Kingdom Royal By Tannoy
A statement in engineering excellence, hand crafted to exacting standards, setting a new reference for musical performance
Launching Summer 2010, Kingdom Royal is a new flagship loudspeaker representing the sum of Tannoy’s rich heritage, cutting-edge technical innovation and world renowned acoustic engineering. A true no-compromise design, Kingdom Royal brings together a new series of Tannoy reference components, a radical new cabinet and the finest quality materials throughout. From the high gloss wood
veneer and Italian leather trim to the innovative 12 inch Dual Concentric driver with its cryogenically treated 3 inch HF dome and compression motor, every component represents the pinnacle of materials technology and the summit of Tannoy’s technical excellence. The result is unsurpassed acoustic performance, ultra-low coloration, high efficiency and musical integrity unmatched by any other loudspeaker on the market today.
Kingdom Royal is a wholly new loudspeaker design, the product of four years extensive R&D that pushed the boundaries of acoustic performance. Key to the design is an all-new reference 12 inch Dual Concentric™ driver. The DC’s outer bass / midrange driver mates a revolutionary ultra-light, ultra-rigid multi-fibre cone and precision edge-wound voice coil to a massive ferrite motor system for breathtaking transient response across the LF to mid-bass spectrum. Its hard-edge roll surround has exceptionally low memory effect to further improve articulation in the mid and upper bass. This outer driver crosses over to the DC’s high frequency unit at a remarkably low 700Hz to ensure key vocal ranges are handled by the new tweeter.
This HF drive unit is one of Tannoy’s most radical driver designs to date. It couples a 3 inch heat-tempered aluminum alloy dome and tulip wave-guide with a 1.5kg ferrite motor to create a true horn-loaded compression driver. Many months of R&D were spent perfecting the dome; Tannoy’s engineers testing and auditioning many different alloys and heat treatment configurations. The production domes are
individually tested and, along with the mated copper-clad aluminum voice coil, are deep cryogenically treated. This relieves residual stresses in the microstructure of the dome and reduces crystal boundary imperfections in the voice coil for greater naturalness and emotional communication of the music.
At 16 kHz the Dual Concentric’s HF unit crosses over to the latest evolution of Tannoy’s SuperTweeter. Again many engineering hours were spent selecting the right material for the Kingdom Royal SuperTweeter dome, with a magnesium alloy finally being chosen for its coherence and even extension out to 54kHz. Each dome is vapor coated with a thin ceramic layer for high internal damping and low coloration, before being meticulously plasma-treated by hand and bonded to the voice coil. Combined with a Neodymium motor and rear damping cavity, the
new SuperTweeter offers outstanding linearity and accuracy, alongside higher sensitivity and wider bandwidth than the previous generation titanium SuperTweeters.
To deliver extraordinarily deep and superbly controlled bass, Kingdom Royal features a 15 inch multi-fibre bass driver with a massive ferrite motor system utilising an under-hung voice coil to provide precise linearity. Not simply a sledgehammer for ultra deep bass, the driver was chosen for its articulation and smooth LF response down to physical rather than audible frequencies. Extensively tuned by Tannoy’s senior design team, the driver’s UV stabilised foam surround was chosen for its natural and fluid bass response. The cabinet structure and volume has been engineered to offer ideal damping and suspension characteristics while the rear port has been tuned to deliver extremely low bass frequencies (15 Hz) while retaining ultra-fast dynamics across the sub-bass range.
The Kingdom Royal necessitated the largest crossover Tannoy has ever produced, being a double-decked design built on boards as wide as the cabinet interior. The entire crossover is decoupled from the cabinet base using an innovative free-floating mounting system incorporating rubber suspension turrets and brass rods to separate the two layers. Both upper and lower boards are hard-wired (i.e. not a printed circuit board) using silver-loaded solder and Acrolink’s six-nines copper (99.9999% pure copper) cable. After extensive testing 99.997% purity single strand silver cable was chosen for the SuperTweeter circuit for its exceptional top end transparency. Tannoy’s DMT™ (Differential Materials Technology) compound is used to bed-in components, further improving damping and resulting in greater
naturalness and pin-point imaging. Once assembled the entire crossover undergoes full deep cryogenic treatment to relieve component and conductor stresses at crystal level. While deep cryogenic treatment is a very expensive process for such a large assembly, the resulting benefit in terms of musical cohesion and smoothness made it an essential part of the Kingdom Royal’s sound.
At crossover component level, the component choice to match the new Kingdom Royal drivers was a critical design concern. Many brands and types of component were auditioned and rejected before the final configuration. Each crossover uses the very latest ICW ClarityCap MR polypropylene capacitors as these were found to have the lowest internal resonance and better self damping than any
other capacitor on the market. Low loss laminated core inductors are used throughout and non-inductive heat-sink mounted thick film resistors were chosen for their micro-dynamic capabilities and thermal stability. For impedance matching the Dual Concentric HF unit uses a custom-built autotransformer which proved to provide the very best acoustic results rather than a traditional resistive circuit.
Adjustments for the Dual Concentric’s Tweeter and SuperTweeter energy levels are available using a new low-loss switching panel mounted on the front baffle.
Clearly the Kingdom Royal cabinet delivers stunning visual form derived from its no compromise function. The massive curve-sided cabinet is constructed from machined high-density fibreboard and birch ply-wood sourced from cooler, slow growing regions of the world for its superior density and acoustic properties. Built with both vertically laminated sections (the inner fibre-loaded board) and horizontally laminated sections (the outer birch-ply hardwood) and braced with Tannoy’s DMT material, the cabinet is incredibly rigid despite the Immense panel areas. This engineering technique has afforded a very stiff enclosure with high internal volume that allows the deepest bass notes to expand naturally into the room.
The sealed SuperTweeter enclosure is precision milled from a laminate of high density fibre-board and acoustically separated from the main cabinet enclosure. Tuned and damped by a long process of measurement and audition, the SuperTweeter’s performance is further enhanced by a soft dispersion panel set in front of the housing. After trialling a number of synthetic and natural materials, soft Italian leather was selected as the acoustic dispersion panel of choice.
Kingdom Royal’s top class build quality is complimented with a sumptuous finish that mixes textures and colours in a very contemporary evolution of Tannoy’s Prestige loudspeaker range. Traditional wood veneer side panels are finished in contemporary deep gloss lacquer, while the smooth black satin finish baffle complements the gold trim and natural Italian leather. Subtle, sophisticated and classically good looking with the heavyweight weave-cloth grille in place, yet bold, imposing and dynamic with the grilles removed, the Kingdom Royal is a speaker that spans stylistic genres with ease. Built in Tannoy’s UK factory to the very best engineering and quality standards, each Kingdom Royal loudspeaker weighs 120 kg.
In a flagship loudspeaker the small details are as important as the key components and Tannoy has left no aspect of the Kingdom Royal unchallenged. For manoeuvring the substantial speaker it is supplied on castors but in its final listening position each speaker can be coupled to the floor using built in steel cones, on the underside of the speaker, which couple to substantial gold anodised aluminium
feet. On the rear panel the finest WBT™ binding posts are configured in Tannoy’s unique five-terminal design that affords bi-wiring or bi-amping as well as direct grounding (via the fifth terminal) for the chassis of the main drivers. Spare HF energy level control pins, spare SuperTweeter grille and six-nines pure copper bridging cables are supplied in a wooden presentation box.
Kingdom Royal brief specification:
Frequency response: 24 Hz – 54 kHz (-6 dB)
Sensitivity: 96 dB (2.38V @ 1m)
Nominal impedance: 8 ohms
Power handling: 300 Watts RMS, 1200 Watts peak
Dimensions: 1275 x 585 x 600mm (50.2 x 23.0 x 23.6”)
Weight: 120 Kg (256 lbs)
Kingdom Royal will be available from Summer 2010
For more information visit www.tcgroup-americas.com
veneer and Italian leather trim to the innovative 12 inch Dual Concentric driver with its cryogenically treated 3 inch HF dome and compression motor, every component represents the pinnacle of materials technology and the summit of Tannoy’s technical excellence. The result is unsurpassed acoustic performance, ultra-low coloration, high efficiency and musical integrity unmatched by any other loudspeaker on the market today.
Kingdom Royal is a wholly new loudspeaker design, the product of four years extensive R&D that pushed the boundaries of acoustic performance. Key to the design is an all-new reference 12 inch Dual Concentric™ driver. The DC’s outer bass / midrange driver mates a revolutionary ultra-light, ultra-rigid multi-fibre cone and precision edge-wound voice coil to a massive ferrite motor system for breathtaking transient response across the LF to mid-bass spectrum. Its hard-edge roll surround has exceptionally low memory effect to further improve articulation in the mid and upper bass. This outer driver crosses over to the DC’s high frequency unit at a remarkably low 700Hz to ensure key vocal ranges are handled by the new tweeter.
This HF drive unit is one of Tannoy’s most radical driver designs to date. It couples a 3 inch heat-tempered aluminum alloy dome and tulip wave-guide with a 1.5kg ferrite motor to create a true horn-loaded compression driver. Many months of R&D were spent perfecting the dome; Tannoy’s engineers testing and auditioning many different alloys and heat treatment configurations. The production domes are
individually tested and, along with the mated copper-clad aluminum voice coil, are deep cryogenically treated. This relieves residual stresses in the microstructure of the dome and reduces crystal boundary imperfections in the voice coil for greater naturalness and emotional communication of the music.
At 16 kHz the Dual Concentric’s HF unit crosses over to the latest evolution of Tannoy’s SuperTweeter. Again many engineering hours were spent selecting the right material for the Kingdom Royal SuperTweeter dome, with a magnesium alloy finally being chosen for its coherence and even extension out to 54kHz. Each dome is vapor coated with a thin ceramic layer for high internal damping and low coloration, before being meticulously plasma-treated by hand and bonded to the voice coil. Combined with a Neodymium motor and rear damping cavity, the
new SuperTweeter offers outstanding linearity and accuracy, alongside higher sensitivity and wider bandwidth than the previous generation titanium SuperTweeters.
To deliver extraordinarily deep and superbly controlled bass, Kingdom Royal features a 15 inch multi-fibre bass driver with a massive ferrite motor system utilising an under-hung voice coil to provide precise linearity. Not simply a sledgehammer for ultra deep bass, the driver was chosen for its articulation and smooth LF response down to physical rather than audible frequencies. Extensively tuned by Tannoy’s senior design team, the driver’s UV stabilised foam surround was chosen for its natural and fluid bass response. The cabinet structure and volume has been engineered to offer ideal damping and suspension characteristics while the rear port has been tuned to deliver extremely low bass frequencies (15 Hz) while retaining ultra-fast dynamics across the sub-bass range.
The Kingdom Royal necessitated the largest crossover Tannoy has ever produced, being a double-decked design built on boards as wide as the cabinet interior. The entire crossover is decoupled from the cabinet base using an innovative free-floating mounting system incorporating rubber suspension turrets and brass rods to separate the two layers. Both upper and lower boards are hard-wired (i.e. not a printed circuit board) using silver-loaded solder and Acrolink’s six-nines copper (99.9999% pure copper) cable. After extensive testing 99.997% purity single strand silver cable was chosen for the SuperTweeter circuit for its exceptional top end transparency. Tannoy’s DMT™ (Differential Materials Technology) compound is used to bed-in components, further improving damping and resulting in greater
naturalness and pin-point imaging. Once assembled the entire crossover undergoes full deep cryogenic treatment to relieve component and conductor stresses at crystal level. While deep cryogenic treatment is a very expensive process for such a large assembly, the resulting benefit in terms of musical cohesion and smoothness made it an essential part of the Kingdom Royal’s sound.
At crossover component level, the component choice to match the new Kingdom Royal drivers was a critical design concern. Many brands and types of component were auditioned and rejected before the final configuration. Each crossover uses the very latest ICW ClarityCap MR polypropylene capacitors as these were found to have the lowest internal resonance and better self damping than any
other capacitor on the market. Low loss laminated core inductors are used throughout and non-inductive heat-sink mounted thick film resistors were chosen for their micro-dynamic capabilities and thermal stability. For impedance matching the Dual Concentric HF unit uses a custom-built autotransformer which proved to provide the very best acoustic results rather than a traditional resistive circuit.
Adjustments for the Dual Concentric’s Tweeter and SuperTweeter energy levels are available using a new low-loss switching panel mounted on the front baffle.
Clearly the Kingdom Royal cabinet delivers stunning visual form derived from its no compromise function. The massive curve-sided cabinet is constructed from machined high-density fibreboard and birch ply-wood sourced from cooler, slow growing regions of the world for its superior density and acoustic properties. Built with both vertically laminated sections (the inner fibre-loaded board) and horizontally laminated sections (the outer birch-ply hardwood) and braced with Tannoy’s DMT material, the cabinet is incredibly rigid despite the Immense panel areas. This engineering technique has afforded a very stiff enclosure with high internal volume that allows the deepest bass notes to expand naturally into the room.
The sealed SuperTweeter enclosure is precision milled from a laminate of high density fibre-board and acoustically separated from the main cabinet enclosure. Tuned and damped by a long process of measurement and audition, the SuperTweeter’s performance is further enhanced by a soft dispersion panel set in front of the housing. After trialling a number of synthetic and natural materials, soft Italian leather was selected as the acoustic dispersion panel of choice.
Kingdom Royal’s top class build quality is complimented with a sumptuous finish that mixes textures and colours in a very contemporary evolution of Tannoy’s Prestige loudspeaker range. Traditional wood veneer side panels are finished in contemporary deep gloss lacquer, while the smooth black satin finish baffle complements the gold trim and natural Italian leather. Subtle, sophisticated and classically good looking with the heavyweight weave-cloth grille in place, yet bold, imposing and dynamic with the grilles removed, the Kingdom Royal is a speaker that spans stylistic genres with ease. Built in Tannoy’s UK factory to the very best engineering and quality standards, each Kingdom Royal loudspeaker weighs 120 kg.
In a flagship loudspeaker the small details are as important as the key components and Tannoy has left no aspect of the Kingdom Royal unchallenged. For manoeuvring the substantial speaker it is supplied on castors but in its final listening position each speaker can be coupled to the floor using built in steel cones, on the underside of the speaker, which couple to substantial gold anodised aluminium
feet. On the rear panel the finest WBT™ binding posts are configured in Tannoy’s unique five-terminal design that affords bi-wiring or bi-amping as well as direct grounding (via the fifth terminal) for the chassis of the main drivers. Spare HF energy level control pins, spare SuperTweeter grille and six-nines pure copper bridging cables are supplied in a wooden presentation box.
Kingdom Royal brief specification:
Frequency response: 24 Hz – 54 kHz (-6 dB)
Sensitivity: 96 dB (2.38V @ 1m)
Nominal impedance: 8 ohms
Power handling: 300 Watts RMS, 1200 Watts peak
Dimensions: 1275 x 585 x 600mm (50.2 x 23.0 x 23.6”)
Weight: 120 Kg (256 lbs)
Kingdom Royal will be available from Summer 2010
For more information visit www.tcgroup-americas.com