How to improve your Polks (or... how to build Tannolks)

[Strangeband]

Very cool story. Cheers to all involved!

 

[Redboy]

Well, I swung by Gary's house this afternoon on my way home from work for a little preview of my new speakers. He had them warmed up and singing in his system.

They sound great. I have no idea how they would measure, but frankly I don't particularly care about that right now. They've got beautiful tone, highs are nice, and lows are certainly not lacking, not in those cabinets, not in that room.

I can't wait to get them home, but that wasn't going to happen today, not in the Prelude. For now they're Gary's toys.

 

[RayW]

Use some ingenuity, man! Forget spikes, put casters on them and tow them home. This is important stuff!

Ray

 

[Redboy]

Forget spikes, put casters on them and tow them home. This is important stuff!

Ray, you kill me! I suppose one could go in the back seat, the other out the sunroof... :scratch2:

 

[clydeselsor]

Good work men!

 

[RuSsMaN]

Where do I submit an order online?

Cheers,
Russ

 

[tx_polkhead]

Wow, nice work, what's the over-under on the number of beers consumed while hatching this near insane plan. You guys are the A-team and Macgyver rolled in to one. I'm a relative noob to the world of Audio but my compliments to the team. Refuse, Reuse, or Recycle that's what my daughter says and you guys display that motto with aces. I'm just sorry they are way up in MN, I'm itchin to give them a listen.
Abel

 

[Redboy]

Got them home today. Gary was kind enough to help me load them into the car... I was afraid no one would answer the door when I got there!

Driving home, some idiot turned in front of me and I had to jam on the brakes. The speakers jumped forward and I worried more about them than me!

Anyway, they're home. Safe and sound...

I hooked them up to the 2A3 amp. That beautiful wood base on the amp is another of ejfud's creations:

 

[Redboy]

I only had a little time for listening tonight, but I can tell already that these are going to be sweet. Really sweet.

Dug out some old stuff for the first go around. One that took me way back was The Cure's Faith album. "Other Voices" was a particular treat. If you've got that recording at home, dig it out and spin that track. Sweet bass line! I can hear fingers on the frets now.

 

[avguytx]

So what kinds of music do you listen to on a pair of "no tweeter having speakers"? I don't mean that in any sort of derogatory way....I'm just curious. I had a pair of JBL D123's (IIRC) and listened to them in the cabinets that were custom built for them some 35+ years ago (ported, etc). For the eclectic range of music I listened to, they sounded like ass with absolutely no high end. Is it just me or is it an acquired taste? Their rated specs were upwards of 15kHz but I didn't hear that or "see" it on an RTA.

Just curious....that's all. Very nice work on the cabs, etc!

 

[RayW]

Heh, who needs a hallway when speaker placement is at stake? Good man.

Ray

 

[doucanoe]

So what kinds of music do you listen to on a pair of "no tweeter having speakers"? I don't mean that in any sort of derogatory way....I'm just curious. I had a pair of JBL D123's (IIRC) and listened to them in the cabinets that were custom built for them some 35+ years ago (ported, etc). For the eclectic range of music I listened to, they sounded like ass with absolutely no high end. Is it just me or is it an acquired taste? Their rated specs were upwards of 15kHz but I didn't hear that or "see" it on an RTA.

Just curious....that's all. Very nice work on the cabs, etc!

Look up Tannoy Dual Concentric speakers

RC

 

[Redboy]

So what kinds of music do you listen to on a pair of "no tweeter having speakers"?

They're not that, exactly. These are "Dual Concentrics," meaning there's a horn under that dust cover...

Check this link for more details about the specific driver.

 

[Redboy]

Heh, who needs a hallway when speaker placement is at stake? Good man.

Ray

What you're seeing there is only a taste of the limitations of my listening space, Ray! That's no hallway, it's actually the other side of this odd-shaped room!

Here are some other pictures for an idea of what I'm up against. This is also the TV room and my daughter's play area, and it's adjacent to the utility room with furnace, dryer, washer...

 

[RayW]

Crikey! That's got to play hell with your imaging. Sure does look like a comfortable, inviting space though!

I actually have a similar situation. The "public" part of our house is an L shape with what we've made the living room on the long section, the dining area (it's not really a room) on the corner, and the family room on the short side. Inside the L is the kitchen and a hall back to the bedrooms. Between the living room and hall/kitchen is a half wall about 4' high. The living room contains the HT setup, my main 2ch rig run in parallel, and a 3rd system running vinyl. The family room has a 2nd teewee that the kids usually watch that runs through a 2ch system there. For acoustical obstacles the living room has the half wall on one side, 8' ceiling on the front half, a vaulted ceiling on the back half, a loft above the back half of it on the same side as the half wall, and mostly glass on the side opposite the half wall. Of course if you're rockin' AC/DC it doesn't matter much. :thmbsp:

Ray

 

[clydeselsor]

Really cool, Nate!

 

[avguytx]

Look up Tannoy Dual Concentric speakers

RC

I'll have to do that.....thanks for the information. That makes sense with it being a concentric speaker. Maybe I missed that part earlier.

 

[ejfud]

They are now home......what did the wife think? Can they stay?

 

[jnoyes4]

Just a tip (and you may have already done it) if you make the baffles removable it's easy to use the same cabinets for something else in the future.

Jon

 

[Face]

Here's a picture of Tannoy silvers. This is how most vintage Tannoys look without the dust cap.