Summary: I don't know why we're in the floorstanding hifi speakers forum room, because the Tannoy System800 monitors are octagonal-shaped dual-concentric nearfields. Mine are on tall stands, on their sides.
Nobody mentions the fact they are quite BIG; 10kg per cabinet. I have the passive ones.
I do find that my mixes sound so much sweeter on a Hifi speaker, after I have mixed on the system800s. Make of that what you will.
I have wondered how I would feel about them, when compared to a really good studio nearfield. When I first got them home, I proclaimed I had never heard an old Korg MS700 analogue synth sound so great; it was buzzy and bassy like I coukldn't get before, yet you never felt like the speaker couldn't cope. So now, I feel like these make amazing tracking monitors. The psychologicfal effect of the thick polypropylene cone gives you a nice feeling of safety.
I'm probably underpowering them with a 50W OMNIPHONICS RESEARCH S-50 amplifier.
I look forward to adding a more refined pair of monitors in the future; there seems to be something so bland about thair overall sound, which brings you back to the initial point about mixing strategy.
Let me know your thoughts
Syntholabo
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Summary: The point in the System 800's after all, is to create an honest reproduction of the work you are doing. If you do not have an accurate room you will NEVER appreciate the quality and accuracy of this small monitor. I have had them in many proper control rooms over the past 6 years and found that when properly placed and powered, they performed very well. If the room is designed well and will accomodate these speakers per the design, you will find your mixes should sound even better than in the control room itself (which is the idea). So I mix as hard and full as I want and print it with great results. I now use these in my personal control room with a KRK sub, and am quite pleased with the accuract of the mixes. Don't be too quick to judge a speaker when you are listening to it in a acoustical mess of a room. Always do something to address the acoustics. There are a lot of reasources online you can turn to for great help. Trust me on this one...Fix the room first
Steve,
A.I.A., A.S.A., A.E.S., E.E., M.E.
"Excellence Through Knowledge and Experience"
Strengths: Accurate, Wide equitemporial plane (all Frequencies in phase) which give a much bigger sweet spot, solid cabinet construction with lower power loss. Multiple set-up orientations
Weaknesses: Power handling could be more robust
Similar Products Used: Genelecs, Tannoy AMS's, KRK's. JBL's (sorry)
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Summary: I have had these speakers for three months. They are great speakers with the exception of bass. I would not spend 3. or $400. If you can buy these for under $150, that would be a good buy. Best suited for Jazz, and Classical. Great soundstage. Very detailed. Just not enough bass so 4 stars
Strengths: Fantastic detail. Quite a bit of power outside of bass heavy music
Weaknesses: Lack of bass.
Similar Products Used: Many.
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Summary: The Tannoy System 800 caught my eye on the Tannoy Professional Website. I forgot how good this design can sound. It has been 30 years since I fell in love with the old Tannoy Lancaster with a 12" Monitor Gold driver, driven by a Quad 33 pre-amp and 303 Power Amp. I have never heard Buddy Rich and his Orchestra sound so good, and I am a part-time drummer.
This system has the same speed and attack, with staggering imaging. I found there was no compression, and no detectable coloration. Bass is amazingly deep and tight, mids are superb, clear, and crisp, and the highs are tranparent, with just the right amount of bite.
I found there is inner detail on many CD's that is just not audible on most other speakers. There are continous phasing cues, and subtle sounds in the studio present, that were not heard before.
Cosmetics may seem rather "Industrial" looking for some, but in real life they are better looking and very well assembled and finished. A bit pricey at $1000.00CAN, but one gets that Dual Concentric driver at a cheaper price than the Home Audio products. I am surprised Tannoy hasn't advertised the Pro line more. In all, superb sound that everyone loves, including Engineers.
Summary: After listening to Tannoy's Dual-concentric speaker system, used in this pair of System 800s, you will never be able to go back to a conventional 2 or 3-way speaker system. The soundstage really is extraordinary! It was one of those speaker auditions where I picked up things in the music I had never realised before. This effect is most pronounced in the upper band between 5k and 20k, guitar pick noise and lip-smacking etc.
It could be seen as a bad sign that it shows up many mistakes in audio that you thought was flawless.
The transient response of the tweeters is fantastic, and lends itself to all types of music and voice work.
It does make sense to pay heed to the warnings that come with these speakers though.. they sound so smooth, and are so easy to listen too that you really don't know how loud you are listening to them, until someone comes in to the room and trys to talk to you and you can't hear each other! A dB meter may come in handy when using these speakers for a long session.
The lack of bass that many reviews have talked about may me due to the mounting surface. I found that they had much more bass in their upright position than on their side, which must be due to the surface area in contact with the surface they are sitting on. It says in the manual to rest the monitors on a rubber mat or attach rubber feet (which maybe should have been supplied) to counteract the effect.
Ideally they should be as isolated as possible.
They are supplied with foam bungs for the reflex ports to alter the bass response curve.
Anyway, in summary these are fantastic speakers for the price (NZ$1536), and perfect if you want crisp accurate soundstaging and true-to-life response.
Strengths: Soundstaging is perfect, frequency response is accurate, very compact for the sound, and a nice price!
Weaknesses: No rubber feet! Possible hearing damage risk.
Similar Products Used: Tannoy Mx3, K-Rok monitors, Jbls.
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