Page 1 of 2 Â TANNOY MERCURY 7.4 Â Noel Keywood reviews a new budget Tannoy â one you can afford and fit in your home! Â
I'm used to reviewing massive Tannoy Prestige loudspeakers â a three man lift. By way of contrast Tannoy's new Mercury 7.4s are a standard size floorstander with a conventional DâAppolito drive unit arrangement of bass/mid drivers above and below a tweeter. For size, finish details etc go to our Tannoy link at the end of this article. We ran the 'speakers in for 50 hours, measured them and listened at our London offices.   Measurement showed a fundamentally accurate and well engineered loudspeaker (see Measured Performance) with some advanced properties, such as broad bass damping and a very smooth, extended bandwidth tweeter. Not a pile of doggies then.   What you get from this Mercury is massive volume from very little power and a sparkling bright and clear sound with pin-point detailing from extended treble. As I turned up volume to shattering, the Tannoys held together. What I was looking for here was the point at which muddle would appear, since at normal listening levels they are starkly clear, where some muddle or confusion is usual from budget boxes. They held together even at very loud.   From the outset I could hear a smidgeon of pushyness in the midband that projected detail, drawing a hard edge around images but this made for dramatic stereo. It wasnât unpleasant.   These Tannoys are not laid back. They are glassy clear, fast and forthright. But they are also clean and accurate.   Bass? Hmmm⦠I had to put on my sorting hat here. There was a little emphasis â but in small quantity. Quality was good but I could hear the affection for some notes over others. At high volume, there was no loss of grip. The bungs made little difference and could have been better, by being longer and more dense. So bass was âgoodâ, but a little characterful. More obvious was some boxiness from side wall resonance, but that is to be expected from a lightweight budget cabinet.   Overall, I thought the Mercury 7.4s were fabo for the price. They are grippingly clear, very fast and have even bass that is kept under good acoustic control. Dynamically, they were lively and engaging.   You could not easily find better at this price unless you want a speaker that is warmer and more laid back â as they were in the past. As always, listen first if you can.  FOR FULL REVIEW SEE HI-FI WORLD, AUGUST 2017 (Apple Newsstand, on-line, newsagents)  SYSTEM: McIntosh MC152 power amplifier, Icon Audio Stereo30 SE power amplifier, Oppo BDP-105D Universal player, Astell&Kern AK120 hi-res digital source. LP: Timestep Evo modified Technics SL-1210 Mk2 turntable, SME309 arm, Ortofon A-95 MC cartridge, Icon Audio PS3 MkII valve phono stage. IsoTek Evo3 mains re-generator. LISTENING ROOM: 6400 cu ft, acoustically treated and neutral, Notting Hill, London.   Tannoy Mercury 7.4 details HERE  |