Power handling, build quality, sound quality, price, looks, everything - ALMOST

I think maybe the bass is not quite full enough but read the review for details

Well here goes then, please be gentle with me as this is my first time submitting a review but I just had to make a few comments about these speakers.

I got the speakers for £349 UK sterling not US Dollars but couldn't change the price paid box?? I got them for Christmas so have been experimenting with them for 11 months or so now and only just tonight did I actually get round to trying the bi-wiring option after reading some of your reviews on this site over the last couple of days.

I have noticed great improvements with the whole range of the speakers with bi-wiring in effect. I now enjoy pleasant, bright high ends with still the most amazing clear mid / vocals and I believe there is even an improved low frequency reproduction. What's more, this all seems to come at lower volumes now than with standard 2 wire configuration.

The speakers actually seem much more responsive and easier to drive now, which was not a problem anyway, as I am using a Meridian 105 pre/power amp setup which is a real power house at 100wpc. This has been my amplifier for around 6 years now and I really could not imagine using anything else now (believe me I have tried many other integrated amps and they just don't compare). The main listening source for around 4 years has been a Marantz CD42 mkII CD player which has never let me down and has made the most of all types of music in my collection, from Supertramp and The Eagles to Pink Floyd to Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and blues by Eric Clapton.

As I mentioned a possible weakness though, the bass produced by the Tannoy R2 has at times been slightly too understated in my opinion but the change I made to the bi-wiring seems to have opened up the bottom end on the speakers a little, although the speaker cable I have used for the bi-wiring is a cheaper and thinner cable than the cable I was using for single feed but I don't have enough of the good stuff to run 2 lengths to the speaker so I intend a trip to my local store for some good cable to run a better quality bi-wiring setup and I will be amazed if I can improve the bass response further still.

I was at Empire today as I live very close to one of the stores and I had gone to buy a Tannoy MSUB-10 sub woofer to compensate for the light bass on the R2 but luckily they didn't have any Tannoy subs in stock so I said I would wait rather than buy a different make and when I got home I bi-wired the R2 and was glad that I hadn't spent the £250 on a sub as it may not be required now.

I highly recommend that anybody looking for a pair of main speakers in this budget range gives these speakers a fair chance as, even though it may take some effort to match up other components and even spaker cable, the results are extremely rewarding. Just during writing this review I have listened to the second CD of the George Michael, ladies and gentlemen, which has some quite fast dance type mixes calling for a punchy bass and some slow style tracks with some low bass and the speakers have performed admirably. Now I have put on Yazoo, upstairs at Erics which may be a little cheesy and tacky but I keep hearing about how well the R2 reproduces female vocals and this CD is a classic and sounds sweet just as expected. The yazoo is a much older CD though and is recorded at much lower volume than the George Michael so my Meridians once again prove their value when a little extra power is required.

I'll leave you with that and if anybody wants to contact me I believe you can e-mail me through the site contact service. I will not post another review to update the outcome of the upgraded cables but anybody who is interested can contact me.

Similar Products Used:

Sony APM 22ES, Sony APM 141, Mission 701, Mission 703, Mordaunt Short MS3.40, Tannoy Mercury M2, B&W Vision 110i, Wharfdale diamond, Wharfdale double diamond, Jamo dynamic D4E