Dual Concentric Driver, 1982
The Arundel was one of a trio of large domestic loudspeakers, alongside the Balmoral and Caernarvon that Tannoy built in the early 1980s around its legendary Dual Concentric driver, a technology the Scottish/British company invented in 1947 and continually refined over three decades.
That driver, which coaxially mounts a compression tweeter behind the center of a bass/mid cone for genuine point-source dispersion, became so closely associated with the brand that Tannoy remains virtually synonymous with it among vintage speaker enthusiasts, having supplied studio monitors to Abbey Road, Air, and Decca. The Arundel used the largest of the era's Dual Concentric drivers, the 15" unit shared with contemporaries like the Berkeley and Arden.
Design & Engineering
At the heart of the Arundel is Tannoy's 15" Dual Concentric driver (model 3839), a ducted 2-way system in which a 15" low-frequency cone handles output up to a 1kHz crossover point, where a coaxially mounted compression tweeter takes over — the two drivers sharing a single frame and magnet assembly for a true single-point sound source. The cabinet houses a built-in crossover network tuned to that 1kHz handoff point, finished in walnut (with cork offered as an alternative) and fronted with oatmeal grille cloth.
Technical Specifications
Frequency response: 32Hz–20kHz. Power handling: 200W RMS. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.