Large British speakers from the 1970's /1980's

Bill Tuffs said:
Having now heard the Radfords, I believe it! Love to also get my ears on a pair of those Kef 107's, a speaker I've not had the pleasure of hearing. If I recall correctly you also have/had Sony G7's and a pair of Cornwalls to play with. Nice lineup to say the lest. When I was restoring a pair of rescued G7's I'd often look up your G7 posts as inspiration to complete the project. Not many give respect to those old Sony speaker but their surpisingly good.

The Radfords are equally surprising. I bought them off a local buy and sell ad that was practically begging for someone to come and pick them up. I would have past them by if not for my experinace with their exellent tube amps and wanting a pair of English speakers for my mom.

What's remarkable, I just dropped the Radfords next to the TV in my mom's living room, paired them with a MCS 3253 receiver and Denon CD player and right out of the gate they sound fantastic! No wall treatments, exotic seperates, speaker placement measurements, just Radford S90's sitting on a hard tile floor. It's embarising the time I've put into my main system to have my mom's stereo sound this good! LOL

The 70's -80's British big box speakers really are something. Happy holiday's to you and your family.
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Yes, I’ve been very lucky with my finds. I do still have the Sony SS-G7s. I didn’t mention them in this thread because the focus of the thread was on big British speakers. I’m very glad to hear how my thread on the G7s inspired you in restoring your own. Mine are playing main duty in my critical listening system, and I have to say they sound really good in that system.

I also still have the Cornwalls, which have now also moved into that system. I’m seriously considering moving my system 180 degrees in that room as it will give me more space in that room and I think the sound will be better. I don’t have the Cornwalls hooked up yet. It is a little too tight as it stands right now. Once I get things fully set up here again, I may decide to go with the
sMAHL upgrade on my Cornwalls. The veneer took a little damage from the idiot workmen pushing them across the floor during the renovations. But they are still in very nice condition and deserving of more attention than they’ve been getting.
 
BilboBaggins said:
My tech has a pair of Radfords and he is starting to like them as much if not more than his Ardens. At least I think he has Ardens. (Edit: They are Berkeleys) He also has/had a pair of Celestion Ditton 66s which were really nice, but nothing compared to the Radfords.

I had the Tannoy DC3000s, and they never really did it for me. I found their sound too sharp. They were the best Tannoys I've ever had though. I've also got a pair of Kef 105s and 107s. The 107s are very impressive. I am very happy with them. I've also had a pair of Wharfedale W70s and they were really nice, but not as nice as the Kef 107s.
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This would be me! Here they are at my old place.

They are a great all around speaker. The Tannoys I have are the Berkeleys. They are great too, but the Radfords work well for more types of music.
I finally got around to recapping them a few months ago. I rewired them too because they were wired with this super thin wire.
 

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Raccoon1400 said:
This would be me! Here they are at my old place.

They are a great all around speaker. The Tannoys I have are the Berkeleys. They are great too, but the Radfords work well for more types of music.
I finally got around to recapping them a few months ago. I rewired them too because they were wired with this super thin wire.
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Welcome to the thread and nice to meet someone that has had their hands on few pair of British speaker. I've had a pair of 12" Cheviot in the past that sounded fantastic in there original space but when I moved and could never get them to sound right in the new location and ended up selling them. Those Cheviots were very room dependent but when they were good they were very good! The Radfords I bought my mom still continue to impress, every time I'm at her place the sound just stops me in my tracks, they just beg to be listen to. In the spring I'll open up the S90's and see about rewiring the set, made a huge difference when I upgraded the wires in my G7's. The Radfords, as they stand, are just so damn listenable.
 
Bill Tuffs said:
Welcome to the thread and nice to meet someone that has had their hands on few pair of British speaker. I've had a pair of 12" Cheviot in the past that sounded fantastic in there original space but when I moved and could never get them to sound right in the new location and ended up selling them. Those Cheviots were very room dependent but when they were good they were very good! The Radfords I bought my mom still continue to impress, every time I'm at her place the sound just stops me in my tracks, they just beg to be listen to. In the spring I'll open up the S90's and see about rewiring the set, made a huge difference when I upgraded the wires in my G7's. The Radfords, as they stand, are just so damn listenable.
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Here's the wire that was in them.
I didn't use anything crazy to rewire them. Just the in-wall speaker wire from Solen. 14AWG from the terminals to the crossover to the woofer and 16AWG from the crossover to the mid and tweeter. I'm pretty sure it made a difference. That's some pretty thin wire they used.
 

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I got the Radfords in a deal when I was at my last place. I liked them but didn't really take them as seriously as I should. I didn't hook them up to my main system, that was down a set of stairs and these things are over 100lbs each! I had them for sale but wasn't getting much interest.
Then I moved. All the audio gear went to the same room, the walkout basement. I hooked them up to my main system and suddenly they weren't for sale anymore. I wouldn't take double what I was asking now.
 
For large British speakers of that vintage, I've had KEF 107's and Tannoy Ardens. Both freakin' awesome!
Also had Quad 57's which I THINK they still made into the 1970's? Pretty sure mine were older though. Again - awesome speakers.
Only have the 107's yet, mostly because I downsized, no room for such a large collection in this small house.
Went with the 107's because they are just more versatile. Not as wide, not as fussy, gobs of power/dynamics, and can pull both home theater and music duties. Can't say the same for the other two, although they were arguably better for a lot of the music I listen to.
Would not hestitate to own any of these three again!
 
I had the Tannoy DC2000. It's a disappointing speaker considering the Tannoy reputation. Dull as dishwater.
I am happy with the KEF Calinda which proves to be a good allrounder, but critical as far as the material that's being played.
But their bextrene woofers can sound a bit shouty with overproduced music IMO. Had the same experiece with DM4 and DM12.
 
B&W 801. IMF Refence Standard IV. Mordaunt Short Signifer. Celestion Ditton 66. Linn Isobarik. KEF Maidstone. Meridian M10. B&W DM7. Tannoy GRF. Many models of Richard Allan. KEF 105. Wharfedale E90.

There were so many. Speakers were big in those days.
 
How about these HB2's?
zstereo.co.uk

Heybrook HB2

“I started Heybrook with my friend Stuart Mee because we both realised we would love to own a small loudspeaker with a very wide bandwidth, and such a thing didn’t seem to appear at the time”…
zstereo.co.uk zstereo.co.uk
A neighbour passed away and I managed to salvage a pair before they went into a skip.They have a great sound to them.
The grills had rotted away and the building was damp but I dried them out and polished the teak veneer,not as revealing as my B&Ws but they sit in the background and fill the room.
 
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