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Without the mesh grill over the tweeter after only a couple of weeks I somehow nudged one of the domes and created a small dent(!) This was easily fixed by lightly pressing duct tape into the dent using a fingernail and ripping it out sideways. But this crease caused me a layer of anxiety about loss of response, imaging, and sonic aberrations that may not even be audible. Advice about whether or not a creased/fixed metal dome is sonically intact is very conflicting. So rather than obsess I emailed Tannoy support and here was their response: "That dome is what reproduces the sound but a small crease or mark will not affect it. It will only be the look that would be any reason to replace it. If it was me I wouldn't worry about it. It will not affect its performance." So there you have it, the vendor says not to worry about it.
Still not satisfied I did an evening of critical listening and decided that at some frequencies such as on acoustic guitar I could detect moments where the imaging on that side seemed to drift for an instant. This was barely perceptible and likely inaudible to anyone else and maybe I was fooling myself. But I decided the repaired crease bothered me regardless.
On a whim I contacted Tannoy who replied that their NJ warehouse actually had one replacement 603 Tweeter still in stock. I ordered it and a few days later I was the proud owner of what may have been the last new 603/605/607 MK1 tweeter on the planet, or at least in North America. The box was undated and dust free. |
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BELOW: the tweeter looked new, no dents. It went in with no issues.
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CONCLUSION
The end result is that Tannoy's asymmetrical cabinet design, solid construction, and quality parts paid off. With the grill and tweeter mesh off I found this speaker transformed from what I remembered. The treble has an open crystalline quality with no etching or hyper detail. Imaging and subtle details in the music are pinpoint and surprisingly musical and realistic. The ported bass is musical at low to moderate levels but not deep or strong. In other words this isn't a party speaker, it's better for creating a quieter, musical tapestry between the speakers for music like jazz vocals and acoustic guitar. I added a Polk subwoofer which brought out the bottom end and made them shine even more.
This pair of uncommon 30 year old Tannoys are now the speaker of choice in my salon system. The bi-wiring, polypropylene caps, and factory spikes on the bottom add a fun bit of tweakiness and make listening to this inexpensive speaker a lot of fun. I'm glad I held onto them.
Without the mesh grill over the tweeter after only a couple of weeks I somehow nudged one of the domes and created a small dent(!) This was easily fixed by lightly pressing duct tape into the dent using a fingernail and ripping it out sideways. But this crease caused me a layer of anxiety about loss of response, imaging, and sonic aberrations that may not even be audible. Advice about whether or not a creased/fixed metal dome is sonically intact is very conflicting. So rather than obsess I emailed Tannoy support and here was their response: "That dome is what reproduces the sound but a small crease or mark will not affect it. It will only be the look that would be any reason to replace it. If it was me I wouldn't worry about it. It will not affect its performance." So there you have it, the vendor says not to worry about it.