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截几段网络文章，有点意思：
They're just so musical and addictive to listen to, no matter the type of material played... People who use vintage Tannoys, including you, will know exactly what I mean.
The interesting thing about the Monitor Reds in big cabinets (not just the Lockwoods) is that they don't sound like so many huge speakers do nowadays, where the bass dominates everything, always reminding you that it's 'there'.
These can sound quite bass-light with certain material, and you wonder are there really 15" drivers in there... But when there is genuine bass in the musical programme, it just 'ignites', delivering huge visceral scale and impact, and rattling your ribcage! The crucial thing though is that they just fill the room effortlessly with sound without being played particularly loudly, which in my experience is a 'big speaker thing' that no drivers in small to medium-sized cabinets can emulate.
With the Lockwoods, insight and analysis into music is performed on a grand scale and with surgical precision - every nuance and inflection is laid bare for inspection but rendered in a non-fatiguing, relaxing way, almost completely without artifice or stress. The result being that the resolution on offer is breathtaking. Notes start and stop on a sixpence, so timing is always spot-on, and musical coherence, as a result of optimised driver time-alignment, is in the first rank as the 'point source' of the dual-concentric units give pinpoint imaging and throw a huge soundstage into the room; in totality creating a musical vista which is utterly beguiling.
The Lockwood Majors are big beasts for sure, measuring 44" tall, 28" wide and 18" deep, and weighing over 50kg each, but these big boys are about subtlety and finesse much more than they are about 'brute force', so much so that anyone expecting the 'boom 'n' tizz' offered by many modern large loudspeakers, and in the process being pummelled into submission by huge slabs of barrel-chested bass, would be rather disappointed. Bass simply 'happens' when it's meant to, and you feel the impact, but the Majors (no pun intended) 'major' on much more subtle musical attributes, making them the most engrossing listen you could possibly imagine. Quite simply, they take you on musical journeys where you have never ventured before...
Tomorrow I will discuss the difference between Tannoy 15" Monitor Reds and their later Gold counterparts, and why I ended up going for the Reds - it was an easy choice in the end. However, more on that later!
Regarding Reds vs. Golds, both were demonstrated to us in the same Lockwood cabinets and the difference was very marked indeed.
First of all, the older vintage Tannoys have a 'musicality' all of their own (here I'm talking about Monitor Blacks, Silvers, Reds and Golds) that is quite different to the speakers Tannoy produce today, which are much more 'hi-fi' in their presentation. Don't get me wrong, modern large Tannoys, such as Glenairs and models in the current Prestige range, are still superb but they lack the magical way with music of the vintage designs, although you wouldn't know it until you've heard the difference first-hand.
What I've learned about the older vintage Tannoys is that the musical presentation of the range evolved as music itself changed through the 40s, 50s and 60s, in that the drive units were voiced to optimise the particular demands of the 'music of the day', such that the earliest examples (Blacks) prioritised the accurate and realistic rendition of vocals and instrumental detail, and consequently they were a little lacking in (absolute) deep bass.
The Silvers continued that trend but as popular music began to emerge in the 50s with Rock and Roll, the voicing changed slightly and concessions were made to allow for greater demand in the lower frequencies, and this trend continued with the Reds into the late 50s and 60s where they were used in the production of music from the Beatles in studios such as Abbey Road and also later with music from the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Who. The Reds retained most of the magical midrange of the Blacks and Silvers but could cope better with the demands of Rock and Pop music.
The Golds were introduced later to offer superior power handling, but although still excellent in many ways, lacked the refinement and finesse of the earlier Blacks, Silvers and Reds, and gave an altogether different, 'heavier' and 'up front' kind of presentation with a more extended bass, but one could argue more coloured with it, too - quality is after all more important than quantity. There is 'falseness' to the sound of Golds that only becomes obvious in direct comparison to the Reds.
This is indeed what I heard when comparing the Reds to the Golds in the Lockwood cabinets. The Golds in comparison sound like someone has hit a 'loudness' button, the result being that bass frequencies overhang and cloud the midrange, robbing music of the expressiveness, clarity, and the beautifully addictive voicing of the Reds with vocals and instrumental detail. Consequently, a significant proportion of the vintage Tannoy magic is diluted in the process.
Don't get me wrong, if you haven't heard Reds, Golds will sound fabulous and still completely outperform most modern speakers in key areas, especially when installed in high quality cabinets. However, Monitor Reds in cabinets of equal quality portray music in such a spine-tingling beguilingly musical way that once you've heard their particular brand of magic nothing else will do. The 'real deal' is with the Reds as they have the midrange prowess of the Blacks and Silvers but with more authority in the lower frequencies, giving all types of music an uncanny realism.
So to all budding 'Tannoyistas' out there I would say do what ever you can to get hold of some 15" Reds, put them in solidly built, inert, modern cabinets, horn-loaded or otherwise, and quite simply you will unlikely ever buy another pair of loudspeakers! :cool:
The Copper amp is fixed at 6 Ohms, so no can do. Interestingly, I can detect no major 'issues' with the Lockwoods/Copper amp combo, despite the former being rated at 15 Ohms, so I guess that, as you say, it doesn't make a huge difference. There is nothing 'thin' about the sound, nor is there an over-emphasis of the midrange - in fact, the midrange of the Monitor Reds is quite the most sublime that I have ever heard, and the top end is explicitly detailed but completely non-fatiguing.
Lower down the frequency range, the Monitor Reds in Lockwood cabinets don't do 'stunt bass', which is just the same as with any other vintage Tannoys. However, bass is very deep and tight, with plenty of impact (when the occasion demands) and, most importantly, ever so tuneful. However, what they do achieve with music in the lower registers is absolutely awesome scale and a sense of effortlessness, such that musical performances sound and *feel* just like that, and are delivered with gravitas and genuine realism. Certain acoustic instruments like saxophone and trumpet can sound so real that it makes you wince, such is the level of dynamic impact. It's something, in my experience, that 'normal' speakers only ever hint at despite some being musically adept in certain areas within the boundaries of their capabilities.
The Lockwoods also image like bitches, envelop the room with a huge 'widescreen' soundstage, and have very little box coloration that I can detect. They're within a smidgen of being as good as electrostatics or open baffles in that respect, but sound much 'bigger' and more real, in a completely unforced and natural way, than I've ever heard from examples of the latter breed.
They also appear to have near-limitless headroom, as turning up the wick just makes the sound swell to mammoth proportions, and grow bigger and bigger, until the room is overwhelmed by 'living and breathing' live-sounding music. I haven't 'pushed it' yet (as I feel that I should respect the fact that the drive units are over 50 years old), but you get the distinct impression that your ears will give in long before they will!
Dave (DSJR),
I agree with all of your points, but the marriage between my TD Cooper amp and the Lockwoods is an excellent one. It would be hard to imagine how things could get much better, although the Vitavox which Guy mentions could perhaps offer something even more. I will however hard-wire the crossovers to the drive units and remove the connector plug, as recommended by Roger at Lockwood, and fit some high quality silver WBT speaker binding posts. I am after all a perfectionist ;)
With regard to 'how good does it get?', I'm also sure that some massive Klipschorns would do a similar, or if not even better, trick. One thing is for sure: having now heard how vintage Tannoys in huge cabinets 'do music' there is quite simply no way that I could ever return to modern 'conventional' loudspeakers at anything approaching a 'normal' size; it would be like exposing one's palate to the horrors of Beaujolais Nouveau after being accustomed to Gevrey Chambertin...
There's a neat saying amongst some females which runs: 'once you've had black you never go back' - it's kinda like that too with big Tannoys! :eyebrows:
What the world did not grasp was that most recorded music available was being produced on the Tannoy Dual Concentric using either Monitor Red's or Monitor Gold's. All the music at EMI including Abbey Road and most of the Decca Classical output was produced using Tannoy loudspeakers.
Such models as the Lockwood Major, Lockwood Universal played a very significant part in the development of the world's recorded music as these were bought almost entirely by the professional studios. For example, most of the successful records made by Mickey Most at RAK Records were produced on Lockwood Monitors with Tannoy Dual Concentric drivers.
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发表于 2016-2-29 12:42:29
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发表于 2016-2-29 21:31:18
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