Tannoy Monitor Gold 15 Dual Concentric Speaker Pair
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:51241585 | Modified Item: Yes |
| Modification Description: Re-coned | Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom |
| Brand: Tannoy |
I got these outstanding Tannoy Monitor Gold speakers about 20 years ago from a friend in San Francisco. He had the cabinets built based on a Tannoy enclosure design he acquired. They’ve been sitting unused in our recording studio office for the last 14 years. I just hooked them up and they sound fantastic. Really a stand out speaker. I have Tannoy DC10T’s, and though I slightly prefer their sonic quality, these Monitor Golds keep up with them quite well - offering slight difference...s in the low and mid range. I recorded a number of albums through these back in my flat in Haight-Ashbury, including two solo albums from Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon/Red House Painters. I've relisted this pair due to a buyer not paying or communicating.
The monitors were re-coned by a pro-audio tech up in Marin County, CA before I received them. I was recently told that these were re-coned with 70s-80s, HPD-era Tannoy-Plas surrounds and cones, as shown in the photos.
They come with the original crossovers and mahogany plywood cabinets. The cabinets are scratched and dinged up some and have a few surface holes in the sides from o-ring hooks that allowed them to be hung in the studio for about a year. There is a light abrasion on one cone that doesn’t seem to affect the sound at all. See photos. Many famous studios (including Abbey Road in London) used Tannoy Monitor Gold 15" speakers for mixing.
They are quite heavy, so they would need to be picked up here in Portland, OR unless you want to arrange packing and shipping. Their sound quality is excellent. Speaker and crossover condition very good (small scrape on one cone doesn't seem to affect sound). And cabinets good condition (for 20 years old).
Sold As-Is.
Here’s a review from https://audionostalgia.co.uk/tannoy-monitor-gold-15-review/
"Tannoy Monitor Gold 15″ (LSU/HF/15/8) were on my wish list since I discovered coaxial speakers and the theory behind putting two drivers on one axis.
Speaker Info
Tannoy Monitor Gold 15in are the largest (and most expensive) drivers in the Monitor Gold range. The “Monitor Gold 15” is a common name, but their factory model name is LSU/HF/15/8. They were successors to Tannoy Monitor Red 15, and were first launched in 1967. The reviewed pair is from 1968, therefore, from the second year of production. These drivers feature unique ‘Dual Concentric’ construction (visible on the scan of the sales brochure above), which ultimately means that we have two drivers (tweeter/bass) combined in one driver and working on the same axis. This itself would not be so unique as there are many other coaxial drivers out there, however, in Tannoys, the tweeter diaphragm is placed behind the driver’s magnet and the same magnet is used to power both – the bass and the tweeter diaphragms. Furthermore, the tweeter diaphragm is positioned in inverted phase. The airwaves produced by it travel through the PepperPot phase plug, and then, they are ‘acoustically amplified’ in the metal horn throat (inside the magnet) and finally ‘amplified’ further by the bass diaphragm, which acts as a horn extension. Horns can usually be fond in the PA speakers, however, there are number of HiFi manufacturers that use horns with very good results (e.g. Klipsch, JBL, Altec, Lowther) and Tannoy is one of them. This is a rather basic description, but it gives a good overview of how these drivers work. People who are into DIY may find it strange, that a heavy paper cone (LF unit) is crossing over with the efficient HF unit at 1kHz, as this contradicts with best practices that can be found in many speaker building books. But, it works, and it works rather well! Having two diaphragms on one axis (in theory) should result in better pin point imaging than in traditional speaker designs, as the whole frequency range originates at one point source of sound, not from two or three different drivers placed somewhere on the speaker face.
Couple words about their history:
Tannoy Monitor Gold range was very popular in the recording studios, in 1970s. Many famous studios (including Abbey Road in London) tannoy monitor gold 15 speakers review 09 in recording studios used these speakers for mixing pair of Tannoy Lancasters, presumably with MG15 inside. Numerous legendary albums were mixed using these speakers, so if you have a pair at home, you may be hearing the recording in a very similar way to the person who mixed it (this isn’t always a good news though ;). Apart from studio monitoring, these drivers were also used in higher end of domestic market. They were used in large horn loaded enclosures like GRF, GRF Professional and Autographs.
Sound of Tannoy Monitor Gold 15″:
When plugged in for the first time they were very overwhelming – in a good way though. The presentation of the sound is very different than in the traditional speaker constructions. First thing that I noticed was the soundstage. It was like a massive wall of sound. The soundstage was still there, and I was able to separate the instruments, etc., but the sound was never coming from 10 meters behind the speakers, so not much soundstage depth.
The Tannoy Monitor Gold drivers are very fast and dynamic and when compared with a lot of modern speakers, this can be very nice. Feeling the physical impact of the sound is not something that people are used to these days, especially people who use stand mount monitors for playback. Bass is never floppy or boomy and always stays under control. And it goes deep, very deep. Even at 35Hz using signal generator you can clearly hear the sound.Midrange and treble sound very good indeed, being very sweet and easy to listen."
Tannoy Monitor Gold 15 Specs
Frequency Response: 23 – 20, 000Hz
Sensitivity: 92dB
Impedance: 8Ω (5Ω min.)
Power Capacity: 50W
High & Low Frequency Driver: LSU/HF/15/8 380mm (15″) Dual Concentric with 51mm (2″) Aluminum Dome Compression Driver and 380mm (15″) Paper Diaphragm
Crossover Frequencies: 1, 000Hz
Free Air Resonance (FS): 26Hz
Weight: 10kg (each driver)
The monitors were re-coned by a pro-audio tech up in Marin County, CA before I received them. I was recently told that these were re-coned with 70s-80s, HPD-era Tannoy-Plas surrounds and cones, as shown in the photos.
They come with the original crossovers and mahogany plywood cabinets. The cabinets are scratched and dinged up some and have a few surface holes in the sides from o-ring hooks that allowed them to be hung in the studio for about a year. There is a light abrasion on one cone that doesn’t seem to affect the sound at all. See photos. Many famous studios (including Abbey Road in London) used Tannoy Monitor Gold 15" speakers for mixing.
They are quite heavy, so they would need to be picked up here in Portland, OR unless you want to arrange packing and shipping. Their sound quality is excellent. Speaker and crossover condition very good (small scrape on one cone doesn't seem to affect sound). And cabinets good condition (for 20 years old).
Sold As-Is.
Here’s a review from https://audionostalgia.co.uk/tannoy-monitor-gold-15-review/
"Tannoy Monitor Gold 15″ (LSU/HF/15/8) were on my wish list since I discovered coaxial speakers and the theory behind putting two drivers on one axis.
Speaker Info
Tannoy Monitor Gold 15in are the largest (and most expensive) drivers in the Monitor Gold range. The “Monitor Gold 15” is a common name, but their factory model name is LSU/HF/15/8. They were successors to Tannoy Monitor Red 15, and were first launched in 1967. The reviewed pair is from 1968, therefore, from the second year of production. These drivers feature unique ‘Dual Concentric’ construction (visible on the scan of the sales brochure above), which ultimately means that we have two drivers (tweeter/bass) combined in one driver and working on the same axis. This itself would not be so unique as there are many other coaxial drivers out there, however, in Tannoys, the tweeter diaphragm is placed behind the driver’s magnet and the same magnet is used to power both – the bass and the tweeter diaphragms. Furthermore, the tweeter diaphragm is positioned in inverted phase. The airwaves produced by it travel through the PepperPot phase plug, and then, they are ‘acoustically amplified’ in the metal horn throat (inside the magnet) and finally ‘amplified’ further by the bass diaphragm, which acts as a horn extension. Horns can usually be fond in the PA speakers, however, there are number of HiFi manufacturers that use horns with very good results (e.g. Klipsch, JBL, Altec, Lowther) and Tannoy is one of them. This is a rather basic description, but it gives a good overview of how these drivers work. People who are into DIY may find it strange, that a heavy paper cone (LF unit) is crossing over with the efficient HF unit at 1kHz, as this contradicts with best practices that can be found in many speaker building books. But, it works, and it works rather well! Having two diaphragms on one axis (in theory) should result in better pin point imaging than in traditional speaker designs, as the whole frequency range originates at one point source of sound, not from two or three different drivers placed somewhere on the speaker face.
Couple words about their history:
Tannoy Monitor Gold range was very popular in the recording studios, in 1970s. Many famous studios (including Abbey Road in London) tannoy monitor gold 15 speakers review 09 in recording studios used these speakers for mixing pair of Tannoy Lancasters, presumably with MG15 inside. Numerous legendary albums were mixed using these speakers, so if you have a pair at home, you may be hearing the recording in a very similar way to the person who mixed it (this isn’t always a good news though ;). Apart from studio monitoring, these drivers were also used in higher end of domestic market. They were used in large horn loaded enclosures like GRF, GRF Professional and Autographs.
Sound of Tannoy Monitor Gold 15″:
When plugged in for the first time they were very overwhelming – in a good way though. The presentation of the sound is very different than in the traditional speaker constructions. First thing that I noticed was the soundstage. It was like a massive wall of sound. The soundstage was still there, and I was able to separate the instruments, etc., but the sound was never coming from 10 meters behind the speakers, so not much soundstage depth.
The Tannoy Monitor Gold drivers are very fast and dynamic and when compared with a lot of modern speakers, this can be very nice. Feeling the physical impact of the sound is not something that people are used to these days, especially people who use stand mount monitors for playback. Bass is never floppy or boomy and always stays under control. And it goes deep, very deep. Even at 35Hz using signal generator you can clearly hear the sound.Midrange and treble sound very good indeed, being very sweet and easy to listen."
Tannoy Monitor Gold 15 Specs
Frequency Response: 23 – 20, 000Hz
Sensitivity: 92dB
Impedance: 8Ω (5Ω min.)
Power Capacity: 50W
High & Low Frequency Driver: LSU/HF/15/8 380mm (15″) Dual Concentric with 51mm (2″) Aluminum Dome Compression Driver and 380mm (15″) Paper Diaphragm
Crossover Frequencies: 1, 000Hz
Free Air Resonance (FS): 26Hz
Weight: 10kg (each driver)
