Driving old Tannoy speakers

[toon10]

Many years ago I bought a pair of Tannoy Profile 632 speakers which sounded great at the time. I spent £300 back then and got some decent cabling and the stands to match. They've been covered up in the loft for the last 25 years. I have a B&W Zeppelin for my easy music fix but I'm buying a new house at the end of the year and I'll have a big kitchen family room area I want to entertain in. I'd really like to get a proper hi-fi seperates system built up in there over time.

Is it worth spending money on a decent amp and second hand CD player and keeping the speakers or will it just sound rubbish now? I'd have a small budget (circa £600) for everything which I know won't get me much in terms of a quality sound setup.

Eventually I'd like to add a record player and radio tuner but that can wait for now. I have a feeling the advice will be to spend more and buy modern speakers but just wondering how far speakers have moved on sound quality wise or if they will be OK as long as I buy the right amp.

Thanks

[toon10]

telecat said:

These would be the model with the tweeter under the Bass driver. Speakers haven't really gone far since the 632 really. Driver designs change but the materials really stay the same. If they still work and the drivers are in good nick then it's really a case of do you still like them. Might be good to take them to a dealer and see if they work well in a system where the Amp/CD player cost what you would like to spend.

Edited by telecat on Monday 2nd March 15:47

That's the ones. They do still work (wired them up to my old Technics midi system to test) and I loved them when I was younger. I think they would do the trick with a decent amp (even second hand) so I might do some digging around to see if I can find a suitable setup on budget. There's a linetone audio not too far so I could wander in and look at the amps and quizz the techies in there. Thanks.

[toon10]

sparkyhx said:

Depends what you intend using them for. They're not a great all rounder, and are better with acoustic/Jazz than rock or heavy classical. Not quite as easy to drive as the specs suggest, you're rewarded with better dynamics if you use an amp of 50wpc or more. They're quite polite and neutral overall but not the most involving of speakers.

Thanks for the input. I think one of the issues I'm going to have is the diversity of the music I listen too. I can go from Miles Davis to Queens of the Stoneage with some syth pop, indie and chill out in between. To be fair, most of the time it would be electronica/synth and guitar based indie.

I think I'll concentrate on getting a really good amp first as there's nothing stopping me running the Tannoy's for a while and upgrading in time if they don't blow me away.

[toon10]

Just to update.

I've purchased a Marantz 6010OSE amp on eBay on the cheap. It's in great working order and scratch free despite smelling of tobacco. After a clean up and polish, it doesn't sound too bad with my old speakers. OK it's not the last word in Hi-Fi but at the price, it'll do.

I'll be getting a CD player soon and I've read that the amp is pretty good at mating up with most similar priced players so I have a bit of choice. After that, it'll be a turntable and then eventually over time, a speaker upgrade. No doubt that will highlight the need for a new amp and the upgrade cycle will begin...

[toon10]

StescoG66 said:

On marantz worth looking out for a CD63 KI Signature - lovely sounding player in the right system.

I've seen a few CD63 SE's going cheap on eBay but I'm keeping my eye out for the KI Sig.

[toon10]

I've just picked up a fleeBay special to run off my Marantz amp. Marantz CD4000 for £40. I've been watching the CD-63Ki's and they seem to be going for around £150 - £200. Getting the cheap one for now means I can also get a turntable. I'll see how I get on with what I have and think about upgrading as and when.