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I think it’s the latter that make us realize how very familiar albums have more air, spaciousness and natural decay than we knew. All sounds are set in a kind of air cushion which on the one hand makes them less explicit, on the other better connected. That’s the thing traditional multi-driver speaker systems don’t do in this way.


After the benefits of placing two drivers on a shared axis, I’d like to return now to my opening discussion of tonal balance. Speaking about the midrange I pointed to it as the most important range although a longer audition would call it a bit unfair. The midrange may be so free, open and dynamic only because it is supported so well at the top and bottom. Without those two it would be just another speaker with a small sound.


Because these are big speakers, bass needs to be discussed next. It’s been set to be as resolved and clear as possible. Needless to say it possesses great definition. Although rock recordings like Led Zeppelin’s debut, Depeche Mode’s single Shoot My Soul and similar fare have us realize this somewhat delayed, recordings with organ not only classical but also on Józef Skrzek’s Pamiętnik Karoliny have us appreciate it immediately. This is important because it means differentiation which most speakers struggle with. That's understood as the ability to show tone and dynamics changes without bass emphasis. In the final analysis it also needs to be said that the low frequencies here are less weighty than the midrange. This lightens tonal balance below a a few hundred cycles. But this does not depreciate these speakers' value as full-range providers.


Actually this can also be remedied to some extent. The DC10A is designed to be placed close to the wall. Large rear-ported speakers generally react very badly to any such attempts. While the amount of bass increases, it occurs at the expense of differentiation and speed. Imaging gets significantly worse too including stage depth. Here the Tannoys are different. Near the wall there is more bass but it retains exactly the same character as when placed in the center of the room (which I would strongly advise against). The soundstage actually doesn’t change. That's one advantage of loading the tweeter with a horn and then the midwoofer's cone flare to shape radiation.


The horn determines other things too. First off, the listener's head needs to on the tweeter level. Sitting lower results in partial treble loss and the upper midrange becomes less selective. And the latter is one of the core advantages of this design. The upper range has very precise transients without beating around the bush. In classic designs this could cause eventual fatigue but here the treble is silky and very vivid even on inferior recordings. There is no sign of 'metal fatigue'. There is plenty of information but it always makes sense.


Despite their strong attack, the speakers disappear as soon as we close our eyes. The sound doesn't project forward but presents itself behind the speakers' main line. It's not located inside the drivers either but rather behind or next to them. That's part of their freedom. There is no sense of instruments or vocals being trapped in the cabinet. The speakers vanish as apparent sound sources despite their considerable size to leave us alone with the music.


This gets further emphasized because the generated sound field is so uniform and coherent. What should first draw our attention here are the decays not because they are exaggerated but because we probably hear them for the first time in such a clear intelligible manner. Whilst the soundstage itself is broad and deep, instrumental bodies don’t show great depth. Things occur more on a single plane with little distinction between what is close and what is far away. Yet they don't merge. Even sounds located behind the listener are different than usual - less palpable but very stable and well connected with the frontal action.