Bass Midrange

limited

Excellent Value for money, works well with all type of systems. goes loud and very enjoyable sound.
not the last word in detail but for the price they are superb. ive had speakers at three times the price that are no where near as good.
if your after a belting pair of speakers on the cheap look no further.

Similar Products Used:

mission 732 ae100

Very good sound quality for its size, especially treble

Not too much peak power

When you haven't got a lot to spend its the best choice, at least as far as I listened. A very sharp, clear sound, and the bass isn't too weak, despite its size.
Large rooms will pose a disadvantage but a small/medium sized room could not contain better speakers.

The sound is very open with a low level of coloration. Detailed and adequate bass for its size without boominess. Treble is exceptionally well detailed. Bass and treble very well integrated through decent 2nd order cross-over. The speakers also give my 20W/ch NAD L40 an easy job, although volume is limited due to average efficiency. Soundstage vast with lots of listener involvement. Attractive finish. Not fussy about musical tastes or placement. Perfect integration with subwoofer around 45-55Hz.

Limited usable bass below 55Hz. Average effeciency. Slight emphasis on frequencies from midrange upwards. Upper bass a bit weak. More critical of ancillary equipment than price might suggest.

When I was searching for a pair of small speakers to partner my then newly acquired NAD L40 CD receiver, I did not hesitate buying the M1's.

It is the attention to detail in construction and the quality of drivers used that still impresses.

You don't have to listen to these speakers, you simply become aware of the characteristics of the studio and the emotions of the artist. Vocals are handled well being not to forward or warm, with postioning impressive.

Positioning these speakers to obtain the much sought after transparent quality, is not difficult. It is less critical of stands, being very light. In order to appreciate the talents of these speakers, you don't have to stay put in an exact listening position, they spread quite well. Off-axis treble response is good. I use them only slightly toed-in.

Even at low volume settings, the M1's give a remarkable even sound, therefore for background music they are perfect.

The lack of low-down bass is not that much apparent than the 55Hz usable limit imposed by the physics might suggest.

Only people into dance music and heavy synth bass will be let down by the lack of kick or impact. These spaekers simply doesn't "add" extra bass nor do they sound especially loud. Speed of bass is also slower compared to my plastic-coned and more efficient NAD 804's.

Assisting the important lower-bass register is a 6th order active subwoofer with four 8-inch woofers. The combination leads itself to very impressive quality compared to my main Marantz 63SE and NAD804 floorstanders system. Compared with more expensive floorstanders, you might be dissappointed initially, but these speakers are less prone to booming than larger boxes.

Decent 75W rms rating is a bonus combined with 8 ohm ease of drive. These speaker makes small amps sound their best!

Sensitivity is sacrificed for better than class-average bass extension, therefore it does not necessarily mean that it will "sound" more impressive to everybody.

Listening to these speakers is enjoyable because the sound is detailed and natural - the inverted dust cap on the bass driver probably helps here. Acoustic instruments sound clean.

Classical music is portrayed with a light air and placing of instruments are accurate. Ambiance and presence is notable.

The M1's are more suited to smaller and medium sized rooms to assist mid-bass in particular. Loudness is limited with smaller amps. Be weary of the rear firing bass port and the effects of placing it close to a wall will have.

Well done Tannoy!

Similar Products Used:

Infinty RS1000's converted to active.

This was the first hifi-speaker I heard and I was baffled. Marvellous sound for not much more money than the average speaker (€ 180 for a pair). I really enjoyed Schubert Lieder and very-high-pitched female voice parts of Bernstein's Candide. But then Shostakovich ... the kettledrums weren't the real thing. A drum allright, but not the way I knew them from the concert hall. I tried M2 and R1 and they were much better.

Excellent bass for cabinet size

Slightly dull and shut-in treble?
If you're going to have one colour on the cabinet, surely it should carry over to the other sides?

I don't own a pair. I worked in a hifi store for a year, and I sold these hand over fist. Not because I'm a good salesman.Because I'm not, but because they are fabulous speakers. I'm used to my Mordaunt Short 860s which are £2000, $3500 speakers. And I thought the Tannoys were stunning, though obviously not the quality of the MSs. The best way to position them is on top of 60cm sand filled stands (I tried Atacama SE24s) which brings out the bass weight a lot. Also use good quality wire-something like QED Qudos but don't use Cable Talk because its over rated crap. Oh, yes, and I've heard them outclass $600 Yamaha NS200/300 speakers. And they're better than their successors, the Mmx1s.

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Mordaunt Short Performance 860, Mordaunt Short MS30iclassic, QLN Qubic 111/122 blah blah blah!!

GOT THESE SPEAKERS FOR SOME TIME NOW. HOOKED UP WITH A YAMAHA AX490 AMP AND AUDIO QUEST CABLE.GOOD, CLEAN OPEN SOUND.EXCELLENT AS REARS IN HOME THEATER SYSTEM.WHAT MORE CAN I SAY..........

A treat for Hifi ears. As little as the M1's are, they seem to have matured at a very young age.

For the size of it very impressive bass and a well defined midtone. The high tones may get a bit too sharp, but on the whole it's masterfull...

If you have the chance to buy these instead of the MX1's, please do so. There is a very big difference in sound quality. I use these as fronts and the MX1's as rear speakers on a NAD T770. Everytime i buy a new dvd my neighbours harass me a couple of weeks. :)

Similar Products Used:

Mercury MX1, Missions & Mordaunt shorts

Clarity , response , sensitivity , great quality finish & design .

Perhaps a tad weak in bass when compared to Mission m71 or Wharfedale Diamonds 8.1

I bought these pair of speakers in 1998 when I bought my Sony CMT-MD1 mini combo . Those Sony one-cone speakers sucks big time .When I hook up the M1s , the difference are OH MY GOD ! The sound is brilliant, the music is crispy and it looks fabulous ! The Sony speakers are junked immediatly.
Of course , in Singapore most kids below 21 (no pun intended) know nuts about Wharfedale ( Huh?) , Mission ( Whats that ?) , B&W ( BMW is it ?) , Tannoy and so on .These products are strictly meant for older(35 & up)people whom have too much money and nothing better to do . On our Sunny island there is only 2 dedicated shopping centres selling audiophile products .
Ok, currently , I using a Yamaha RXV-620RDS AV/amp with a Yamaha DVD-S510 coupled with klipsch Quintet speakers and a Sherwood never-heard-of subwoofer. Before I sold my M1 (I know , dumb ) , I tested my 620 amp with them , they sounded even more brillant ,clearer and much more crispy than my Sony CMT-MD1 . But because of space constraints, monetery problems, desire of surround sound plus I had a great deal on the Quintet speakers ( $180 , cost about $700 new ) so out the M1 goes .
The Quintets are very good ( at least by my standards) for stereo but the europhia of Lisa Ekdahl's The colour of you , the wholesomeness & touching feeling of Bohemian's Rhapsodly from the M1 is gone . Tannoy should be kicked for knocking M1 off the perch with the China made Mx1.

Similar Products Used:

Wharfedale 8.1

I just picked up a pair of Tannoy's entry level Mercury 1's($250/pr!) to use as rear channel effects in my home theatre system. My other equiptment is a NAD 716 AV Receiver and Vandersteen 1B's. First off, I was amazed at the build quality for this price. Rear binding posts that will accept Banana plugs and a real nice black vinyl "birds eye" finish that could easily be mistaken for real wood. Second, the sound was for such a small enclosure was very impressive. I hooked them up in place of my main speakers just to see what they could do and boy, I was impressed. No, they are not as detailed, nor do they have much low bass to speak of, but where talking about $250 here in a size of about a foot high! They were smooth, with enough low end that, had I had a sub hooked to them, I could be perfectly happy with them as Mains. In fact, if I was on a very limited budget, I could buy 2 pair of these, a center, and a Sub for under $1400 or so and have a killer "small footprint" Home Theatre system. The midrange really shined, very clean, clear and detailed-maybe even moreso than my Vandersteens. This really did not surprise me as I just bought a pair of the mid range Tannoy D70's and D80's for my Dad's AC3 system(Harmon Kardan AVR75) and I have never heard a midrange and high reproduced as well as these speakers do. So, I guess theres a "trickle down" effect going on. I will be very happy with these as rears and would recommend them without hesitation. I should also note that Tannoy's, while popular in commercial applications such as Recording Studios, Concert Halls, ect., are somewhat hard to find as they are just recently branching out into the American consumer audio market. I ordered mine from TeleconSystems(Teleconsystems.com) and was very happy with their Service.