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Tannoy Arden - seeking for your opinion before buy

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david76cz

New Member
Hi, I have a chance to buy these vintage Tannoys. The price is 2400 EUR. They have been renovated a few years ago. Does anyone know this exact model please? Is it 100% certain that they have an original Tannoy drivers? Thanks in advance for your opinion.
 

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Ardens are awesome. These look like Tannoy drivers to my untrained eye. I have a pair of Ardens. My drivers to look different. Only 4 mounting bolts on mine, gold speaker frame instead of black. Other than that the drivers look similar to me. Perhaps a slightly newer driver than the HPD385? I think most any Tannoy is worth owning but some much more valuable. Most say the primary value in Tannoy speakers are the drivers...the cabinets are claimed to be undersized for "best" performance - although my stock Ardens sound great. But yeah I would try to find out for sure which drivers those are.
 
It appears the magnet covers are missing. Unless they were never on them. but I believe all Alnico magnet versions had them.
Are they 12" ? Price might be a bit high. but it depends on where you are. I would really question the seller of their history.
with out that I would use caution. and look for similar Tannoys
 
Nyjblbob said:
It appears the magnet covers are missing. Unless they were never on them. but I believe all Alnico magnet versions had them.
Are they 12" ? Price might be a bit high. but it depends on where you are. I would really question the seller of their history.
with out that I would use caution. and look for similar Tannoys
Click to expand...

The owner bought them from Germany. I am from Prague, Europe. I have these photos only and they are located pretty far from my city so therefore I am asking for an opinion. The drivers are 15".
 
England and Scotland are where they were born. I would do a lot of research on the Whole Tannoy line before I spent that kind of money.
There's something missing there!
 
I have limited tannoy experience. These could be the HPD foam edgers. I'm pretty sure the last Alnico magnet ones.
that picture shows the missing magnet covers. I know those small cabinets, severely limit the Bass response.
Oh those were Chris's HPD's. sorry. the ones on the 1st pics are different.
Might be the Golds with the cloth surrounds.
 
Perhaps one of AK's Re-cone experts can look at the Op's pics to see what exactly they are.
Those back side ribs could have been added later
 
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I owned a pair of Tannoy Ardens for a little more than 10 years. The drivers are solid, the boxes leavs a lot of room for improvement
 
The original HPD 385 cones have been replaced with the Lockwood sourced cloth hard edged versions. Often after several re-foam jobs the outer rim of the cone becomes too mutilated and other issues such as a damaged voice coil may have warranted a new cone assemblies. The black re-paint job is down to a whim.
 
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There you go! I knew something was changed.

VanArn said:
The original HPD 385 cones have been replaced with the the Lockwood sourced cloth hard edged versions. Often after several re-foam jobs the outer rim of the cone becomes too mutilated and other issues such as a damaged voice coil may have warranted a new cone assemblies. The black re-paint job is down to a whim.
Click to expand...
 
VanArn said:
The original HPD 385 cones have been replaced with the the Lockwood sourced cloth hard edged versions. Often after several re-foam jobs the outer rim of the cone becomes too mutilated and other issues such as a damaged voice coil may have warranted a new cone assemblies. The black re-paint job is down to a whim.
Click to expand...

I'm kind of thrown by the bolt pattern on the drivers in the OP's photos. Am I seeing eight bolt holes where there should only be four? Or do I have this wrong?

It seems a strange question, but Is it possible these are repainted Golds with non-OEM HPD cones and the Lockwood surrounds? In my mind, at least, the bolt pattern, taken with the weird colored girders and the absence of any glue residue where the missing dust caps would've been kind of point toward this, but I am far from an expert, believe me. My first thought was that the baskets on these drivers might be grey, not black, and that the speakers might consequently originally have been Reds but then I actually took the trouble to pull the backs off my Reds and, nope, four bolts. Then I took the fronts off my HPDs. Nope again, also four bolts. Which leaves us Golds. And if I'm counting correctly (only in Internet photos, alas) I think I just might be seeing eight. Hmm. Then again, maybe we just have very early HPDs built on the frames of Golds here, a production overlap sort of thing. Second thought, let's go with that one. Yes, I like the last theory best. Then again (yet again), what about the weird colored girders? Yikes.

Somebody set me straight, please, I'm starting to give myself a headache.

To the OP: nice speakers, regardless. Good luck.
 
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The serial numbers on the tag riveted to the frame starting 41/.......? will allow the date of manufacture to be assessed. The frame for the first HPD 385,s is the same as the Monitor Gold; i.e. eight mounting holes on the circular rim. The later frame for this model has four ears. It is quite common to not fit or refit dust caps to the cones when undertaking repairs as this procedure avoids leaving unsightly marks on the cone when removing an old cap for the purpose of shimming the voice coil to centre the assembly.
 
VanArn said:
The serial numbers on the tag riveted to the frame starting 41/.......? will allow the date of manufacture to be assessed. The frame for the first HPD 385,s is the same as the Monitor Gold; i.e. eight mounting holes on the circular rim. The later frame for this model has four ears. It is quite common to not fit or refit dust caps to the cones when undertaking repairs as this procedure avoids leaving unsightly marks on the cone when removing an old cap for the purpose of shimming the voice coil to centre the assembly.
Click to expand...

I have a photo only of one - hope it helps.
 

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The seller is located very far from me, but he has a transportation company and therefore he is willing to deliver them to my door with no extra fee (and with no payment in advance). But I am not able to audition them. That's why I am asking for your opinion. I know the Tannoy sound. In the past I did have SRM 15 XB but then I sold them and now I am trying to buy back vintage big Tannoys.
 
So They look like these Tannoy's are Re-coned with more modern cones. no word on the VC's on the horn drivers?
or if the X-overs are correct for the new cones, as they are no longer HPD's by the new cloth surrounds.
Anyones guess on if they will sound like the Golds, HPD's or who knows what???
 
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