Tannoy 603 Loudspeakers Reviewed

Published On: February 14, 1992
Last Updated on: October 31, 2020
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Tannoy 603 Loudspeakers Reviewed

The true measure of the 603 "has to be found in its sonic accuracy, smoothness, coherence [and] dynamic capabilities." The Tannoy "is a kick-butt design which goes louder and sounds bigger than any of its major rivals." It also features a "far more convincing sensation of bass" than all other minis

Tannoy 603 Loudspeakers Reviewed

By Author: Home Theater Review
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New maxim for the Recession of '92: When the going gets tough, the tough go down-market. Unbelievably, the flood of beer-budget killers continues, when a year ago all feared that the hi-fi makers could produce only rhino-bucks hardware. The AR-M1 and Monitor Audio Monitor One loudspeakers, Musical Fidelity's Preamp/Typhoon, Analogue Experience's coax -- all respond to a dearth of disposable income. And now Tannoy's in on the act with the 603, the smallest in the company's newest model range.

Cynics could argue that the Six Series, the name denoting the number of sides to the cabinets, is merely another flash range designed to part dollars from Americans. So slick are these speakers that they wouldn't look out of place in the Innovations catalogue. I say that despite the sane reasoning behind the chosen shape. The cabinet is designed to bestow a number of benefits on the user, including improved standing-wave behaviour through an absence of parallel reflective panels, increased rigidity, better self-damping and an improved diffraction pattern.

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On the manufacturing side, you're looking at a product which could only come from a company with the money needed to tool up the myriad plastic components, like the top and bottom frames. Even the minor details smack of Japanese prowess, with inset brass threads at the bottom to fix the speaker to dedicated stands and a bi-wiring link better than any I've ever seen (including Sonus Faber's new clips).

Competition and Comparison
To compare the Tannoy 603 loudspeakers against the competition read our reviews for the
Definitive Technology Powermonitor 900 system and the Sonus faber Musical loudspeaker.  You can find more information about different products by visiting our Bookshelf Speaker Section.

Tannoy placed the multi-way binding posts one pair above the other. An upside-down U-shaped metal link connects the gold-plated terminals for single wiring. Raise it (the 'handle' is a Tannoy logo), then tighten the nuts and the terminals are ready for bi-wiring or bi-amping. And you won't lose the link because it stays in the speaker terminal recess.

The sides are finished in the ubiquitous black ash beloved of budget audiences, with a 'marble' insert at the top. It's a dark blue-green affair reminiscent of the patterns in a circa '67 light show.

Remove the cloth-on-a-plastic-frame grille (recommended) to view a 25mm aluminium dome tweeter with a protective mesh cover. Removal of this cover is recommended, too, if you have neither pets nor children and a craving for the maximum performance available. Cleverly, it's held in place by the speaker's magnetic field, so you don't risk damaging anything. The tweeter is mounted on a 'minimum diffraction plate' which raises the assembly a millimetre or so above the main baffle board. The dome is fitted to a high-temperature, polyamide insulated coil wound onto a Kapton former and the driver benefits from ferro-fluid cooling. Below the tweeter is a 5in mid/bass driver also fitted with an anti-diffraction ring. Its cone is injection moulded, with an inverted dust cap.

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The two drivers do a good job of filling the front panel -- 160x295mm
(WxH) not counting the end-caps -- reflecting a trend I call the
'Disappearing Baffle'. Whatever a massive baffle does for bass
reinforcement, the penalty is imaging. Along with the Monitor One, the
AR-M1 and other minis, the Tannoy 603 produces dead-accurate imaging in
all three dimensions. (The most extreme example of the Disappearing
Baffle is B&W's giant escargot prototype: no baffle at all.)

At the back, the terminals are fitted into a recess with just enough
space to allow you to get a grip on the binding post caps. Above this is
the port which allows this speaker to produce some semblance of bass.

Tannoy didn't supply the 603 with the dedicated stands, so I popped
'em onto my cherished Foundation stands, first with Blu-tack but then
with Isopods, which worked much better. I also tried some real world,
under #50 stands, the sort likely to be used with this speaker. (Note
that the floor in my listening room is poured concrete, so what works
for me might not work for you.) The price of the 603s led me to budget
gear, with which they worked admirably, but it wasn't until I decided to
rock out with the big stuff that I learned what a little treasure I was
assessing. So, with gear ranging from the Acurus electronics, a
venerable 35W Radford valve amp, the Dynaco Stereo 70 MkII and monsters
from Aragon, Beard, Classé and Raymond Lumley, I learned that #119 is
the bucket-shop ticket price to heaven.

No kidding. This seemingly kitsch product (marble inlay? six sides?
gobs of plastic? a weight of 4 kilos each?) defies all reason. Those
prone to rapping cabinets and measuring a speaker enclosure by its heft
are in for a shock. Regardless of the lack of weight and the loud sound
produced when it's subjected to the knuckle test, the speaker suffers no
smearing or unwanted resonances traditionally associated with
featherwieght construction. Which speaks volumes for the internal
bracing and the physical properties of the multi-sided enclosure.

Given that there's no shortage of mini speakers with wonderful
imaging capabilities, the true measure of the 603 had to be found in its
sonic accuracy, smoothness, coherence, dynamic capabilities -- hell,
just about everything else which separates good from bad. And despite
touches of metal-tweeteritis, the Tannoy is a kick-butt design which
goes louder and sounds bigger than any of its major rivals, and without
needing high-end amplification.

Take the scale of the AR-M1, the imaging of the LS3/5A and the zip of
the Monitor One and you're part way there. What separates it from all
of the other minis --- and the 603 stands only 333mm tall with a
footprint of 221x152mm -- is a far more convincing sensation of bass,
despite a certain 'one note' quality when the going gets complicated.

Music with bags of bass won't upset the 603; it merely acts like a
filter à la the Wilson WATT rather than attempt to deliver what it
cannot. But heavily overlayed multi-part performances can cause mild
confusion, especially if your stands are lightweight or less that rigid.

The top-to-bottom consistency was marvellous, indicative of the
familiarity manufacturers now have with metal domes; rare are the
hybrids which sound like plastic below and metal above. But the Tannoy
extracts a price for its finest performance: Remove the fabric grille
and the tweeter protector and you get clean, extended highs with
lightning transients. At the same time, you'll hear slight traces of
sibilance which seem to be filtered by the two grilles. Of the two, the
tweeter cover is more of an interference, so keep the cloth in place for
the best compromise.

Did I say compromise? My mistake. The Tannoy 603 is the least compromised, sub-#150 speaker on the market.

Additional Resources

  • TheWallace
    2015-01-29 18:51:22

    I bought a pair of these new in 1992 along with the companion stands...and still have them in use on my smaller 'salon' system. They have a nice transparent sound with pinpoint imaging, very musical with surprising bass for the size...and they're Tannoys. As recommended, the grills should be removed for the best response...along with the tiny cosmetic mesh grills that sit over the tweeters...which are held on magnetically.

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