Tannoy Stratford

Unlike many audiophiles, the very first pair of Tannoy speakers that I ever purchased isn't the infamous Dual Concentric series; it was a pair of Tannoy Stratford monitor sized speakers. I got my pair off Ebay a few years ago from a local seller. My pair was the older ones with the black woofer cone with no grill. It is basically a simple two way speaker with a horn loaded compression tweeter and a 8 inch woofer. Like most of the British speakers in the 80s, Tannoy Stratford is rather flimsy and light, due to the use of mdf as the structure of the cabinet. However, the sound of Stratford is not same as its look. With wide sound stage, sweet mid range and excellent dynamic, it probably is one of the most underrated speakers in Tannoy line ups. Sure it is no monitor Black, Red or Gold, but with proper equipment and placement, Tannoy Stratford is able to replay jazz, classical and vocal nicely.

A typical amp that would match nicely with Stratford would be most of the British amps in that era like Cryus 1, Quad 33/303, Cambridge or Audiolab. However, because of its revealing nature, cable and source choice become critical to balance its rather "horny" tweeter. And yes the bass may be a bit weak to some JBL fanatics but it has a lot to do with placement. I have tried various placements to try to enhance its bass response while maintaining its sound stage...close to side walls, back wall, the 1/3  to the back wall, close field, toe in...you name it, I have tried it. At the end, I do find placing them about 3/4 ft away from side wall and about 1.5 ft from the back wall in a 12'x10' room sounded the best. It sure will sound better with a bigger room but that's how much space I have in my bed room.


My usual set up with Stratford is Quad 33/303, along with a Sony cd player with TDA 1541 DAC and Belden 8471 speaker cable. The intention is to soften the harshy horn sound with Quad 33/303 and TDA 1541 DAC, with is known for its natural mid range greatly resemble to vinyl's analog sound. Belden 8471 cable is a rather clean and natural sounding cable with airy treble and great rhythm. I learned about this from Doctorjohn cheaptubeaudio blog and I share many similarities with his hifi preference.

I have tried Stratford with Marantz 1060, 3200/104 combo and even Esotec sm6 (I am a Marantz guy) but I prefer the Quad set up. I believe the high spl may not match well with the powerful Marantz in my tiny bedroom :) I have tried to use them in my living room and it sounded more balanced and neutral.

Stratford sounded the best with tube amp; with my elekit 2A3 SE, it sounds extremely detailed, natural and well balanced. However, my elekit 2A3 is already match it my other bigger and better Tannoy:) so I would just stick it with the Quad.

With very little review of this humble speakers on the internet, I hope this sharing would provide other Stratford owners my humble experience with this excellent speakers!