of Canterbury Grove, West Norwood, London, SE27
also of Coatbridge, Strathclyde (1982)
The name Tannoy is synonymous with public address systems.
1926 Tulsemere Manufacturing Company founded by Guy R. Fountain[1]
c.1931 Guy R. Fountain invented a solid-state rectifier made from an alloy of Tantalum and Lead. The brand name Tannoy was coined from the words Tantalum-Lead Alloy. Fountain set up a small factory in Dalton Road, West Norwood to manufacture the rectifiers.
Tannoy was commissioned to supply a sound reinforcement system to a famous European circus.
1933 Fountain produced Tannoy’s first two-way loudspeaker system.
1934 Offered a complete range of microphones, loudspeakers and amplifiers.
1936 Advert: Tannoy Sound Products: Guy R Fountain Ltd
1937 Acoustic engineers and manufacturers of sound amplifying equipment. "Tannoy" Sound Amplifying Equipment.[2]
WWII Communication systems supplied for airfields, submarines and command systems. It was during this period that the company become known for the Tannoy public address system.
1948 Winding up order against Guy R Fountain Ltd[3]
1948 Launch of Tannoy’s first Dual Concentric™ loudspeaker. This was and still remains the core of their success. Chief Engineer at the time, Ronnie H Rackham, combined a high frequency compression horn drive unit with a 15inch direct radiating bass driver. This unique design was then implemented in all the loudspeaker ranges.
1976 Production moved to a new factory at Coatbridge, Scotland.
1979 Blick acquired 2 companies in the Tannoy Group concerned with public address systems together with limited use of the Tannoy name[4]
1981 Management buyout of the loudspeakers business from Beatrice Foods[5]
1986 Tannoy and Goodmans were merged to form TGI[6]
2002 Tannoy merged with the Danish TC Group of companies.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Tannoy System - Company History [2]
- The Tannoy Story by Julian Alderton. 2004 and 2019.