Tannoy Reds - Orange dust cap vs Black dust cap? Please advise

[VintTannoy]

Hi All,

I'm new to vintage audio and recently came across Tannoy spearkers. I bought a pair of 12" Monitor Gold speakers and love the sound from these speakers. They are currently being driven by a tube amp. I'm happy with the sound but I'm intrigued and curious about vintage Tannoys now and want to explore more vintage Tannoy speakers. A Tannoy enthusiast and collector who lives about 200 miles away from me is selling a couple of pairs of Tannoy Red speakers.

However, one of the Reds pair has a Orange dustc ap and the other pair has Black dust cap accounting for the earlier generation of Reds(Orange dust cap) and later generation(Black dust cap). He is quoting $1000 more for the Orange dust cap. He said he is personally unable to make out any sonic differences between the two pairs of Reds but he knows that the audiophiles and collectors prefer the Orange dust cap and pay premium for it. Both the pairs also seem to have identical crossovers. Both pairs are in Tannoy Lancaster cabinets. I do understand these are 16ohm speakers and my tube amp can support that.

My question for folks who are familiar with Tannoys is:
1. Is there an actual difference between the two generations of Reds apart from the color of dust cap?
2. Which one would you buy today and why?
3. Would it make sense to get one each of the orange and black drivers and make it pair? - I don't know if he will split them but I'm just wondering.

Thanks for any inputs.

 

[Mdpaudio]

As long as the black dust caps are sonically transparent and you’re not planning on selling them later and making a profit save the money. If you’re going to sell them later get the orange, once red, dust caps. People that collect these things are really particular about this kind of thing. It’s like buying a vintage car with replacement wheels, they do the job but….

 

[Marlonsoysa]

Hi i too got a pair of 12 monitor Gold speakers, does any one have the specifications please