Here's the latest version of my system, one that needs to serve as both home theatre and music.  It sits at the end of a large, open plan room than runs 13 meters long and 8 meters wide, with cathedral ceilings; a big room.

 

The Tannoy DMT 15s came about in 2017 after my job at the time had just finished, and I had a few days before I started a new role, in Manila! I spied them on eBay, being sold out of a recording studio near Sydney airport.    A few emails later, I had secured them but needed to get to Sydney to pick them up, as in four days my new job started.  A two day road trip later, I was wheeling them in on a couple of furniture dollies, where they were left for a few months due to the new work commitments.

 

Why the Tannoys?  In 1975, Dad was buying a system and wanted Tannoy 15" dual concentrics, which would have been the HPD in Arden cabinets.  He missed out though due to a fire that had occurred at the factory, and so ended up with JMR 2008 speakers (look them up!), powered by Quad 33/303 combination fed by a Dual Direct Drive TT and Tandberg Cassette deck (he still has the speakers, TT and Deck)... Cut forward to 1989 or so and through work at the time I met someone who had Tannoy 15 Golds in Arden sized cabinets and when I heard them, I was hooked enough to find my own.  In short order I had a pair of HPD 15s of my own in ratty, worn out cabinets and with a buzzing tweeter and needing new surrounds.    I bought 2 replacement tweeter compression drivers, had the main drivers' surrounds replaced and rebuilt & reinforced the cabinets.  I loved these speakers and had them for maybe 15 years when I made a poor decision to swap them for a smaller pair of Tannoy 638s that would better suit a new house.  :-( 

 

I've come full circle from the 638s, via a pair of Vaf DC-7s and then DC-Xs to land on the DMT-15s.  For me they are perfect.  They can be subtle, but also rock the place, even with the size of the room.  Recently moved from a pair of Emotiva UPA-1 monoblocks to a pair of Schiit Vidars driving the Tannoys.  Tighter bottom end, improved detail, "faster".  And loud!  If you want it, this system really has power.

 

There is an interesting back story on the racks. Dad bought a house in Murchison, Victoria; an old place that was the original undertakers in the town back in the mid-1800s. As part of some renovations, he pulled up an entire floor in one of the small rooms on the ground floor, exposing hand cut ironbark floor joists. They were generally in excellent condition, except for a few that were starting to rot at the ends, so he kept them. I used some of these for the uprights in the racks. They are ~3.5x5.5" hand cut Ironbark - very dense and heavy.  You can see the square hand-made nails in them, I can imagine the local blacksmith making the nails! These were left in as a feature and polished back, and the uprights were very roughly sanded and cleaned up before being varnished - to keep that rustic appeal.   The shelves on the middle rack are Victorian Redgum slabs, and the two smaller racks are reclaimed timber from electricity poles in Queensland. The whole lot weighs a lot... do not move by yourself! The smaller racks are about 25kg, the bigger one 50kg. They are also tripods, one upright in the centre back, and one each side. They will never wobble.

 

So what's the current equipment?  Emotiva XMC-1, UPA-1 and UPA-500 for the Centre and Surrounds.  Schiit Vidar x 2 running as balanced monoblocks.  Bluesound Node 2i streamer, Schiit Modi MB and to run some 'phones, a Schiit Magni 3.    Obviously the Tannoy DMT15s, supplemented by a VAF DC-6 Centre & DC-2 surrounds for the movies.  For movies I am still really happy with my  large sealed cabinet build subwoofer with an Adire Shiva and a modified plate amp to flatten out the 35hz EQ, and add 2db at 20hz.  Screen is 2.35:1, with a Panasonic AE7000 and Oppo BDP-103

 

What's next.  Looking to get a tube amp to play with, probably KT88 based, but still musing (Muzisharing??) on that.  Alternatively, maybe a Schiit Freya+.  After that.... we'll see.

 

@HeyNow Hi-Fi

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Edited June 5, 20214 yr by Timster
Added tag

That story around the speakers and racks was great. Thanks for sharing! 
 

Not a lot of rooms would suit the DMT’s appearance but yours pulls it off nicely. 

A really enjoyable read and really like the timber! 

Special timber! Beautiful 

Wonderful setup, and a great story around it!