Tannoy Precision 6.2 review

[hughesfleming]

Thank you for publishing the Precision 6.2 review,

If I am not mistaken, the photo of the back is from the 6.4 which is a sealed box design with passive radiatiors. The 6.2's should have a port at the back. I would be very interested to read in your upcoming 6.4 review whether or not the 6.4 works better closer to walls than the smaller rear ported 6.2. I was always under the impression that the DC6T SE was quite easy to place in a room. Is the 6.2 really so different? 60 cm from the back wall is a lot of space in the real world.

There was also no mention of partnering. Is it easy to drive? Tube friendly? Is it bright with analytical amplification? I think any five star review is going to spark interst in a product. It is a pitty that the reviews sometimes leave many questions unanswered. Other than that it looks like it is worth an audition.

regards

 

[WishTree]

Excellent Post! A very good observarion on the pics!

Yes, IMO, there is a mistake on the picture. I had the DC6T SE and if the tweeter is same as the one in Precision series too, then I think they are a bit bright.

As I mentioned else where before, I guess WHF review rooms are heavily damped or all the four places, where I have lived in the past several years have been extremely reflective.

I have noticed that some of the WHF 5 Star review products, once they are at my home, I found them to be a tad bright in real world conditions (which means my real world conditions). So I kind of developed a corrrection for the sub 2K priced product range. The higher priced kit from likes Pathos or Classe or Vivid range seems to fit the WHF description in my case.

As always, YMMV and these rating are only a guide and I will go till 3 stars of WHF, not to miss out some good catch.

 

[BigH]

I have only heard the Precision 6.1 which I presume is similar but a standmount, I did not find them bright with Marantz Peral Lites if anything they were the opposite. As for 5 star rating about 40% of speakers get 5 stars so it does not mean that much, in fact there are more 5 stars than any other rating.

 

[davedotco]

Excellent Post! A very good observarion on the pics!

Yes, IMO, there is a mistake on the picture. I had the DC6T SE and if the tweeter is same as the one in Precision series too, then I think they are a bit bright.

As I mentioned else where before, I guess WHF review rooms are heavily damped or all the four places, where I have lived in the past several years have been extremely reflective.

I have noticed that some of the WHF 5 Star review products, once they are at my home, I found them to be a tad bright in real world conditions (which means my real world conditions). So I kind of developed a corrrection for the sub 2K priced product range. The higher priced kit from likes Pathos or Classe or Vivid range seems to fit the WHF description in my case.

As always, YMMV and these rating are only a guide and I will go till 3 stars of WHF, not to miss out some good catch.

Of course they are bright....... :read:

WHF use rooms that are heavily treated and by normal standards dull as dishwater, what would you expect...... :?

 

[BigH]

Excellent Post! A very good observarion on the pics!

Yes, IMO, there is a mistake on the picture. I had the DC6T SE and if the tweeter is same as the one in Precision series too, then I think they are a bit bright.

As I mentioned else where before, I guess WHF review rooms are heavily damped or all the four places, where I have lived in the past several years have been extremely reflective.

I have noticed that some of the WHF 5 Star review products, once they are at my home, I found them to be a tad bright in real world conditions (which means my real world conditions). So I kind of developed a corrrection for the sub 2K priced product range. The higher priced kit from likes Pathos or Classe or Vivid range seems to fit the WHF description in my case.

As always, YMMV and these rating are only a guide and I will go till 3 stars of WHF, not to miss out some good catch.

Of course they are bright....... :read:

WHF use rooms that are heavily treated and by normal standards dull as dishwater, what would you expect...... :?

Yes thats true they spent nearly a £1m on room treatment, so the products may not sound anything like that in a average living room.

I did suggest they test them in a more normal room but that went down like a Led Zeppelin. No wonder they don't mention bass boom or other issues that many experience.

 

[davedotco]

Excellent Post! A very good observarion on the pics!

Yes, IMO, there is a mistake on the picture. I had the DC6T SE and if the tweeter is same as the one in Precision series too, then I think they are a bit bright.

As I mentioned else where before, I guess WHF review rooms are heavily damped or all the four places, where I have lived in the past several years have been extremely reflective.

I have noticed that some of the WHF 5 Star review products, once they are at my home, I found them to be a tad bright in real world conditions (which means my real world conditions). So I kind of developed a corrrection for the sub 2K priced product range. The higher priced kit from likes Pathos or Classe or Vivid range seems to fit the WHF description in my case.

As always, YMMV and these rating are only a guide and I will go till 3 stars of WHF, not to miss out some good catch.

Of course they are bright....... :read:

WHF use rooms that are heavily treated and by normal standards dull as dishwater, what would you expect...... :?

Yes thats true they spent nearly a £1m on room treatment, so the products may not sound anything like that in a average living room.

I did suggest they test them in a more normal room but that went down like a Led Zeppelin. No wonder they don't mention bass boom or other issues that many experience.

The rooms are very heavily treated with early reflections comming in for particular attention. The rooms absorb power, dull the treble and help to keep the bass tight. They are also of decent size without much normal furniture, so speaker positioning is usually optimum.

Hardly surprising that we get a string of recommendations for bright amplifiers and poorly controlled floor standing speakers. The rooms are quite good for comparing components as room effects are minimal but the overal results are, in my few, very questionable.

 

[emperor's new clothes]

FWIIW, WHF's award winner. the DC6TSE came 3rd out of 6 in this month's HFC group test. My brief audition concurs - it certainly needs space from rear walls and was bright to my ears with Cyrus amp. Going to try the Epos Elan ( it came 2nd to Spendor A3) which is allegedly happier closer to a wall and very efficient.

 

[ISAC69]

Thank you for publishing the Precision 6.2 review,

If I am not mistaken, the photo of the back is from the 6.4 which is a sealed box design with passive radiatiors. The 6.2's should have a port at the back. I would be very interested to read in your upcoming 6.4 review whether or not the 6.4 works better closer to walls than the smaller rear ported 6.2. I was always under the impression that the DC6T SE was quite easy to place in a room. Is the 6.2 really so different? 60 cm from the back wall is a lot of space in the real world.

There was also no mention of partnering. Is it easy to drive? Tube friendly? Is it bright with analytical amplification? I think any five star review is going to spark interst in a product. It is a pitty that the reviews sometimes leave many questions unanswered. Other than that it looks like it is worth an audition.

regards

I like to read WHF reviews but I found their reviews sometimes very superficial .

What amplification they use for testing the speaksers ? Are the speakers good with a certain amp ( tube ? solid state ? act. ) ? Are they better for a

certain kind of music( Jazz? Classical? act. ) or suites all ? and many more questions...

The reviews are so brief that they can hardly be helpful to one seriuosly looking for speakers upgrading :wall:

 

[Overdose]

Unless a complete system review is being carried out, I suspect that there is a reference system to attach various components under test to. Quality pieces that would allow all equipment on test to operate at its optimum without being held back.

With regard to an 'over treated' room. This provides a good baseline for results by nullifying room effects. To listen in any other environment is jut as likely to result in spurious reviews and the choice of another environment, presumably to mimick a typical front room is going to be an arbitrary setup that is irrelevant for many.

At least with the present situation with regards testing/review room, the items on test will have their underlying characteristics exposed rather than hidden.

It is easy enough to damp down an overly 'live' room and in fact would cost rather less than a 'special' cable or two and actually produce verifiable improvements.

 

[davedotco]

Unless a complete system review is being carried out, I suspect that there is a reference system to attach various components under test to. Quality pieces that would allow all equipment on test to operate at its optimum without being held back.

With regard to an 'over treated' room. This provides a good baseline for results by nullifying room effects. To listen in any other environment is jut as likely to result in spurious reviews and the choice of another environment, presumably to mimick a typical front room is going to be an arbitrary setup that is irrelevant for many.

At least with the present situation with regards testing/review room, the items on test will have their underlying characteristics exposed rather than hidden.

It is easy enough to damp down an overly 'live' room and in fact would cost rather less than a 'special' cable or two and actually produce verifiable improvements.

There is a reference system, in the hi-fi rooms at least, but I am not sure quite how good they are. I am also somewhat against the idea of 'reference systems' on general principles, though I am pretty sure WHF do nor make evaluations based on anything so crass as simply substituting the item under test into the reference system.

However the rooms are heavily controlled and it is easy to see why certain kinds of product will impress, similatly with extremely well controlled bass it is no surprise that some floorstanding speakers review well when in the real world they are little more than 'boomboxes'.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

So ... everyone should just borrow and audition at home ...?

 

[ISAC69]

So ... everyone should just borrow and audition at home ...?

Yes audition is a must . After a demo I found that some of the five stars products were not so good and some of the three and four stars found to be excellent .

 

[BigH]

Thank you for publishing the Precision 6.2 review,

If I am not mistaken, the photo of the back is from the 6.4 which is a sealed box design with passive radiatiors. The 6.2's should have a port at the back. I would be very interested to read in your upcoming 6.4 review whether or not the 6.4 works better closer to walls than the smaller rear ported 6.2. I was always under the impression that the DC6T SE was quite easy to place in a room. Is the 6.2 really so different? 60 cm from the back wall is a lot of space in the real world.

There was also no mention of partnering. Is it easy to drive? Tube friendly? Is it bright with analytical amplification? I think any five star review is going to spark interst in a product. It is a pitty that the reviews sometimes leave many questions unanswered. Other than that it looks like it is worth an audition.

regards

I like to read WHF reviews but I found their reviews sometimes very superficial .

What amplification they use for testing the speaksers ? Are the speakers good with a certain amp ( tube ? solid state ? act. ) ? Are they better for a

certain kind of music( Jazz? Classical? act. ) or suites all ? and many more questions...

The reviews are so brief that they can hardly be helpful to one seriuosly looking for speakers upgrading :wall:

Yes I agree all a bit vague about equipment and music with just the odd reference thrown in. I think you often use very high end amps and source so again not typical of a normal system. I would like to see more system tests which they used to do.

 

[BigH]

Unless a complete system review is being carried out, I suspect that there is a reference system to attach various components under test to. Quality pieces that would allow all equipment on test to operate at its optimum without being held back.

With regard to an 'over treated' room. This provides a good baseline for results by nullifying room effects. To listen in any other environment is jut as likely to result in spurious reviews and the choice of another environment, presumably to mimick a typical front room is going to be an arbitrary setup that is irrelevant for many.

At least with the present situation with regards testing/review room, the items on test will have their underlying characteristics exposed rather than hidden.

It is easy enough to damp down an overly 'live' room and in fact would cost rather less than a 'special' cable or two and actually produce verifiable improvements.

There is a reference system, in the hi-fi rooms at least, but I am not sure quite how good they are. I am also somewhat against the idea of 'reference systems' on general principles, though I am pretty sure WHF do nor make evaluations based on anything so crass as simply substituting the item under test into the reference system.

However the rooms are heavily controlled and it is easy to see why certain kinds of product will impress, similatly with extremely well controlled bass it is no surprise that some floorstanding speakers review well when in the real world they are little more than 'boomboxes'.

Well I think they do just put the item into a reference system they may also use a lower quality sytem as well, if you read some reviews you will come across a few comments. This is from the Arcam A19 review "After letting it run in as per usual over a few nights, we connected the A19 to our reference kit, which includes a Naim NDS streamer and ATC SCM50 speakers. A £6250 streamer and £8,000-odd pair of speakers are probably overkill for a £650 amplifier, but we do find them to form the most revealing of systems."

 

[Overdose]

Unless a complete system review is being carried out, I suspect that there is a reference system to attach various components under test to. Quality pieces that would allow all equipment on test to operate at its optimum without being held back.

With regard to an 'over treated' room. This provides a good baseline for results by nullifying room effects. To listen in any other environment is jut as likely to result in spurious reviews and the choice of another environment, presumably to mimick a typical front room is going to be an arbitrary setup that is irrelevant for many.

At least with the present situation with regards testing/review room, the items on test will have their underlying characteristics exposed rather than hidden.

It is easy enough to damp down an overly 'live' room and in fact would cost rather less than a 'special' cable or two and actually produce verifiable improvements.

There is a reference system, in the hi-fi rooms at least, but I am not sure quite how good they are. I am also somewhat against the idea of 'reference systems' on general principles, though I am pretty sure WHF do nor make evaluations based on anything so crass as simply substituting the item under test into the reference system.

However the rooms are heavily controlled and it is easy to see why certain kinds of product will impress, similatly with extremely well controlled bass it is no surprise that some floorstanding speakers review well when in the real world they are little more than 'boomboxes'.

I have to disagree. If you are to compare any product, a reference is a must. In a situation where a component that sounds fine in a treated room, but not in a home environment, then it is the environment that needs to be modified and it isn't necessarily difficult or expensive to do so.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Agree with O/D. Here's details of their reference system http://www.whathifi.com/how-we-test

 

[BigH]

Unless a complete system review is being carried out, I suspect that there is a reference system to attach various components under test to. Quality pieces that would allow all equipment on test to operate at its optimum without being held back.

With regard to an 'over treated' room. This provides a good baseline for results by nullifying room effects. To listen in any other environment is jut as likely to result in spurious reviews and the choice of another environment, presumably to mimick a typical front room is going to be an arbitrary setup that is irrelevant for many.

At least with the present situation with regards testing/review room, the items on test will have their underlying characteristics exposed rather than hidden.

It is easy enough to damp down an overly 'live' room and in fact would cost rather less than a 'special' cable or two and actually produce verifiable improvements.

There is a reference system, in the hi-fi rooms at least, but I am not sure quite how good they are. I am also somewhat against the idea of 'reference systems' on general principles, though I am pretty sure WHF do nor make evaluations based on anything so crass as simply substituting the item under test into the reference system.

However the rooms are heavily controlled and it is easy to see why certain kinds of product will impress, similatly with extremely well controlled bass it is no surprise that some floorstanding speakers review well when in the real world they are little more than 'boomboxes'.

I have to disagree. If you are to compare any product, a reference is a must. In a situation where a component that sounds fine in a treated room, but not in a home environment, then it is the environment that needs to be modified and it isn't necessarily difficult or expensive to do so.

Yes but who buys a £650 amp for a £15,000 system?

 

[Overdose]

Yes but who buys a £650 amp for a £15,000 system?

What's your point BigH?

 

[BigH]

Yes but who buys a £650 amp for a £15,000 system?

What's your point BigH?

My point is its not being tested in its typical system, its a bit like testing a rally car on the M6. In fact the room and system are not typical thats probably why some people are dissappointed when buying gear based on reviews, ever see a speaker review that says they are boomy? I believe most reviews are just promoting the product anyway thats whats its all about isn't it. Thats why there are so many 5 star reviews?

 

[Overdose]

Yes but who buys a £650 amp for a £15,000 system?

What's your point BigH?

My point is its not being tested in its typical system, its a bit like testing a rally car on the M6. In fact the room and system are not typical thats probably why some people are dissappointed when buying gear based on reviews, ever see a speaker review that says they are boomy? I believe most reviews are just promoting the product anyway thats whats its all about isn't it. Thats why there are so many 5 star reviews?

I still don't see what any of that has got to do with the £650 amp in a £15K system reference.

 

[BigH]

The point is it may not go with those sort of speakers and if thats the only test they would have probably not got 5 stars and would not be amp. of the year, here is from the review "We found that the Arcam A19 needs some careful system partnering to truly shine. We swapped our neutral-sounding ATCs for the KEF LS50s speakers – and the change in pace was immediate."

 

[ISAC69]

Other Magazines as Streophile and The Absolute Sound use more than one system for checking the product and variety kind of music and mention the difference bewtween them on their review , it is more serious approach than just throwing the product to a refernce system and mention 2 or 3 songs WHF team heard with them . To tell the true I love the WHF Hi Fi forum but when I want to read a serious reviews for a certain product I prefer to look for it on Stereophile , The Absolut Sound or Hi-Fi News magazines ...

 

[davedotco]

This whole 'reference system' thing is, to me, just plain wrong.

The only reference is a real live performance, real music, real musicians, real world.

Sure I know that loads of recordings do not actually consist of a real musical event, but there are plenty that do and they make the best demonstration/evaluation 'tools' possible.

I know that for many this is dificult, but you have to stop listening to the way a system sounds and learn to listen to how a system actually plays music, then you will be able to sort out the 'also rans' from the seriously good stuff.

 

[WishTree]

To tell the true I love the WHF Hi Fi forum but when I want to read a serious reviews for a certain product I prefer to look for it on Stereophile , The Absolut Sound or Hi-Fi News magazines ...

+1

The Forum is great and this is the main reason for me to hand around here.

Gear Review is.. hmmm.. let us say more like reading a gossip magazine. I am curious to know what they think. but when I have to buy, I give more weightage else where especially individual reviews. In between I even thought that the reviews available online do not tell the entire story and subscribed to the magazine for couple of years but it is the same.

It feels like we are critics of movies - and that makes me wonder what happens to movie critics if there are no movies made.. I digress.

 

[Overdose]

This whole 'reference system' thing is, to me, just plain wrong.

The only reference is a real live performance, real music, real musicians, real world.

I don't understand how you can put any context into a review if you have no reference equipment. Without a baseline of some sort for comparison, reviews would seem even more spurious between reviewres and be less relevant.

What better way to test a speaker than to drive it effortlessly with a quality amplifier? Using anything less would compromise the potential of the speaker and give a false indication of its abilities. The same applies to any equipment.

As for real, music musicians, performances etc. for most types of music, performances are amped over PA systems and are not any reference that I'd want to emulate.