# Tannoy Mercury MKII Revival



## AsRock (Nov 25, 2016)

Some months ago i ordered some Tannoy Mercury MKII speakers which has been part of a range have adored the sound off since the mid 90's which the first were around 1982-3 up to about 1990, these are well known to be very good even for valve amps too.  The MKII's are the much later being around 1988-89 mine being 88 which i got of some one who got them back in the UK who traveled all over but had they stored away for some years as he settled down in the US.  Well i had the money this time so.

Well being cheap to get in the UK they are pretty expensive in the US due to postage and actual quality these actually deliver selling $200+ typically.

Well some thing i did not notice until i received them that the surrounds were totally cracked around both of them leaving a dried residue.







So having fixed this sort of issue before it was the first time dealing with rubber surrounds which foam surrounds are much easier to deal with and making a little harder the coils are really close.

How ever being another catch was to be found and that even they are 8" woofers they are not the typical sized cone with the smaller coil than typically with a smaller cone. Here's a example of the difference which i got from the Netherlands claiming they fit the range but i will add who refunded me my money including insurence and let me keep them too.

The gap is about 18-20mm short but as you can see they fit perfectly on the outside.







Well they do say 3rd time is a charm and liking these just made me keep trying and then i found some other 8" that would fit being 120mm inside gap and not the typical 130-140mm. Thing was were these were coming from has taken over a month to get them so i had plenty of time to do this.

I noticed a brown color started to appear when doing this too which i guess which was the discoloring seen in a earlier picture.






The first speaker was easier than the second for sure although still had annoying parts .






Finally first one was done, just to sand and clean to do just to make sure every thing was nice and smooth.







Six weeks later and here's one of them and they are how i remembered them, even though i had the ones from 1983 these are pretty much like them even if they do not use the cloth tweeter.  Just need a little wipe over and every minute of waiting has been totally worth it, and want another pair now HA!.








Hopefully some one enjoyed this and until next time.


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## qubit (Nov 26, 2016)

Great you fixed it, but would it not have made more sense and been less hassle just to buy new drivers instead of repairing the originals? Would they have sounded better, perhaps?

Also, am I right that the diaphram wasn't replaced, but the new cone just stuck to it with glue? I can imagine the coil alignment would be a nightmare if you had, with lots of audible scraping.


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## AsRock (Nov 26, 2016)

Just replacing drivers, well for you yes but buying a pair is real expensive to ship from the UK to US,  i found a few people who had badly damaged cabinets and they still would not ship them and would not ship just the drivers either, You talking 100-150$ shipping.

It was 0 hassle more so to think what may of happened to them as every thing else was in perfect condition.  I actually enjoy doing it although the wife keeps asking how many more speakers do i need, told her i be happy once i get a few pairs of these haha.

Only thing that was replaced was the surround which is the rubber part, i will not buy a speaker were the cone, spider or coil needs replacing unless you can actually get the original part which is probably not possible in most cases.

Yes just glue holds a cone to the surround in near all cases, just a matter of carefully removing it without twisting \ scraping the coil.  The spider and the surround keep the coil\cone inline.

Alignment is pretty easy, first you glue the inside first line it up as best you can once that's set 30-60minutes pending on glue you use. next you glue the outside and adjust by pushing the center of the cone in evenly and if it grands\scratches it's not right but once you start getting it the glue dry's and you keep babying it by re testing by pushing the cone inwards \ outwards and repeat until glue is firmed up enough which in this case 30 minutes.

Yeah other option of new drivers, and not the exact same one either.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tannoy-Merc...820111?hash=item35fcfebecf:g:fE4AAOSwrnNXQeTT

Proberly be giving my Paradigm's some more love too and i think the ferro fluid has dried up, just glad it has not on these as going by what i remember with the 1983 model centering was a real long task turning each screw a bit a time and testing at low volumes.

But the Paradigms seem a little too low so thinking they are drying up which is to be expected as they are over 20 years old too so better to do that before blowing one or both of them as it can really make a mess of the coil or burn it out.


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## AsRock (Dec 6, 2016)

@qubit 

Just thought i would add if you were to replace the spider cone and all here's a video, but like i said it loses it's original form in my eye's when this is done but if it was to sell after might be worth considering.


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## qubit (Dec 6, 2016)

Thanks AsRock, I'll check out the video this evening. I see it's a full length documentary!


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## AsRock (Dec 6, 2016)

hehe yeah takes a little time, but i posted this for you as you seemed a little curious about centering and how it's done.  Well this shows how and it's not all that hard although a little more tricky when there is a surround.


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## AsRock (Dec 14, 2016)

Little update, may post more pics later, not perfect but good enough for me .
*
Old look.*









*New.*


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## qubit (Dec 14, 2016)

Hey, they look good.   How do they sound now?


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## AsRock (Dec 14, 2016)

Well of course the covering only made them look better,  but yeah they sound really nice nice for music like Pink Floyd very clean tight overall sound.  They like music with detail with out over pronounced T and S's as i like it loud too.

Now my Paradigm 5se's i like less with Pink Floyd and much more suited to dubstep, but my listening preference is so wide no single speaker is going cover it, then there is mood.

But i do use my MKII's as main speakers as they have more accuracy and you can clearly hear the vocal emotion, but 6-8 month later i will use my 5se's again as they are more ballsy but you can get tiresome so for me at least the MKII's are a more every day speaker.


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## AsRock (Jan 31, 2017)

Little OCD going on here i believe.

Before and after lol.


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## jslog (Sep 15, 2017)

AsRock said:


> Just replacing drivers, well for you yes but buying a pair is real expensive to ship from the UK to US,  i found a few people who had badly damaged cabinets and they still would not ship them and would not ship just the drivers either, You talking 100-150$ shipping.
> 
> It was 0 hassle more so to think what may of happened to them as every thing else was in perfect condition.  I actually enjoy doing it although the wife keeps asking how many more speakers do i need, told her i be happy once i get a few pairs of these haha.
> 
> Only thing that was replaced was the surround which is the rubber part, i will not buy a speaker were the cone, spider or coil needs replacing unless you can actually get the original part which is probably not possible in most cases.



Hi AsRock. I am having a really hard time finding a supplier of these surrounds. It looks to me as though the only ones I can find are the large diameter ones which you found didn't fit - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Tannoy-8-8-inch-Foam-Surround-Kit-PBM-C-MK-M-2TAN8-/290557446335

I'm concerned that if I don't find a supplier I am either going to have to live with torn surrounds or have my tannoy's fade away. I am sure you can appreciate how keen I am to avoid that.

Are you able to find and share your source for the surrounds which you found to work?

Many thanks
Joe


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## AsRock (Sep 15, 2017)

Sure here you go.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pcs-8-inch-rubber-edge-surround-Speaker-repair-parts-For-TANNOY/131910016035?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649


Be careful the coils are really close, i used glue from simplyspeakers the clear glue as it gives more time for getting every thing lined up. Take your time and keep checking until the glue is 100% dried.

Good luck.



> I am sure you can appreciate how keen I am to avoid that.



Sure do, the bass is extremely fast and accurate which i believe is due to how that cone is as the smaller coil makes the cone the size of a 8" but making it better for bass response.

And Welcome to TPU.


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