Tannoy Mercury V1 speakers review

The Tannoy Mercury V1 bookshelf speakers are the replacements to the award winning Mercury F1’s. The original, highly popular model offered superb performance and their successors do not disappoint.

The V1’s boast a major driver overhaul with a new ultra-light bass/mid driver cone and a high specification soft-dome tweeter assembly.

The crossover has been replaced, promising to improve damping and bring out the sound in the upper ranges.The internal wiring is now made from high quality silver plated oxygen-free copper cable with enhanced Differential Material Technology (DMT) damping on the HF capacitors. This high-tech engineering has been distilled down from Tannoy’s high-end loudspeaker designs, ensuring Mercury V delivers class-leading acoustic performance.

Out  of the box the veneer finished wood pulp constructed cabinets look very well manufactured. The wood joins together seamlessly and there is small, tastefully branded brushed aluminum Tannoy plaque at the bottom of each grill. The removal of each grill reveals a classic yet modern approach to product design – the metal mounted bass/mid cone and dome tweeters are easy on the eye. At 4.5 kilos each, the speakers are reassuringly heavy and can be bracket, stand or wall mounted by means of two screw sockets at the rear.

Setting the speakers up is easy enough. The silver binding posts at the rear feel secure and there’s plenty of room to get your fingers into the inset to turn each one tightly. A couple of metres of gold plated speaker cable and a NAD C352 amp later and they’re up and running. The first things you’ll notice about the sound are the oven warm bass frequencies. This is down to the low frequency port-tuning, which allows the Mercury V to punch out dynamic bass rhythms like a much larger loudspeaker. Although this is effectively colouring the sound, it is by no means undesirable or intrusive. The mid range frequencies come through very effectively, complimenting its bass counterpart as opposed to competing against it. The top end is bright, but you will need to add more treble to get optimum performance.

After prolonged listening it quickly becomes evident that these little speakers are punching substantially above their weight. The frequency range is very impressive, making them ideally suited to home cinema, DJ set-ups or simply home listening. Their appearance will fit into homes and small project studio’s alike and given the price tag even the more experienced audiophiles among us should take note.

Review: Dicken Lean