The Tannoy Mercury 7.4 Floor-standing speakers, represent the latest addition to Tannoy’s best selling, budget, Mercury range. Newly designed, with improved drivers, cabinetry, and a range of appealing finishes, they appear something of a bargain.
Whilst a trawl of the web will reveal great reviews of these speakers, a particular publication has recently given the Tannoy Mercury 7.4 something of a trashing; something we at Audio Affair feel is rather unfair.
Let’s look at the raw facts on these great budget floor-standers then, and see what all the fuss is about…
TANNOY’S BEST SELLER – REDESIGNED AND UPDATED
Tannoy’s Mercury range has been around a long time now, occupying the highly competitive ‘budget’ Hi-Fi sector. A product has to punch way above its weight in this sector, as competition is fierce. That the Mercury range has been around for 30 years or more, says a lot about Tannoy’s ability to produce a quality product at a budget price.
The redesigned Mercury 7 range feature a completely redesigned mid/woofer design: an up-scaled, beefed up motor assembly, a stiff cone made from Tannoy’s proprietary multi-fibre material is coupled to a computer optimised cone surround. This all adds up to a mid-woofer capable of exceptional punch and bass for a unit its class.
The cabinets themselves utilise Tannoy’s DMT (Differential Materials Treatment) in key areas of the cabinet to damp unwanted vibrations and cabinet resonances. Allied to substantially bonded and braced fibre-board cabinetry, available in a range of attractive finishes, it all bodes well for an acoustically neutral loudspeaker.
TANNOY MERCURY 7.4 SPECIFICATIONS
The Tannoy Mercury 7.4 Floor-standers utilise a pair of 7″ mid-woofers and a soft dome tweeter, arranged in a D’appolito configuration. The D’appolito configuration is a proven method of improving time alignment between multiple drive units. The drive units are coupled to a crossover unit manufactured with close tolerance componentry to ensure consistency.
Tannoy’s efforts, certainly seem to deliver the goods; the Mercury 7.4 Floor-standers deliver a frequency bandwidth of 32Hz-32Khz which is extremely respectable, especially for a budget floor-stander. Couple this to a high sensitivity rating of 93db, the Tannoy Mercury 7.4 loudspeakers should be winners, right?
MERCURY MATCHING MAKES MAGIC
As we often point out to customers, matching speakers correctly to the amplifier is very important. It can (and does) influence everything from speaker damping to frequency response. An incorrectly matched amplifier and speakers can lead to very, very disappointing results (ask me how I know!).
A sensitivity rating of 93db (outstanding in this price bracket) will certainly make the most of whatever power your amplifier of choice is throwing out. Tannoy loudspeakers have always been sold on their transparency and honesty, and it’s here that I wonder where some of the bad press has come from. If your amplifier is deficient in areas such as transient response and detail, a more colourful loudspeaker *may* mask or even enhance those traits. Tannoy’s famed transparency though will only amplify those deficiencies.
Certainly, here at Audio Affair, we feel that the Tannoy Mercury 7.4 speakers are excellent value for money, and thoroughly deserving of your consideration at this price point. Should you have any queries as to building a system around these speakers, we’d be more than happy to talk to you.