Inspired by tweet's Canterbury GR thread at just the right time, I placed my GR order a few weeks ago, and they arrived yesterday. I'm a longtime Tannoy owner, having run the Canterbury SE for the past 5 years, Kensington SE 3 years before that, and Dimension TD10 another 2 years.
I'd been worried about reports that some have even preferred the old SE over the new GR model, or preferred the SE with ST100/200 supertweeters (I have an ST100b). Furthermore, I'd recently auditioned Focal Sopra 3's, and boy did those sound different from my Canterbury SE -- the Sopra 3's are very lively sounding by comparison, with much more emphasis on detail. Yet I admit I found myself enjoying these Focal speakers -- a first for me with Focal products, as I wasn't blown away by the bigger Utopias, or even the Utopia headphones (I vastly prefer Stax SR-009). The Sopras definitely rendered a very "pleasing" lifelike sound, though perhaps with some potential for the high-tech tweeter to induce fatigue. The bass was punchy and had good weight; very musically satisfying, though with a touch of tubbiness and lacking a bit of extension -- for which the VAC amplification might have been partially to blame.
I mostly heard the Sopras with "audiophile" tunes, of which I'm not a fan. I love that my Canterbury SE serve all genres of music brilliantly. They're perfectly coherent (like single-driver headphones) and endlessly musical; with Tannoy you let the music wash over you, rather than getting pummeled by details. But my Sopra 3 experience was good enough overall that it definitely got me thinking about whether the correct upgrade path was to stick with Tannoys, or to go in a different direction.
For these reasons, I was a bit nervous waiting for the GR to arrive -- unsure whether I'd made a mistake. I'm happy to report that purchasing the GR's was a GREAT choice! Right out of the box, these sound awesome. Much better than my well run-in SE -- with or without ST100b. They're voiced slightly different, but all for the better: more neutral, open open, and dynamic. Treble response is obviously improved. Better 3D imaging. Obviously punchier, a much more lively sound --but without the "in your face" tweeter effect! Notes are both weightier and more clearly defined. But they still retain that neural, rich, organic midrange and tone that the Canterbury SE was famous for. The GR sounds like a perfect fusion of old school Canterbury SE musicality, and modern technicality. And Tannoy definitely raised the level of cosmetics with the GR -- very classy, down to every detail. The worst offender was that horrible large & paper-thin crossover adjustment plate. No, strike that: the worst offender was the pantyhose grill cloth. Both issues are perfectly addressed in the GR.
The SE were rather "wooly" sounding out of the box; it took time and careful gear matching to open them up. The GR's dropped right into my system sounding damn near
perfect right from hour 1. I kept listening to these GR's all night, till 3 or 4 AM. It was amazing! I kept wanting more and more, and can't wait to see how they develop with more hours...but I'm already ecstatically happy as-is! It's going to be a good life with these speakers. I loved my SE's; they served me extemely well, produced countless great times (alone, or with other listeners), and their walnut darkened beautifully over the years -- but what an upgrade to the GR! These speakers are
extreme music makers. If you're shopping in the $20K - $40K range, I implore you to find a way to get your ears on the Canterbury GR.
New GR's (Audioquest Niagara 7000 is also new):
Night Listening:
The SE's on their way out yesterday!!
