TABLE OF CONTENTS
MY STORY
Since falling in love with an idea of a coaxial driver, I’ve been on a lookout for different constructions from well known brands. Having experienced the high end Tannoy drivers and speakers, I was interested to see if more modestly priced constructions are capable of creating similar character of sound.
Believe it or not, but I actually found these Tannoy DC2000 speakers on a car boot sale! They did not look very clean when I bought them, but with a bit of work they turned out just fine.
Please note – usually before reviewing vintage speakers, I recap the crossovers to ensure that capacitors are within manufacturer’s specification. On this occasion, caps were within the specs, so there was no need to replace them. Also, bear in mind that purchasing vintage speakers is always a gamble. 30 and often 50 years it’s a long time, and one can never be sure how this time affected the loudspeaker drivers. Consequently, it is possible that the Tannoy DC2000 that you have purchased will measure and sound different than the pair I reviewed.
SPEAKER INFO
Model History
These Tannoy DC2000 speakers were in the higher end of the ‘Series 90’ – the range developed by Tannoy which featured technologies from professional studio monitors, adapted for domestic market. Series 90 was the successor to the Planet series, now featuring aluminium tweeter domes instead of soft plastic domes. DC2000 was designed to deliver high sensitivity and good bass extension, in a compact package.
Design
Here we have fairly compact floor standing loudspeaker, operating in a sealed enclosure. It features a 200mm dedicated bass driver that operates up to 400Hz, and a 200mm coaxial driver driver which operates above this frequency, with the midrange diagram going up to 2,300Hz, and the tweeter taking over from there.
Drivers feature famous ‘Dual Concentric’ construction which means that two diaphragms (HF and LF) are combined in one driver and are working on the same axis – if you are not familiar with this construction, read the Monitor Gold 15″ review, which explains this in more detail. The benefits of having the high frequency driver on the same axis as the bass driver are that the whole unit operates across the audio bandwidth as a single point of source. This, in theory, should produce better stereo image than traditional constructions. According to Tannoy, the crossovers are designed to time align both high and low frequency drivers, to eliminate “unnatural time delays” and create a true point source.
TANNOY DC2000 SPECS
| Frequency Response: | 44 – 25,000Hz (+/- 3dB) |
| Sensitivity: | 92dB (2.83V input, measured at 1m) |
| Impedance: | 6Ω (4Ω min.) |
| Recommended Amplifier: | 10 – 150W |
| High & Medium Frequency Driver: | DC2025 DMT 200mm (8″) Dual Concentric with 25mm (1″) Aluminium Dome and 200mm (8″) Polyolefin Diaphragm |
| Low Frequency Driver: | 200mm (8″) Polyolefin Bass Driver |
| Crossover Frequencies: | 400Hz & 2,300Hz |
| Enclosure Type: | Closed |
| Enclosure Dimensions (HxWxD): | 716x260x253mm (28x10x10″) |
| Weight: | 19.9kg (each speaker) |
| Production Year: | 1989 |
| Price When Launched: | Unknown |
| Equivalent Present Day Price: | Unknown |
| Current UK Price: | £100 to £300 for a pair |
LOOK & FEEL OF TANNOY DC2000 SPEAKERS
My first impression was quite positive – the speakers are quite heavy and the drivers look neat. The enclosures are made of chipboard and are fairly rigid. They are finished in black vinyl laminate that tries to imitate wood – I’m not a big fan. There a two drivers in each speaker, one Dual Concentric driver and one bass driver and both feature baskets made from pressed metal. We often see this in budget speakers, so seeing it in Tannoy DC2000 was a little disappointing, especially that from what I found on the Internet, they were not exactly cheap when they were new. Both driver cones are made from polyolefin suspended on rubber surrounds. The tweeter diaphragms are made from aluminium and are driven by a separate magnet, positioned behind the bass diaphragm magnet (see photos below). The crossovers are hardwired and feature fairly basic components, glued to the back of the speaker terminals – popular cost saving approach, frequently utilised amongst modern speakers.
SOUND OF TANNOY DC2000
First Impressions
I did not have any expectations when I first plugged these Tannoy DC2000 speakers in. After first few tracks I was neither disappointed, nor excited. They seemed neutral.
Bass
Bass is low enough to enjoy most music but if you ever experienced well recorded music with really low bass on a full range system, you know that something is missing. As one may expect from a closed box, the low end is well controlled, without any artificial overhung. Tracks such as Water of Love by Dire Straits sound quite dynamic and make your foot tap.
Midrange and Treble
Midrange and treble are well balanced – not shouty but not dull either. Vocals and instruments sound nice but do not sound ‘alive’. They are of course different degrees of sounding close to alive, and perhaps at the time of testing I was used to my other speakers (i.e. Tannoy LGM) and the Tannoy DC2000 simply did not sound nowhere near as good as the other speakers. Saying that, when I test speakers I apply the same ‘ultimate’ test scale regardless of the price. What I am trying to say here is that if you normally listen to the music on low quality speakers, you may well be very impressed with what the DC2000 can offer. However, if you have a relatively good set up, you may not appreciate them as much. They are not the most transparent speakers in the world, however, they are quite easy to listen to. They are capable of playing many different types of music at relatively high levels without causing distress to listener’s ears.
Soundstage
Another important part of speakers’ presentation is depth of soundstage. Unfortunately the reviewed pair does not have much of it. The presentation is actually very similar to all other Dual Concentric Tannoy speakers that I experienced, where the sound seems to be coming from in front of the speakers. This may have something to do with the construction of the drivers, as I have not yet experienced any Dual Concentric speakers creating soundstage illusion where the sound sources appear to be behind the speakers. Or it just may just by how their designers voiced them. Perhaps because of this, I don’t find these Tannoy DC2000 that engaging. Some speakers, on tracks such as Bob Dylan’s – Girl From the North Country, can make me very emotional, whereas I did not get any of that with these DC2000. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t sound bad – just less engaging than other speakers I experienced.
CONCLUSION
Tannoy DC2000 are quite neutral with a good low end extension and moderate level of transparency. Not the most engaging speakers but relatively easy to listen to. Before buying, I would definitely recommend to listen to other second hand speakers available within this price range.
| Balance of Sound: |  |
| Neutrality of Tone: |  |
| Transparency: | |
| Soundstage: |  |
| Attack: | |
| Engagement: |  |
| Total Score: |  |
SONGS MENTIONED IN THIS REVIEW
Bod Dylan – Girl From the North Country
Dire Straits – Water of Love
Reviewed: October 2011 | Published: December 2014