Loudspeakers

Join the Revolution This brand new member of the Revolution series looks like much better value than its Signature equivalent says Paul Messenger

The Revolution DC6T is an impressive newcomer dual-concentric full- range driver, with a 150mm bass-only unit (similar in specs to its sister product, the Signature DC6T, that we reviewed in HFC 314). All this is contained within a compact 30-litre, rear-ported enclosure and the detailing throughout is excellent.

The enclosure is tapered so that the back is significantly narrower than the front, helping to spread and distribute internal reflections and standing waves. All this is elegantly wrapped in an attractive dark ‘espresso’ real wood veneer and the overall stability of this model is substantially enhanced by the provision of a black plinth, which significantly increases the footprint.

Famous driver

Tannoy’s famous dual concentric drive unit has been a cornerstone of the brand for more than 60 years. Its unique feature is that a horn-loaded tweeter fires through the centre of the bass/mid cone, so it’s effectively a two-way full-range drive unit where the tweeter is well protected from small prying fingers. The 150mm DC driver has a silver-coloured, flared-profile paper cone 115mm in diameter, which crosses over to the 25mm tweeter at a lowish 1.7kHz. The bass-only unit matches the size of the DC driver and both are decorated by silver trim. The port is on the rear here, well above two pairs of socket/binder terminals set conveniently close to the floor.

Tight focus

One key characteristic of the DC driver’s horn-loaded tweeter is that the treble is focused into a 90-degree cone, rather than the much wider dispersion shown by most speakers with conventional dome tweeters. This is neither ‘right’ nor ‘wrong’, but it is ‘different’; sharpening the image precision and focus, but diluting the illusion that musicians are in the listening room.

Tannoy claims a sensitivity of 89dB, which if anything seems a tad conservative: we’d happily award 90dB here, which is a very healthy figure, especially since the bass extension is an exceptional -3dB at 20Hz under in-room far-field conditions, helped by very low (sub-30Hz) port tuning. Some compromise is, perhaps, inevitably involved here and is seen in the load presented to the amplifier which is rather demanding at low frequencies.

Clean and deep

This is a fine-sounding loudspeaker by any standards or price and actually represents a slight imrovement over the Signature DC6T. It might not have the smoothest sound around, but it is exceptionally well balanced right across the audio band and also has impressive bass weight and extension. An important element in the bass reproduction is that it seems to be unusually free from the mid-bass boom or thickening that is so widespread amongst inexpensive commercial speakers.

Even with the speakers well clear of walls, the sub-60Hz bass is a little strong, but thereafter the frequency response holds within an impressive +/-3dB right across the band. There’s no sign here of the upper-mid forwardness that afflicted the Revolution Signature DC6T, though again the top end (above 8kHz) looks a little untidy. The only serious criticism concerns the pair-matching, which the impedance traces showed to be poor.

Deep and authoritative

The two-and-half-way configuration inevitably compromises the time coherence a little, but this didn’t prove unduly serious and all told this is a very fine loudspeaker indeed, especially since it’s not unduly costly.

The speaker has numerous pluses, including sharp styling with elegant wood veneer, but its real strength lies in its fine all round performance. There’s little evidence of boxiness or other midband coloration and the total balance is even, if not particularly smooth. Bass is deep and authoritative and overall the sound is exceptionally well judged.

LIKE: Beautiful overall tonal balance with fine, deep bass
DISLIKE: Could have been more time-coherent with a sweeter top end
WE SAY: Good looking and compact floorstander has a beautifully judged overall balance

Product: Tannoy Revolution DC6T
Origin: UK/China
Type: 2.5-way floorstander
Weight: 15.1kg
Dimensions: (WxHxD) 202x950x253mm
Features:
• Twin terminal pairs for bi-wiring/bi-amping
• 150mm dual concentric driver
• 150mm bass driver
• Tapering enclosure to spread internal waves
• Separate plinth enhances stability footprint
Distribution: Tannoy
Telephone: 01236 420199
Website: tannoy.com