Tannoy

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This article is about the company. For the generic usage, see Public address system.
Tannoy
IndustryAudio Electronics and Speakers
Founded1926, London, England
FounderGuy R. Fountain
Headquarters
Makati
,
Philippines
Area served
Worldwide
ParentMusic Tribe
Websitewww.tannoy.com

Tannoy is a British manufacturer of loudspeakers and public address systems. Founded by Guy Fountain in London in 1926 as the Tulsemere Manufacturing Company, today the company is part of the Music Tribe group of brands.

History[]

Tannoy Ltd is a British manufacturer of loudspeakers and public address (PA) systems. The company was founded by Guy Fountain in London, England, as Tulsemere Manufacturing Company in 1926,[1] and moved to Coatbridge, Scotland in the 1970s.

Tannoy's image is particularly linked to both studio monitors as well as its Prestige range of home speakers. Prestige speakers use Dual Concentric cone speakers and are easily recognisable by their "vintage" design. Tannoy is notable for its 'Dual Concentric' speaker design, which places the tweeter behind the centre of the medium or bass driver. "Dual Concentric" is a trademark although Tannoy is not the only speaker manufacturer to design coaxial speakers.

In 2002, Tannoy was acquired by TC Group, and TC Group was subsequently acquired by Music Group in 2015. Following the Music Group acquisition, it was suggested that the Coatbridge facility would be closed and all related activities would be relocated to Manchester, England.[2] In 2016, however, Music Group confirmed that Tannoy loudspeaker manufacturing would continue in Scotland, with a brand new manufacturing facility planned.[3]

Brand name[]

Actor Cyril Ritchard and three young women listen to the Tannoy public address system in 1948.

The name Tannoy is a syllabic abbreviation of tantalum alloy, which was the material used in a type of electrolytic rectifier developed by the company. The brand was trademarked by 10 March 1932, on which date the Tulsemere Manufacturing Company formally registered as Guy R. Fountain Limited.

Tannoy became a household name as a result of supplying PA systems to the armed forces during World War II, and to Butlins and Pontins holiday camps after the war, each speaker having the Tannoy logo prominently displayed on the speaker grills. As a result, the term "tannoy" is used in British English for any public-address system, and as a verb, to "tannoy", for making an announcement in a public place.[4][5] That is, although Tannoy is a registered trademark, as of 2019, it is still often used generically.[6][7][8] Because of this, the company's intellectual property department keeps a close eye on the media. To preserve its trademark, it often notifies publications that use its trade name without a capital letter, or as a generic term for a PA system.

Products[]

Home and Studio speakers:

  • Reveal Series (Made in China)
  • Plus Series
  • 70Anniversary Series
  • Surrey Series
  • Gold Series
  • Definition Series
  • Eclipse Series
  • Mercury Series
  • Prestige Series
  • Classic Monitor
  • K3838 monitor kit (similar to Classic Monitor)
  • Super Red Monitor
  • K3808 monitor kit (similar to Super Red Monitor)
  • Little Red
  • Sixes Series
  • Profile Series
  • Precision Series
  • Revolution Series
  • Dimension Series
  • Eyris Series
  • Arena 5.1

Cabinets:

  • Lancaster
  • System DMT

PA Systems:

  • Wildcats (1984)
  • CPA Series (1990)
  • T & I Series (1998)
  • B Series (1998)
  • V Series (2002)
  • VS Series (2003)
  • IQ Series (2004)
  • VQ & VQNET Series (2009)
  • VX & VXP Series (2011)
  • VSX Series (2012)
  • VSXNET (2015)

Further reading[]

  • Alderton, Julian (2004). The Tannoy Story. Edward Gaskell. ISBN 1-898546-58-4.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=29732350; accessed December 7, 2016
  2. ^ Jonathan Evans (2016-04-29). "Tannoy announces possible closure of its Scotland loudspeaker plant | What Hi-Fi?". Whathifi.com. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  3. ^ "Tannoy to keep Prestige speaker production in Scotland". What Hi-Fi?. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
  4. ^ "Tannoy", Longman Dictionary of Current English online, 14 March 2012
  5. ^ The usage is not obsolete; see [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=tannoy%2F%28public+address%2BPA+system%29&year_start=1930&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=5&direct_url=t1%3B%2C%28tannoy%20/%20%28public%20address%20%2B%20PA%20system%29%29%3B%2Cc0 nGrams for "tannoy" compared to "public address"
  6. ^ Google nGrams [1]
  7. ^ "Goldtrail collapse leaves Britons in Greece and Turkey". BBC News. 17 July 2010.
  8. ^ BBC World Service broadcast 27 February 2010 referring to the use of "Tannoys" in warning seaside dwellers to evacuate to higher ground due to a possible tsunami caused by the Chilean earthquake of that day (heard on WNYC FM)

External links[]

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