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Estd. 1926

Tannoy - A Short History

In the early days of broadcasting radio sets needed both low and high voltage DC power that had to be supplied by batteries.

The lead acid batteries used in the radio sets of the time needed regular recharging.

In London, in 1926, Guy R. Fountain perfected a new type of electrical rectifier with the aim of designing a charger more suitable for

use in the house. His rectifier consisted of two dissimilar metals held in a special electrolyte solution. One metal was Tantalum and

the other an alloy of Lead. So successful was this invention that Guy Fountain founded a British Company called Tannoy (a contraction

of the words 'Tantalum' and 'Alloy'). Tannoy soon became internationally known and highly regarded in all aspects of sound reproduction.

Moving coil loudspeakers with DC energised magnets began Tannoy's continued success in the field of loudspeaker technology.

A discrete two-way loudspeaker system followed in 1933 and shortly after a range of microphones and loudspeakers capable of high

power handling.

Tannoy has always been at the front of the communications revolution, developing its own equipment and production technology.

The company built a fund of knowledge and experience, that has proved invaluable in the development of loudspeakers for a truly wide

range of applications. The now famous Tannoy Dual Concentric™ principle was created and developed under Guy Fountain's direction

around 1950. It is highly regarded by music enthusiasts, and recording and broadcast studios because of its unique properties in faithfully

reproducing sound to an unusually high quality standard.

Guy Fountain retired from the company in 1974 but the Tannoy company continues his philosophy dedicated to the accurate and

realistic reproduction of music for both enthusiasts and professionals around the world.

The Tannoy Research and Development unit has further refined the innovative Dual Concentric™ principle. Using the latest design

and material technologies, with sophisticated circuit techniques in crossover design, Tannoy has produced a loudspeaker system with

superb reproductive capabilities and exceptionally wide dynamic range.

Tannoy is now part of the TG Group, whose goal is to design, produce and distribute the best engineered, most recognised and respected

brands of high performance audio products in the world.

loudspeaker. The Westminster Royal SE embodies the Tannoy philosophy. Cabinets in selected hardwoods are hand finished and

polished to a standard that is unsurpassed.

The Westminster Royal SE offers a compound horn loaded enclosure driven

by classic Dual Concentric™ technology. Based around the Alcomax 3 version

of the famous 15 inch Tannoy Dual Concentric™ the Westminster Royal SE

now features the benefits of signal handling by gold-plated terminals with

bi-wire/normal wiring and a hard wired time compensated crossover network.

This Alcomax 3 magnet system endows the Dual Concentric™ with an

exceptional transient response and increased sensitivity. The massive cabinet

design conceals a complex horn loading system that gives greatly increased

efficiency and a wavefront area approaching the wavefront area from

real instruments.

The Westminster Royal SE is effortlessly capable of the realistic reproduction of truly low frequencies and the widest dynamic range.

Acrolink 99.9999% (6N) high purity copper wiring is used throughout, together with specially selected crossover components, including

Hovland capacitors. High frequency energy can be tailored through high current gold-plated switch blocks with controls for both

treble energy and roll off.

The specially designed twin-roll impregnated fabric surround used on the drive unit's cone, ensures midrange purity combined with

tight, controlled bass.

The Low Frequency Section

Tannoy Dual Concentric Drive Unit

One of the unique advantages of the Tannoy Dual Concentric™ principle is that the low and high frequency sound radiation is generated

on the same axis. The high frequency unit is mounted behind, and concentrically with, the low frequency unit. High frequency sound

radiates from the centre of the low frequency unit through a carefully designed high frequency exponential horn. Low and high

frequencies are therefore fully integrated at source. It is this feature that gives the Dual Concentric™ driver such unique sound

reproduction qualities.

There are other significant benefits. The high frequency unit does not obstruct the low frequency unit in any way (a unique feature

when compared with other so called coaxial systems). Polar dispersion of sound is symmetrical in both horizontal and vertical planes.

By careful crossover network design the virtual acoustic sources of the high and low frequency units can be made to occupy the same

point on the axis. Therefore the total sound appears to emanate from a single point source located slightly behind the drive unit. This

means that a full and accurate stereo image can be recreated by the loudspeakers when fed from a high quality stereo source.

The high frequency driver consists of a wide dynamic range compression unit giving superb transient performance with a smooth

uncoloured response. The compression unit feeds acoustic power through a multiple phase compensating device to the throat of a solid

steel acoustic horn. This horn provides an acoustic impedance transformation to match the compression unit radiation into the listening

environment.

A magnesium alloy diaphragm formed by a specially developed five-stage process produces a piston with a very high stiffness to mass

ratio. Optimum molecular grain structure gives long term durability. A very low mass precision aluminium coil provides the driving

force for the diaphragm, with fine multistranded copper lead out wires to ensure reliability. A rear damped acoustic cavity controls the

compression driver response and ensures further correct acoustic impedance matching to the horn throat.

The response of the compression horn driver extends a full two octaves below the crossover frequency to eliminate colourations that

can arise through operation over the fundamental resonance region.

The High Frequency Section

An Alcomax 3 high energy magnet provides flux generation for both high frequency and low frequency driving motors. Precision air

gaps contain the magnetic flux surrounding each coil. The high frequency air gap has a unique shunt member to apportion the total

magnetic flux in the correct ratio between low and high frequency units. This gives an optimum acoustic balance. Precision machined,

low carbon steel pole pieces ensure unsaturated operation, linear flux fields and a high heat sinking capability. High power inputs can

therefore be handled with minimum change of impedance due to temperature effects. A very robust, high quality, precision pressure

die-cast chassis locates the whole magnet assembly and positions the moving parts with high accuracy. This provides long term reliability

and yet does not interfere with the acoustic radiation from the individual sections.

The Magnetic Circuit

Alcomax 3 is an unusually high energy permanent magnet. The unusual iron / nickel alloy is doped with cobalt, aluminium and other

rare metals to produce a magnetic material with very special properties. Alcomax 3 has a high remanent magnetism and energy product.

In other words, it magnetises to a high level and retains that unusual degree of magnetisation. Alcomax 3 is also an electrical conduction.

These properties give the Dual Concentric™ drive unit using an Alcomax 3 magnet an exceptionally clean transient response and

increased sensitivity.

Alcomax Magnet

During the design of the crossover network the acoustic, mechanical and electrical interactions of the high and low frequency sections

have been fully analysed. The crossover is therefore an integral part of the design of the system. The crossover network provides complex

equalisation in both amplitude and phase for each section and fully integrates the response at the crossover point. All components are

high precision, low-loss and thermally stable. A unique shunt element technique controls the motional impedance of the drive units.

All components in the crossover network are hard wired to eliminate unwanted metal-to-metal contact and ensure freedom from

vibration. The components are laid out to minimise inter component coupling and are placed well away from the driver magnetic field.

Specially selected components of the highest quality are used, such as Hovland polypropelene capacitors, non inductive thick film

resistors with extensive heat sinking, and very low loss laminated iron core inductors. Wiring is by Acrolink (99.9999% purity) copper,

having a large crystal structure and stable atomic arrangement.

High current switch blocks with gold-plated screw terminals permit user adjustment of high frequency sound radiation to suit differing

listening environments.

The complementary design of crossover and drive units means that the loudspeaker system as a whole behaves as a minimum phase

system over the audio band and therefore the acoustic sources of the high and low frequency sections are aligned in time and space to

ensure accurate reproduction of stereo images.

The Crossover Network

A Note on Auditory Perception

Our hearing mechanism locates natural sound sources with great accuracy by using the naturally occurring phase differences (or arrival

times) at middle frequencies, and intensity differences at higher frequencies, between each of our ears. Naturally occurring sounds pass

through the air to the ears at constant speed (345 metres/second or 1132 feet/second). All frequencies travel at the same speed and

therefore a frequency independent time delay is associated with the distances involved. (The familiar time delay between a flash of

lightning and the associated clap of thunder is an example).

Human hearing relies on the constant nature of the time delay with the intensity to locate natural sounds accurately. A pair of Tannoy

Prestige loudspeakers can uniquely reconstruct stereo images and provide excellent localisation of recorded sounds. The Tannoy Dual

Concentric™ principle ensures that the source of sound at high frequencies is on the same axis as the source of sound at low frequencies.

The careful design of crossover network complements the drive unit to provide a coincident sound source at frequencies where the

human ear derives phase information for localisation. The loudspeaker system exhibits a time delay response that is in essence independent

of reproduced frequencies. In addition, the amplitude (or intensity) response is linear, smooth and consistent. This provides the correct

intensity information to recreate the original sound stage.