Tannoy Revolution XT 6 loudspeaker

Mr Spock · 26 Ιουνίου 2020

The front of the Tannoy Revolution XT 6 is 8.7" wide and 16" tall, but the back of the cabinet is only 6.5" wide; the cabinet has a trapezoidal footprint. The actual enclosure is only 14.5" tall and is separated from a 1" thick plastic plinth by four 0.5" high chrome-finished plastic spacer columns that allow the XT 6's bottom-firing port to breathe. I presume this bottom-port architecture—and the handsome look of the whole speaker—was intended to make the XT 6s more shelf-and-bureau friendly.

My first post-Cooder notion about the XT 6's sound character came while playing the record I use to set phono cartridge VTA/SRA: Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours (LP, Capital W 581). When "Deep in a Dream" puts a full Frank in front of me; when the distorted hi-fi part of the sound disappears leaving only Frank's voice and the Nelson Riddle–conducted orchestra; when the smoke from Frank's cigarette climbs through the air and I fall deep in a dream of her: That's when I know my system is right. The Rogue/XT 6 combination let that happen. Ol' Blue Eyes sounded incredibly natural and Nelson Riddle's orchestra had a most agreeable tone—no hint of stridency.

The best thing about the Tannoy Revolution XT 6 was that, once they broke in, they never distracted me from enjoying whatever type of music I chose to listen to. In that regard, they reminded me of my beloved but much more expensive Harbeth P3ESRs ($2995/pair). Both small loudspeakers deliver dense textures, accurate timbre, and extraordinary spatial coherence.

The Tannoys and the Elac Carinas—both bottom-ported speakers—feature a precisely managed sound. But, while the Carinas sound buttoned-down, the XT 6s have a sensuous, flirty, seductive side that makes me want to smile, and dream, and listen to one record after another. Highly recommended.

Description: Bottom-ported, reflex-loaded, standmount loudspeaker. Drive-units: One 6" dual-concentric multifiber-cone woofer with coaxially mounted, waveguide-loaded 1" PEI dome tweeter. Crossover frequency: 1.8kHz. Crossover type: 2nd order low pass, 1st order high pass. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplifier power: 25–120Wpc. Peak power handling: 240W.
Dimensions: 15.8" (400mm) H × 8.7" (221mm) W × 11.9" (302mm) D. Weight: 16.4lb (7.5kg). Cabinet volume: 0.38 cu. ft. (10.8 liters).
Finish: Piano white, piano black, dark walnut, medium oak.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: S171100065D9W and S171100066D9W. Manufactured in China

electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed) (2 ohms/vertical div.).

acoustic crossover on tweeter axis at 50", corrected for microphone response, with the nearfield responses of the woofer (blue) and port (red), respectively plotted below 350Hz and 1kH

anechoic response on tweeter axis at 50", averaged across 30° horizontal window and corrected for microphone response (black), with the complex sum of the nearfield woofer and port responses plotted below 300Hz.