I own these speakers about 6 months and i like them very much.I use them with denon av 3808ci and the sound is great!The best thing with these speakers is the mid range and the human voices that are so natural that you might think that the singer is in the room!
These speakers are great with jazz ,soul and acoustic blues!

The only thing that you might consider is that they are very revealing so you need good recordings and carefull matching amplifier with smooth overall performance and not a cheap one!

What I like most about these speakers is their wonderfully broad and solid soundstage. In relation to my listening position, I have my DC1s placed as the other corners of an equilateral triangle - in other words, a little further apart than would generally be the case. And yet there is no hole in the middle. Quite the contrary, I often find myself listening to vocals or lead instruments on standard stereo recordings and being almost convinced that they are somehow coming out of my centre speaker. It's almost uncanny.

I wouldn't describe these as flattering speakers; bad records sound like bad recordings, but nor are they completely neutral in colour. If anything, I would suggest that they can sometimes have a cardboard-like, slightly boxy characteristic to their sound. I suspect that this is due, more than anything else, to the cabinet walls not being all that thick. Having said that, I still find the overall sound to be, paradoxically, quite natural - particularly on vocals and strings. It is certainly a very non-fatiguing sound and one that I find easy to listen to for very extended periods of time.

I find the bottom end a little uncertain at times, at yet on some recordings - particularly those with double bass - they can sound very tight down there. I think part of the problem is that the size and shape of my room has meant having to mount these quite close to the wall. I haven't tried the optional approach of plugging the front porch as the plugs weren't supplied when I bought them.

I bought these on impulse, based largely on the reviews I had read on this and other sites. I was looking for some bookshelf speakers to replace my floorstanding Polk Audio Monitor 60s which are really just a bit too large for our small lounge. At first I was a little disappointed. The DC1s are not as punchy and impressive-sounding as the Polks. They don't have that real oomph in the bottom end that kicks you in the gut when the drummer is really pushing his pedal, and I thought I might miss that. But the more that I listened to them, the more I liked them. Put simply, I found that I was enjoying listening to music more, and for longer. Where the Polks are impressive, the Tannoys are pleasant. Whether the Polks provide punch and sizzle in the bottom and the top, the Tannoys offer such space, ambience, atmosphere and depth that the music just seems to emanate from mid-air.

The Tannoy DC1s are not perfect. They won't suit everyone. They are, however, the first "budget" speakers I have ever encountered that offer the kind of imaging and musicality normally associated with high-end audiophile gear. If your primary tastes lie in the jazz, classical, acoustic, easy-listening kinds of areas, you will really love the sound from these wee speakers.

price - better than similar priced products

build quality

I had these home for a trial period but returned them after a copule of days
Huamn voices seemed to harsh
I could not hear the supertweeter

Similar Products Used:

many

Sound / Price ; Original technology ; Stable soundstage

Thin enclosures, Look

- Look: I don't like it
- Practical Aspect: can be easily placed thanks to coincident technology and front port, but the terminals are non-standart and the super-tweeter on top is a pain.
- Technology: enclosure could be thicker, but the drivers and the crossover are very, very well built. I cannot hear anything from the super-tweeter (at age 45)
- Sound: very good in all areas, exceptional to reproduce human voice, and exceptionally stable stereo image (coincident drivers). No weakness !

Subjectively, I rate their sound mid-way between JM Lab Cobalt 806 ($1000) and B&W N805 ($2000).

Similar Products Used:

Many, many speakers

Stability of soundstage, original technology

Look, thin enclosure

- Look: I don't like it
- Practical Aspect: can be easily placed thanks to coincident technology and front port, but the terminals are non-standart and the super-tweeter on top is a pain.
- Technology: enclosure could be thicker, but the drivers and the crossover are very, very well built. I cannot hear anything from the super-tweeter (at age 45)
- Sound: very good in all areas, exceptional to reproduce human voice, and exceptionally stable stereo image (coincident drivers). No weakness !

Subjectively, I rate their sound mid-way between JM Lab Cobalt 806 ($1000) and B&W N805 ($2000).

Similar Products Used:

Many, many speakers

Image stability, neutral, detailed, dynamic sound, good bass

Slightly boxy, look

Negative first: I don't like the look, and the enclosure could be thicker.
The super-tweeter is practically inaudible (but I am 45...).
Everything else is great: high-quality coincident driver and crossover, superb sound.
The sound is dynamic, alive, neutral, detailed, with deep bass (taling into account its size).
Compared to JM Lab Cobalt 806, the sound is less fatiguing.
Compared to B&W Nautilus 805, the Tannoy is a little bit less refined (less details, more boxy), but voices are more natural (the B&W lack a little bit presence).
And what is extraordinary is the immunity to listener position. The stereo image is rock-solid, probably thanks to the coincident technology used.
The best speakers under $1,500 I ever heard.

Similar Products Used:

Many speakers from JM Lab, B&W, NHT, Meadowlark, Paradigm, Polk Audio, etc.

Definition and clarity, well articulated, and detail and great stereo imaging is what these speakers are all about. Listening mostly to acoustic and classical music, they have widespread steroe image yet focused. The bass isn't so deep, but it's a bookshelf speaker. The only thing that bothers me is the "web-cam" lookalike tweeter on the top which renders them impossible as "bookshelf" speaker. They more suited to floor stands.

It is crucial to not use the optional port baffles that you can stuff inside the open bass ports. It might tighten up the bass, but actually has side eftect and artifacts on the other acoustical elements. And boy it can play loud. However, they're a tad on the heavy driven side (87 db) so you better have some thick wires as well as some hefty amp that drives them.

The most benefit I get from them, is that they have a very wide "sweet listening spot". You don't have to have you ears smack dab in the middle and in between anything. They have a clear stereo image and you can be far off axis and yet hear both speakers equally. Of course very neutral in sound, and you don't get fatigued from listening to them all day long. Design, finish and such are the best you can get from Tannoy. What I have to come to like is the hiding of the trademark on the front by speaker grille. Definitely a WAF!

In this price range, there are a lot of tough knifes edge competition going around, especially companies such as Monitor Audio and similar. But I think Tannoy Sensys DC1 are up there with the best of them. I've even heard that B&W has been waning off a bit, especially since they cater to audiophile for most of they time, and doesn't spend as much effort in developing mid price and small speakers, that sounds great.

My friends thinks that I have a subwoofer hidden somewhere in my living room, when I - rarely - put on some high tech contemporary dance music, and modern sounds. They definitely have more deep bass than their looks. On audiophile recordings they reveal any detail, and you can almost HEAR the beard growing of a male singer as well...I had to borrow a DVD audio eqipment from my audiophile friend, and lo and behold, I could here more "open spaces" especially reverb tails of a church and so on. I do not use bi-wiring or bi-amping yet. Wouldn't dare to think what that would sound like.

Definitely worth their price, but there are so many - if not too many -in this price range around at the moment, and you can only run around and test everything there is, until your ears turn blue.