I’m looking for a quote at the Tannoy demo room in the North Hall. “Three days in, not enough sleep, too much to drink?� offers Marc Bertrand helpfully. “Nothing our customer base doesn’t already know.�

Still, there is news at Tannoy, big news actually: the launch of the VQ Series—a line of precise directional loudspeakers, built for large scale installations that need great quality–and high SPLs. Really high SPLs.

Since the press release calls them “revolutionary� I need to know why, specifically.

“What comes out of it more what’s revolutionary than what’s gone into it,â€? Bertrand says. You can tell he really wants to brag on these speakers. The line average he says is 108dB, but take one example—the VQ 60 [mid-high box] on it’s own hits 115 dB; the VQ 100 [also mid-high] hits 110dB. “So for example with 200 watts you can achieve 138 SPL continuous with 144dB peaks,” Bertrand says. “Whatever the application whether it’s houses of worship or a nightclub, you have more bandwidth coupled with industry-leading frequency response, and consisitency: it holds it’s pattern better than anything we’ve ever seen,” (like a laser if you look at the NWAA Labs’ measurement charts). If you’re here, it’s worth dropping in to see the presentation–it is a tangible validation of Tannoy’s accomplishment with these speakers (and you can hear them!) “In its category, at this price point it’s going to be a new bench,” Bertrand emphasizes.

“What we’ve tried to do over the years is create a Tannoy tool box so whatever the application, people can reach in and pull something out. What we’ve done with VQ is not just added one or two pieces, but put in a whole new chest of drawers; it really expands what people can do and what they can expect from their larger format installation boxes.”

From the press release:

VQ incorporates a unique driver technology to radiate a coherent single point source (400Hz – 23kHz) for superior pattern control when coupled to a Point Source Waveguide (PSW™). This advanced design aligns the acoustical centres of the transducers providing a single coherent wavefront emanating from the throat. The MF/HF transducer loads into a large proprietary designed common horn (Patent pending). This technology allows us to maintain our specified beamwidth to within a +/-5 degree tolerance.

Tannoy VQ delivers a huge performance advantage when compared to acoustic sources which consist of an HF compression driver and separate midrange driver each with their own horn. With VQ there is no interference between the midrange and high frequency at the crossover point in the vertical plane.