Good build quality, large mid-range and sweet treble

Narrow profile and 4 spikes make it troublesome to level

This is my secondary system. I'm using it with a Rotel 971 CD Player, EAR 834 L Pre-amp and Rotel RB-1050 power amp. Also tried it with an Audiolab 8000 P power amp and Audiolab 8000A intregrated.

These speakers need a long run in. After about 30 hours of Playback at listning volume things get much better. After about 100 hours it's completely run in.

It is a very musical speaker and the best thing about it is nothing stands out. The vocals are besutiful. There's detail and the bass is nice and full. Soundstage is also quite good and there is height in the playback. Very natural sounding speakers that need to be bi-wired or at least change the jumper links to cut and stripped speaker cables.

I'm using Kimber 8TC and Kimber Select 1030 interconnects. With Space And Time Quantum power cords and a Chang Lightspeed power conditioner. The tubes/valves in the EAR are Mullard CV4003 x 2 and CV4004. Beautiful.

Similar Products Used:

Several - from Mission to Monitor Audio to Primare

Good sound (after modification)

Modification needed to get good sound.

I have bought my R3's for about a year ago. Accually I was not very pleased with the speakers. The sound was not really good. It sounded like the speakers where standing behind a thick curtain. The sound was very dull. I tried al kind of thing to improve the sound:
- bi-wiring/no bi-wiring.
- Thick cables / thinner cables
- spikes / no spikes.
- move the speakers closer/further from the wall.
- etc.
All these experiments gave some small improvements, but I never got the sound that I heard in the shop.

Last weekend I decided to remover the driver and have a look into the R3. I noticed that the damping material (is it called like this in English?) was not mounted very neatlyAs far as I know the damping material should be mounted against the sides and back of the speaker. So, this is what I did.

The result was unbelievable, the sound was great. It is a pitty that I did not do this earlier.

The stars below are after my modification.

Very musical, large sounding, very well balanced sound.

The cherry wood reacts to light, so if you leave the covers on the wood goes lighter, this fades out after about a month though.

These speakers are very musical indeed. I listened to many other speakers such as B&W, Monitor Audio and Mordaunt-Short, but within seconds of hearing the R3's I was impressed. The sound is very well balanced, nothing sounds too over-powering, vocals are true, brass is crisp and strings are haunting. The R3's have very well timed and controlled bass but it goes deep enough for dance and club music. You get a very big sound from these speakers. If you are after speakers of this price-range certainly demo these as they are very impressive, it won't take long for you to realise that!!

Similar Products Used:

Infinity Alpha 30, Mission M74

Natural and neutral sound, exceptiona depth of detail & clarity.

Need a fair bit of running in, and need to be driven by decent quality equipment.

I love these speakers! I've had them a year now, and have absolutely no intention of replacing or upgrading ever!!!

Further to other messages below, these speakers would cause severe structural damage to my house before the drivers blew....

Amp - Arcam Alpha 9
CD - Arcam Alpha 8SE
Interconnect - Precious Metals
Speaker cable - Exposure (2 runs to bi-wire).

VERY neutral,non-fatiguing,accurate,Nice looking,superb value for the money,great imaging.

Laid back sound reproduction(that's if you consider it a weakness).

I went around town to almost all of the local A/V shops and auditioned ALL of the speakers in the same price range and some at twice the price.Then I listened to the Tannoy R2 and
the R3 and my looking was over, I turned into a buyer.
I listened to the R2 and they sounded great(for their size) but the bass and the overall fullness at certain volume levels just didn't have the sound that I was looking for;They were lacking a bit.
I then listened to the Tannoy R3's and EVERYTHING opened up. The bass,great mid's,the soundstage,"the whole enchilada",they were exactly what I was looking for.....sold!.

Now that I have them home....:-)....I noticed that the wood has gotten darker over time. That is a good thing since I thought they were a little light colored in the showroom at the time. I filled them completely up with lead shot and silver sand in the compartment allocated at the bottom part of the speakers(their for that purpose).
That has given me tighter and bigger bass response that is very noticeable.The more I listen to them the better they get. The electronics and the speakers do have a break in period in which they keep sounding better and better with each song played through them. For a speaker that sounded great to begin with and sounding better with every song played through them is nothing more than fantastic.
If you are looking for a speaker and are checking out various brands,do yourself a favor and check out the Tannoy
line(I also liked the higher priced ones :-))and the R3's
especially,they are a great value for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm,B&W,NHT,Definitive Technology,Magnapan,Mirage,
infinity,Etc.

None at this price!

Immediately, you know these speakers are great. They are very accurate and controlled with all of the detail and imaging that you can hope for in anything near this price. They were operated with some tube equipment at the showroom and sounded very nice with a little bit of a laid-back sound that was very nice, but not as much bass as I would have hoped for. The room was very large there and after getting them home and into our average sized room, they had loads of bass performance and simply disappear. After a few weeks of break-in, they are just gorgeous sounding with the most neutral sound that I have heard to date. Much better than the b&w and Maggies. The most distinguishing sonic trait that these exhibit is none at all! They really don't effect the outcome of the recording, but reproduce it faithfully. It is hard to explain as they have great bass performance and very detailed and airy highs, but they really just don't grab you. You find yourself listening to the music rather than the system, which is a relief after some of the other products that I have tried. They are immersing and produce a realistic soundstage without any exaggerations or colorations at all. They do like to get plenty of power and I drive them with a Bryston 3B amp. They also don't upset the better half as they have a nice cherry finish that is a rwal wood veneer and is a fairly close match to our wood flooring. Very good build quality with a super dense and vibration-free construction that allows you to add sand to the base.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM-1se,Magnepan MMG,Polk Audio LS90,PSB Stratus Silver

Controlled sound. The R3s seem very neutral and do not apply much of a colouration to the music for speakers in this price bracket.

Long bedding-in period means more hasty reviewers get it wrong!!!!

TANNOY R3 Speakers need plenty of time to settle down. Don't expect this process to be finished until they have seen at least 35 hours of use! Once this has happened, thoug, you will be surprised at the quality of sound they are capable of reproducing.

Wide soundstages, accurate instrument sounds, stunning vocal tones are all available. The bass extension is excellent from such slim cabinets (particularly when weighted), and the mid-range and treble are exciting and well controlled without ever being "fizzy" or tiring.

The R3's benefit from standing against a wall - but not in a corner - and from being driven by a fairly bright, fast front end. They will then reward with a sound rarely available at the price.

Complete quality!

Need good equipment to get optimal performance.

I've listened to a dozen or so speakers from about $500 to about $800 a pair (prices are estimates from Dutch guilders and the Rogers are my 10 year old predecessors of the R3's and now my surround speakers). At first the Tannoy Revolution line didn't attract their full share of attention, which is exactly what makes them so great.
Some of the speakers stand out of the crowd, but in most cases that was for a particular feature and then when listing a bit longer they fell through on the other grounds. Some of them sounded great and exciting at first, but got tiresome after a bit longer listening. And this is exactly where the Tannoy's shine, both the R2 and R3, they are so very natural sounding, nicely open, no apparent weaknesses and no one single obvious strenght, except maybe for what I call their completeness. The Tannoy's have a very nice mid range, good extended bass and a nice clean high, the soundstage and placing is in one word amazing! They are a bit laid back though, which might not be to everybody's liking. But you can listen to these speakers for hours and hours without getting tired or having an urge to lower volume.
What made me decide on the R3 instead of the R2, was a slightly better feel of overall balance, a little bit more forward and a bit better highs and lows. Note that the differences are quite small and so the question arose if the R3 is worth the extra money. I got lucky, I could get the R3 for the 'regular' R2 price (also the R2 was off in price, but the difference was less than MSRP difference). So I went with the R3. If they would have been MSRP, I probably would have gone for the R2.
So I got my R3's home (with a nice 2 week return policy) and fed them with music 24 hours a day, to get them run in as quick as possible. Within the first 25 hours or so the bass tightens up very nicely and the overall performance of the speakers is definitively enhanced.
Then I decided to try my first DIY project, the speaker cables. I bought 100m of cat 5 twisted pair, which set me back only about $40. It took me one evening to build be a quite incredible set of speaker cables (TNT Triple T, from the TNT-audio web-site). The result was amazing! Though it cannot be completely accounted to the cables, since my old cables are not a bi-wire pair and the new one is.
And to be sure to get optimal performance from the R3's I decided to fill the bottoms with sand. I bought a 25 Kg bag of sand and guess what, it completely disappeared into the two speakers. I carefully dried and sterilised the sand in my oven. The result, the bass tightens up even more and the soundstage gets yet a bit wider and deeper.
All in all these speakers are best described as complete quality, both in sound as well as in finish. I can wholehartedly encourage people to listen to the Revolution range of Tannoy. Be sure however to match volume levels, because they are not the most sensitive speakers on the market. And if your equipment is so so, be sure to safe some money to improve in that department, because the Tannoy's are quite revealing.
My current audio set-up is:
* Marantz SR-7000 A/V receiver (quite exceptional audio)
* NAD 5425 CD (10 year old, still going strong)
* Tannoy R3 (who would have guessed)

PS I thought reviews were open for removal on this site, what I don't understand is that a RE-submission of a rediculous low score is tolerated, it's not only a childish act, but completely colours the general opinion on the product. IMO everybody has his/her right to her/his opinion, even the stupidly incompetent among us, but to drain the score by RE-submitting a rediculous low score is beyond me.

Similar Products Used:

Rogers LS2a, KEF Q55.2, Tannoy R2, Dali, Mordaunt-Short, B&W, Mission

ditto to brother Mark

Neutral sound balance, clean delivery, very easy on the ears; good power handling

Laid back and sometimes don't deliver excitement when needed

I bought the R3s after a bad experience with a pair of B&W 603 S2s. The balance of the Tannoys was a relief from the thudding bass and shrieky metal tweeter of the 603 S2s.
Their great attraction is that you can play almost any sort of music through them and enjoy it. A particular strength is on classical orchestral items where the big soundstage can make you feel one of the audience. They really come into their own on voice: sopranos, tenors, baritones, etc. are all portrayed naturally and are so much more listenable than with any other speakers I have owned. Solo guitar is particularly good but chamber ensembles are not quite as convincing through the R3s.
An additional requirement for me was being able to play my collection of 78 shellac records as well as CDs and vinyl. The Tannoys are easily the best buy for money if you have archival/old tech/historical material. The laid-back sound keeps you out of trouble with scratch, hiss and thin recordings.
There is of course, a trade-off for these benefits: the Tannoys don't have a strong, rhythmic bass nor do they have a lively presence. So 'caveat emptor' if these characteristics are sought.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 603 S2