Tannoy Revolution DC4T

By Matthew Masters

March 2010

Tannoy Revolution DC4T. $1399

“Calm down”, the doctor told me, “relax a bit” he said, then “do some exercise”. It was intended as advice to help me lower my blood pressure, but it really wasn’t having the desired effect. Relax and exercise at the same time. Now that was just confusing. Then came the king hit... giving up most everything that actually helps me relax.

In my case that included espresso coffee. Now, as any fool knows, a fine espresso is one of life’s essential sensory experiences, a sublime nectar to be enjoyed in tiny sips, and preferably only after observing the correct ritual of pressures. Grind the beans, tamp the fine powder just enough, then force hot water through the grounds at precisely the right temperature. Get the proportions right and you’re rewarded with a thick, richly aromatic and highly concentrated confection guaranteed to quicken your pulse and sharpen your mind.

The colour of a well-drawn espresso is subtle and as variable as the preparation’s flavour, from an inky deep brown to richly pale cream at the top. But it’s the dark colour that dominates. Okay, so perhaps I was obsessing a little about what I was having to sacrifice at the altar of hypertension, but espresso was the first thing that sprang to mind when I saw Tannoy’s new Revolution series DC4T speakers. Small, dark and concentrated.

Milk or cream? Never

Actually, the connection is no accident. Tannoy actually call the deep brown, real wood veneer “dark espresso”. I was half expecting to see “flat white” for the blonde version. Alas that has the rather more prosaic name of light oak.

Tannoy’s Revolution range of speakers sits one step up from their entry-level Mercury series but has more in common with the far plusher Revolution Signature series, in particular a pair of classy drivers that includes a very tasty dual-concentric with titanium dome for high frequency duties.

By any measure, the DC4T is compact for a floorstanding loudspeaker. Very compact in fact, standing just 850mm tall by 152mm wide at the front, and 162mm deep. The trapezoidal section of the cabinet helps to reduce internal standing waves but does contribute to a positively espresso-sized 3.43 litre internal volume – less than a few stand mount speakers I can think of. The small footprint has one immediately noticeable drawback, these Tannoys are remarkably easy to knock over. However, at 8.5kg each they’re surprisingly dense, so there is at least some inertia to overcome.

Warming the demitasse

With their tiny size and equally diminutive drivers (don’t be deceived by the rather smart alloy surrounds, those drivers are a mere 100mm diameter each), the Tannoys look like a perfect match for the small, carpeted rooms in modern townhouses or apartments. So naturally, I set them to work in a cavernous, high-ceilinged living-room with minimal furnishing and hard floors.

Yes, they did look a little like a single-shot espresso swilling round in the bottom of a super-size takeaway cup. But that said, my first taste of the DC4Ts proved immensely satisfying.

First the aroma

Starting with the Flower Duet, from Léo Delibes’ 1883 opera, Lakmé (Michel Plasson, EMI 56569). This competent, if unadventurous interpretation of Delibes best-known piece was rendered beautifully by the little Tannoys, with Natalie Dessay and Delphine Haiden’s vocals hovering sensuously in space. And what a space it was, with a sense of vast expanse on either side of the speakers, filled by the gentle counter-beat of the orchestra. There’s little muscle to the presentation, after all there’s only so much air a couple of 100mm drivers can move, but the overall impression was one of actually feeling the shape the performance (if not quite its scale), and getting lost on that imaginary Indian riverbank.

Then the rush

Sometimes, of course, you’re looking for a bit of a pick-me-up, rather than involvement. A bit more of that caffeine jolt, and less of the subtle stuff. And here the Tannoys find their limitations just a bit sooner. Listening to Jamiroquai’s Cosmic Girl you are immediately reminded of the limitations of modern music production. The mid-bass in this track is very prominent (to the point of dulling the mid-range), and the lower bass rather indistinct. And while the rhythmic structure of the song is preserved accurately, the overall effect is simply muddy and irritating.

I’m not entirely convinced that this is actually the fault of the Tannoys though. Travelling Without Moving is a poorly produced album by any standard, the Tannoys are simply telling that story and their (comparatively small) weaknesses make it quite noticeable.

Get lost in the whole experience

With that, slightly bitter experience fresh in my mind, I went for another vast soundscape in which to get lost. Although a simple arrangement (little more than a wandering 10-minute guitar solo) Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain is a psychedelic guitar epic that, with the right system, can detach the listener from any sense of reality. And the Tannoys certainly did the job. From the delicate and achingly sad beginning, each scale progression is delivered with more and more intensity, but always without the confused blur that can emerge from Eddie Hazel’s, effect-rich playing. Fuzz-box, wah pedal and reverb are clearly articulated additions, rahter than the dominant sound. Musicality is preserved and Eddie takes you on his, frankly rather disturbing, journey.

Finally, I shall make just a brief mention of Nouvelle Vague. In particular the gorgeous array of French female vocalists that the Tannoys just seem to love. Their deft handling of mid and upper ranges, combined with truly excellent imaging give an intimate presence to practically everything on the French collective’s first two albums.

An experience for purists

What it all boils down to, I guess, is taste. If you’re the sort of person that likes a decaf-soy-mocca with extra sugar, served in a bucket-sized cup with a little plastic hat on the top, the chances are you probably won’t like the Tannoy DC4Ts very much. But if you prefer less of something that’s far, far purer; an elegantly-crafted sensory treat, then you may well like what they do. The Tannoy DC4Ts certainly have their limitations in bass weight and dynamic capability, but that doesn’t seem to matter very much when you’re enjoying the music. At $1400 I’d buy them in a heartbeat. If I weren’t under instructions to keep that under control.