Tannoy FX Listening to CD Music and DTS Audio
As I've mentioned in other reviews, we all have our favorite albums with which to listen to new equipment. It's important, because it's the only way to have a prayer at comparing a new system to what you already know, or the defacto standard you have created in your memory. Let's take a listen to some of my favorites.
Rush Moving Pictures CD: There's nothing like a little YYZ or Limelight to test the imaging of a speaker system. I love to listen to the triangles panning back and forth in the opening bars of YYZ and the FX 5.1 speakers passed this test with flying colors. In fact, I was very surprised by the ability of these small speakers to deliver fairly accurate spatial imaging in a near-field configuration. One thing that stood out during this album was that the Tannoys came across as being a bit bright. Toeing the speakers back out a bit, relaxed this effect slightly and brought about a more realistic natural sound. Engage Dolby Pro Logic II on this album and you will be in for an especially good treat.
"...the FX 5.1's subwoofer absolutely embarrasses Bose's Acoustimass module"
- Clint DeBoer
Audioholics.com
Toy Matinee DTS : This album will always appear in my speaker reviews. I am very familiar with it and it serves as a good 'control' for me to anchor my perspective opinion. Listening to the title track on this album allowed me to experience the true advantage of near-field positioning - spatial surround imaging. When something pans around the room, and you have identical speakers placed equidistant from your listening position, they really pan around you. The effect has its plusses and minuses, but is generally effective at producing the feel of being at the center of the music. I personally felt that for $699 I really got a well-balanced system that exhibited realistic vocal presence and excellent instrumentation. Music just sounds good on these speakers.
R.E.M. Out of Time: Yep, an oldie but goodie, REM does a great job of giving me feedback on the FX 5.1's ability to handle a bunch of information at once without distorting the individual characteristics of the instrumentation.
Overall, my impression was that music production is well-produced by the Tannoys. The highs were pleasing so long as they were not overdriven to extreme levels. I would recommend not pushing these speakers over 92dB, in a reasonably sized room, at which point the tweeters exhibit a crispiness that I can only assume is the result of the inductors being over saturated somewhat. These satellites exhibit more off-axis phase effects when moving up and down than from side to side. If you stand up from the main listening position you will notice a distinct roll-off in the high frequency range. Side to side movement is fairly forgiving up to about 25-30 degrees from center, making us wonder if they employed 1st order crossover networks which are known for this type of sound characteristic. In discussing this with a Tannoy engineer, we were informed that the Tannoy satellites employ a second order crossover for the hi pass and low pass at 4.5Khz (mid to high). They all employ a first order hi pass crossover at 100Hz which features a 6dB/octave roll off in case full bandwidth signal is sent to the speakers.
