VINTAGE HIFI BLOG

An interview with Michael Fountain, son of Guy R Fountain

11/2/2022

A bit of a break from the normal product spotlight videos, this one is an informal chat with Michael Fountain, son of Tannoy Founder Guy Fountain.

He tackles Tannoy's place in the military, public places and of course, studio and home applications.

It's a great insight in to Michael's life, including being the Grandson of AC cars co-founder John Portwine, his successful business of importing perfumes along with many other interesting topics.

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Fun with NAIM DBL SPEAKERS

21/5/2019

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Recently, we had a pair of the truly monstrous NAIM DBL speakers in. They came with the SNAXO crossover, but were in need of some TLC.

The drivers, which were ATC units, needed a re-foam and the cabinets needed a little effort, to bring them back to their former glory.

So we set about filling the spike holes in the bottom of the cabs with car body filler, while we waited for the correct foams to arrive from America.

The surrounds fitted like a dream, and were installed back into the cabs, we found that they did not use Gaskets, but instead, there was a thin piping of silicone around the edge of the drivers, so my previous life as a chef came into it's own and with the use of an icing bag and silicon sealant, I neatly recreate the original 'seal'

Although, I feel, this is not as good as a proper gasket, but we always restore gear in the manner it was originally created.

After some paint re-touching, they looked rather good....
They are now residing in Brighton, in the home of an avid Naim collector.

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The almost mythical Rogers LS3/5 speakers

22/10/2015

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Yesterday, i had a call from a guy, who has a pair of the LS3/5 (WITHOUT THE A).

There were only around 20 pairs ever made and were used to show case the product to potential licence holders, and i am not sure how many pairs survived, but this pair are in incredible condition and i believe that the pictures have only been shared with myself and Paul Whatton...
So this is a world exclusive!!!

Here is his story....

"My grandfather worked for BBC research team to Kingswood Warren -. He was a research scientist at the BBC for several decades having started his career at PYE in Cambridge after the war. He had a number of Patents to his name and was part of the team that first delivered live TV pictures across the channel in 1950 - he was also part of the pan-European team that decided on PAL as the defacto colour TV protocol.

He left the BBC and moved up north to be a lecturer in Electrical Engineering at UMIST in Manchester. He sadly died 15 years ago and I was very close to him. He was always an earlier adopter of tech with the first Phillips CD Player, Nicam Surround sound Amp (together with a pair of the Rogers repros) for his TV/VCR set up and an early Motorola Mobile in the 80s - I am sad he never saw the internet age as he would have been all over it I’m sure!

I loved listening to these speakers in his study where he would often pretend to conduct his favourite Halle Ochestra CDs after a few glasses of wine! "

SO HERE THEY ARE....

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Author - Steve Ansell

" This page, is to share what we feel may be of some interest to our fellow hifi junkies, It will cover articles and restoration projects from both us and our friends, please feel free to contact us, if you would like to contribute to this page.."

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An interview with Michael Fountain, son of Guy R Fountain

Fun with NAIM DBL SPEAKERS

The almost mythical Rogers LS3/5 speakers

Author - Steve Ansell

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