Tannoy Prestige Autograph Mini-OW loudspeaker
While they looked compact in the photograph, it was not until Tannoy’s Prestige Autograph Mini-OW loudspeakers arrived in the flesh that I appreciated just how compact. They are truly small-scale transducers.
Front-on, the cabinet resembles that of an LS3/5A-sized box but their volume is less because of the triangular rather than typically rectangular cabinet. I wondered, does less volume mean lower sound quality?
Famous name
The name Tannoy is synonymous with sound reinforcement, indeed the term is in the dictionary as a synonym for PA system. “Give him a shout over the Tannoy”, I remember as an oft call of the 1970s and ‘80s. The firm dates back to 1926 and the founding of the Tulsemere Manufacturing Company in south-east London. The Tannoy brand name was trademarked by company founder Guy R Fountain in March 1932, an abbreviation from ‘tantalum alloy’.
Originally manufacturing battery chargers for wireless radios, the name changed to Tannoy in 1928 and the factory kept busy during World War II supplying public address systems to the armed forces and to factories which used them to relay BBC radio programmes to wartime workers. A move in production to Coatbridge in Scotland came in the 1970s while, in 2002, Tannoy was acquired by TC Group which was subsequently bought by Music Group in 2015 and a new manufacturing plant announced. Today, Tannoy is associated with both studio monitors as well as its flagship Prestige range of hi-fi loudspeakers which use Dual Concentric coaxial drive units and are recognisable by their vintage-looks.
Design
At the heart of the Tannoy Autograph Mini-OW (Oiled Walnut) is a specially crafted 120mm iteration of the brand’s exclusive Dual Concentric drive unit. The new 4-inch version aims to create enhanced dispersion over conventional separate tweeter and mid/bass unit. This should lead to a more uniform spread of sound around the listening environment.
At the same time, the Mini-OW sees the introduction of Tannoy’s Omnimagnet configuration, allowing the 25mm titanium tweeter to be placed even closer to the acoustic centre of the mid/bass unit; this in an effort to further improve time alignment between the two drive units. These time-coherent, point source, and constant directivity dispersion characteristics are what have made the Dual Concentric design something of an accepted industry standard in studio monitoring.
The Mini-OW relies on a bespoke crossover network which is almost inaudible, and offers a frequency response from 60Hz to 20kHz. I wasn’t able to measure this in-room but then this is quoted at -10dB. The cabinet is a mere 35cm tall with sharply tapered sides. With the detachable, wooden framed cloth grilles in place the Mini-OWs take on more of an antique look. I preferred them naked to reveal the luxury veneer.
Two-in-one
The name Tannoy is perhaps synonymous with Dual Concentric drive unit technology and it’s lovely to see it incorporated in the diminutive Mini-OW model here. The Dual Concentric sets out to deliver even dispersion in the horizontal and vertical planes, to provide exceptional off-axis performance.
First developed in 1947, Dual Concentric technology has been subject to constant evolution and refinement over successive decades, taking advantage of new materials, manufacturing methods and ongoing acoustic research.
Unlike separate drive units, Dual Concentric is two drivers physically merged into one. The high frequency unit is positioned on the back of the low frequency driver so that they are effectively on the same axis. Sound energy is propagated from exactly the same point and delivered through the centre of the low frequency cone, thus a true point-source. The Dual Concentric delivers a spherical wave front that ensures even dispersion in the horizontal and vertical planes, providing exceptional off-axis performance.
Tannoy point to conventional discrete driver speaker systems having an inherent design flaw in that each drive unit is an acoustic source of its own. While the components are physically aligned on one axis, they are displaced in source and can only be coherent at one specific listening point.
Set up and listening
Eager to try these minis on my desk, to provide entertainment while working, I first set the Mini-OWs up in my modestly-sized listening room on suitable height Custom Design FS104 Signature stands, the centre columns partly filled. With the centre of the drive unit around ear-level I was immediately presented with a sensation of decent imaging and a wide sweet spot. Other notable features on switch-on of a Hegel H190 streaming amp were a velvety texture of lushness and a small loudspeakers ability to transmit speed with entertaining enthusiasm.
With a Joan Armatrading track that I know well, imaging was good but not quite pinpoint, yet with more LF response than I thought possible from the small cabinet and its tiny rear reflex port. In essence, though, the addition of a subwoofer would probably be preferred by those who appreciate powerful bass.
While the in-room frequency plots looks really good, something wasn’t quite right with the sound and I moved the stands closer so that I was really in the nearfield, where the measurement microphone had been. With Supertramp in full flow, the speakers now at little more than arm’s length away, everything fell into place and the soundstage became near holographic. It made me want to reach out and touch Procol Harum’s instruments making the luscious sound, to engage with the performers who had become so lifelike with the new positioning. The Mini-OWs are true nearfield delights.
The panel’s response
Early the next day the panel members assembled and marvelled at the coaxial driver technology shoehorned into the Mini-OW cabinets and the authentic ‘period’ look. They also conferred that nearfield was best, despite the cabinet construction looking as though they would be ideally suited to corner placement, save for the rear port.
The first track selected was Voces8’s The Deer’s Cry, a superb piece of modern choral music. Based on Arvo Pärt’s motet, the end of each phrase is left hanging such that we, the audience, are invited to join them in prayer rather than merely sitting and listening. The track was conveyed in a most ethereal way and we felt drawn into the performance. The soundstage was much larger than the diminutive Mini-OWs might suggest at first sight, while the details transmitted almost transfixed us.
It was a similar story with Mike Oldfield’s To France, his follow up to Moonlight Shadow. Notably, the frequency response was audibly natural without excessive prominence to any region so that we could enjoy the track as the recording engineering had intended and without any ‘added input’ from the speaker designer. I like that, it tends to improve realism.
Moving off-axis for Flanagan and Allen’s 1937 recording Hometown I was struck by how well the Mini-OWs sound, even when not in the sweet spot. The coaxial drivers were doing their magic here and this masterpiece of Flanagan’s croaking Spitalfields singing and Allen’s strangulated vocalising reflected their post-Depression personae perfectly, even from these modest drivers; impressively so. Don’t expect the Mini-OWs to fill a vast space, but either side of a TV they are very much at home in a small-to-modest-sized room.
We finished with a pop/jazz crossover from the 1960s in the form of Bert Kaempfert’s A Swinging Safari. Noted for its superb stereo imaging, the little Tannoy Mini-OWs handled the material well. There’s more LF information produced than one might imagine from looking at the transducers, and we were spared a thin or lacklustre sound. The midrange is a delight with vocals sounds so very natural while treble detail is delicate and vivid. We all agreed that these little babies are great at bringing music to life.
Desktop beauties
Before packing up the Mini-OWs I installed them at the back of my large desk, with the iMac between them. Angled in slightly and with a small metal cone under the front edge to direct the speakers’ energy upwards slightly, the effect was sensational. Never again will I be able to tolerate the mediocre output of either the Mac’s poor excuse for inbuilt loudspeakers or the plastic enclosures typically found on many a desktop. This is how office listening should be: we have high-resolution, high realism and high emotion. The level of detail audible when listening at such close quarters is remarkable, one hears things that are usually lost on a bigger system.
Conclusion
Quality costs, I’m afraid, so while the Mini-OWs are not inexpensive they are top-drawer both sonically and cosmetically. Coaxial drive units are expensive to research and costly to manufacture; add to that the price of a drop dead gorgeous oiled walnut cabinet and the price is more than a fair one.
In Tannoy’s Mini-OW truly mini monitors we have quality oozing from every pore. They are ideal as high-end desk loudspeakers and also for intimate listening in the nearfield which means the volume does not need to be high. Forget headphones as a way to avoid disturbing the rest of the household, the Mini-OWs up-close should do the trick nicely and give you all the spatial benefits of loudspeaker listening. I really enjoy a product that achieves what it sets out to do, and the Tannoy Prestige Autograph Mini-OW certainly does that, with bells on.