The Tannoy Kingdom Royal is a massive floorstanding speaker sporting a 12" Dual Concentric driver, 3" mid/tweeter, 1" supertweeter, and 15" woofer with a claimed frequency response of 24Hz-61kHz (-6dB). Priced at a hefty $55,000.00 per pair, the Kingdom Royal is Tannoy's flagship, and as the cost suggests, it is a no holds barred design. How does Tannoy's vision of the ultimate loudspeaker hold up to a preliminary inspection? Read on to find out.
Executive Summary
For those that aren't familiar with Tannoy (they aren't exactly sold at the local Best Buy), they've been in the audio business for a while, having been founded in 1926. Central to Tannoy's loudspeaker designs is their Dual Concentric driver technology, originally developed in 1950. As implemented in the Kingdom Royal, it features a 3" cryogenically treated aluminum dome mid/tweeter coaxial to a 12" treated paper woofer in its own sealed enclosure. This arrangement, as with the KEF UniQ driver seen in the
Q100, should result in a good directivity match between the drivers at the crossover frequency (700Hz).
Covering the extreme high end, Tannoy has mounted a magnesium dome supertweeter on top of the Dual Concentric driver. Crossed in at 17kHz, Tannoy claims this unit should extend far beyond the typically accepted bounds of human hearing (20kHz) all the way up to 61kHz. While placement of the supertweeter seems to conflict a bit with Tannoy's point-source motto, given the frequencies involved, I'd suspect subjective impact to be minimal. Meanwhile covering the low end, Tannoy crosses the big 12" Dual Concentric driver at 120Hz to an even larger 15" treated paper cone woofer in its own separate, ported chamber. Rated down to 24Hz (-6dB), I'd expect the Kingdom Royal should have adequate extension for most music use (though pipe organ enthusiasts may disagree).
By in large, there's a lot to like about the Tannoy Kingdom Royal. For starters, you're getting practically full range response with drive units which appear quite capable of delivering BIG output cleanly (the specs indicate THD to be less than 1% from 50Hz to 20kHz with 300W RMS input power). With a rated sensitivity of 96dB w/ 2.83V and an 8 ohm nominal impedance, it shouldn't require a huge amplifier to get going (though I'd guess this isn't a major issue for the target market). As you'd expect from a flagship product, the Kingdom Royal is built like a tank, as the 265 pound weight is a testament to (did I mention it has casters to help you move it around?). And yes, the cabinet itself is a gorgeous piece that I wouldn't mind in my living room.
So what don't I like? Frankly, there's very little to complain about from what I can see at a cursory glance. I could complain about some frivolities mentioned, such as "Cables produced by Oyaide use PCOCC 6N copper (99.9999% purity), with no crystal boundaries"; unfortunately, this type of nonsense seems to be fairly common at the top of the food chain. I expect it's a matter Tannoy bending to the will of the market rather than a belief that special wires will make any tangible difference. Still, its worth noting that with the cost-no-object price tag, you are getting a little audiophile voodoo as well.
Summary
Tannoy has undoubtedly constructed an extremely capable loudspeaker in the Kingdom Royal, and one I can find find few (if any) real faults with at a cursory glance. Naturally the $55,000/pr price tag will relegate it to a fantasy for most, but who doesn't like reading about Ferraris in Car And Driver? Anybody own a pair?
Anyone interested in a review? Should Gene pit them against his reference speakers in a winner-take-all, flagship vs. flagship grudge match?
Quick Specs
Cabinet Dimensions (H x W x D): 1275 x 585 x 600 mm (50.2 x 23.0 x 23.6”)
Enclosure Volume: 160 litre (5.65 cu.ft.)
Enclosure Type: Reflex for bass driver, closed box for Dual Concentric™
Enclosure Weight: 120kg (265lbs)
Maximum SPL: 120dB at 1 metre for 300 watt RMS; 126dB at 1 metre for 1200 watt peak
Total Harmonic Distortion: Less than 1% at 300 watt RMS (50Hz to 20kHz)
Sensitivity: 96dB for 2.83 volt at 1 metre
Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms
Frequency Response: 24Hz - 61kHz (-6dB)
Crossover Adjustments: Dual Concentric™ energy +/- 3.0dB in 5 steps, 700Hz- 17kHz
SuperTweeter™ energy +/- 3.0dB in 5 steps, 17kHz- 61kHz
Low Frequency Driver: 380mm (15 inch) nominal diameter with treated paper cone, 75mm (3 inch) diameter voice coil
Dual Concentric: 300mm (12 inch) nominal diameter Dual Concentric™, with 52mm (2 inch) midrange voice coil and treated paper cone.
High frequency: 75mm (3 inch) diameter aluminium alloy dome, deep cryogenically treated
Supertweeter: 25mm (1 inch) diameter 64 micron magnesium alloy dome, ceramic coated.
Cabinet Construction Birch ply and high density fibreboard. Extensive internal bracing
