Floorstanding loudspeakers — Tannoy PLATINUM F6-BU

The Platinum F6-BU is the brown version of the F6, the floorstanding model of Tannoy's Platinum hi-fi series, a tower just over a metre tall aimed at medium to large rooms and designed in the United Kingdom. It sits in the same series as the B6 bookshelf speaker, a range that appeared in 2019. Like the smaller B6, it uses separate drivers rather than Tannoy's coaxial Dual Concentric layout.

Key specs that matter

Two 165 mm (6.5 in) mid-bass drivers with paper cones and an FPP bowl flank a 25 mm (1 in) silk dome tweeter mounted between them. Crossover points are set at 350 Hz and 2.5 kHz. The quoted frequency range is 40 Hz to 20 kHz (-6 dB), with 87 dB sensitivity and 8 ohm nominal impedance. The drivers handle 75 W RMS and 300 W peak, and Tannoy recommends amplifiers from 20 to 150 W. The cabinet is 300 mm wide, 1,078 mm tall and 235 mm deep, and each speaker weighs 17.1 kg. Other finishes listed for the F6 are white and black.

Engineering and use context

The design is described as 2.5-way, with the two woofers filtered separately. With the lower handover, both cones share the bass while only one of them continues up to the tweeter crossover, a common way to add cone area in a slim cabinet without widening the front panel. Placing the dome between the two cones keeps the treble source at the vertical centre of the driver group. Cabinet walls use 19 mm MDF, reinforced inside by plywood and by braces that limit panel vibration, and a rear-facing reflex port extends the bass. Neodymium magnets give strong drive from light motor assemblies. The crossover is a hard-wired, low-loss passive network, and four binding posts allow bi-wiring.

Pairing

The wide recommended power band means the F6 works with modest integrated amplifiers as well as more powerful stereo units, and its moderate efficiency and simple nominal load keep amplifier choice open. Owners can feed the woofer and tweeter sections through two cable pairs via the split terminals, or use one pair with jumpers. The brown finish matches the brown version of the B6, which suits a system that uses the bookshelf model for a second room or as rear channels.

Alternatives

The Tannoy Revolution XT 6F is a floorstanding alternative from the Revolution XT range, sold in the US at USD 999 per speaker.