John
D.C.? Not the District of Columbia but Scotland where the two-letter abbreviation stands for Tannoy’s Dual Concentric trademark: a (horn-loaded) tweeter placed in the middle of a mid/bass driver to see music emanate from a single point (aka ‘point source’); a topology that helps high frequencies reach the listener’s ear at the same time as the rest of the frequency spectrum for superior soundstaging. Tannoy has been doing this since 1947.
Tannoy’s latest series of Gold monitors comprises three models: the Gold 5 that features a 5″ mid/bass driver, the Gold 7 with a 6.5″ and the Gold 8 with an 8″. The -3db point is specified by Tannoy at 70Hz, 65Hz and 54Hz respectively. All three sport a titanium tweeter mounted in a ‘tulip’ waveguide.
The twist? These aren’t passive designs but active. Each loudspeaker’s incoming signal is divvied up by a powered crossover before it is sent to two Class A/B amplifiers – one for the tweeter, one for the mid/bass driver – for a total of 200 watts in the Gold 5, 300 watts in the Gold 7 and 300 watts in the Gold 8.
With passive loudspeakers, the amplifier precedes the crossover and we get to play mix n’ match with outboard boxes designed to power a wide range of loudspeakers. Active loudspeakers remove this tyranny of choice: internalised and sitting on the other side of the crossover, each amplifier can be precisely tailored to its corresponding driver.
An active crossover can also bring basic room EQ into play. On each Tannoy Gold, a front-facing bass reflex port slit wraps pots that attenuate input gain and trim treble, the latter useful for matching the Tannoys’ output to the room’s acoustic makeup. ‘Round back, a three-position switch attenuates bass output to accommodate front- and side-wall proximity. Inputs are studio-style: 1 x balanced XLR, 1 x balanced quarter-inch TRS and 1 x 3.5mm TRS.
The back panel also tells us that the Gold series models are Made in China. The Gold 5 will sell for US$500/pair, the Gold 7 for US$630/pair and the Gold 8 for US$770/pair.
Further information: Tannoy
