut cabinet made for small rooms. A pair of rigid speaker stands lets the cabinets breathe away from walls and shelves.
The Prestige GR models are efficient, so the choice of amplifier is wide, from refined valve designs of modest power to high-power solid-state units. Explore partners among the integrated amplifiers, choose speaker cables to suit the run, and compare models across brands in the floorstanding speakers and bookshelf speakers collections, all part of a broader range of hi-fi speakers. To hear Tannoy speakers before choosing, arrange a listening session with Audio Lounge in London.
Questions About Tannoy
Which Tannoy speaker suits a smaller room?
The Autograph Mini-OW and the Stirling GR suit smaller rooms. The first is a two-way stand-mount built around a 4-inch Dual Concentric driver, which Tannoy designed for small spaces; the second places a 10-inch Dual Concentric in an 85-litre cabinet, the smallest floorstanding model in the Prestige GR series. Audio Lounge can advise on placement and stands before a choice is made.
What is a Tannoy Dual Concentric driver?
A Tannoy Dual Concentric driver is a coaxial loudspeaker unit in which the high-frequency section sits at the centre of the low-frequency cone, so both radiate from a single point. Tannoy’s chief engineer, Ronnie H. Rackham, developed the design, and the first Dual Concentric was unveiled in London in 1947. The Gold Reference drivers of the Prestige GR range are a modern evolution of the same idea.
What does GR mean on Tannoy Prestige speakers?
GR stands for Gold Reference, the upgrade Tannoy applied across the whole Prestige series. The Gold Reference drivers refine the Dual Concentric concept and trace a direct line to the Monitor Gold of 1967, while the crossovers of the three largest Prestige GR models are deep cryogenically treated as complete units for greater cohesion.
Which amplifiers suit Tannoy loudspeakers?
Tannoy rates the Prestige GR models for amplifiers from 20 watts per channel, with sensitivity between 91 dB and 99 dB across the range. That efficiency allows a wide choice: Tannoy notes that the Turnberry GR partners anything from single-ended triode valve amplifiers to high-power solid-state designs. Audio Lounge can suggest a partner from the amplifiers in the collection.
Where does the Tannoy name come from?
The name joins tantalum and alloy. Guy R. Fountain set up in London in 1926 to make rectifiers for early radio sets, built with tantalum and a lead alloy, and the Tannoy name followed in 1928. By 1940 the name had become so closely tied to public address that the Oxford English Dictionary added Tannoy as a word.