New Products

Tannoy, the celebrated speaker brand that has been around for almost 100 years, today announced the unveiling of a 70th anniversary edition of its iconic Autograph speaker.

The Autograph 12 (shown here) will be previewed at High End Munich, the world’s largest international hi-fi show, which opens tomorrow. Tannoy describes the special-edition speaker as a two-way floorstander that pays homage to the brand’s signature dual-concentric driver technology, while introducing contemporary features — all in a ported cabinet made of high-density birch plywood and finished with a “luxurious” walnut veneer. Like the original Autograph, the tribute model has a trapezoidal cabinet designed for corner placement.

Tannoy continues to refine the dual-concentric design it pioneered in 1947, the latest version of which will make its debut in the Autograph 12 as a 12-inch driver. Unlike a traditional cone speaker, a dual-concentric design physically merges two drivers, with the tweeter positioned in the “throat” of the woofer cone, effectively placing both on the same axis. The design enables a point-source configuration in which sound from the woofer and tweeter propagates from the same point. Per Tannoy, the result is a “spherical wave front that ensures even dispersion in the horizontal and vertical planes, providing exceptional off-axis performance.”

Pricing and full details, including specifications, will be released when the Autograph 12 launches in the fall, though the company said the speaker will be a new Prestige model optimized for larger living spaces and filling in the gap between Tannoy’s Kensington and Canterbury speakers, which are currently selling on UpscaleAudio.com for around $8,410 and $14,870, respectively.

Established in London in 1926, Tannoy has a rich history as the fifth-oldest hi-fi company in the world. The brand’s early products were mostly automotive and large public address (PA) systems, the latter of which supported speeches by Winston Churchill and other dignitaries during World War II. In 1972-73, Pink Floyd mixed its landmark album Dark Side of the Moon over Tannoy Lancaster monitors at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios. The brand has gone through a number of changes in ownership over the years and was acquired in 2015 by Dubai-based MusicTribe, which owns 11, mostly pro-audio brands. Today, Tannoy is based in Scotland.

The Autograph 12 will be assembled in Tannoy’s U.K. factory in Hamilton, Scotland. For more information on Tannoy, visit tannoy.com

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