It must be difficult to be a brand like Tannoy. As with Xerox, Hoover and Sellotape, its name has become a label that now applies to a whole category of stuff.

But if you thought that all its loudspeakers could handle were raspy announcements up and down supermarket aisles, then you're much mistaken. The brand's Revolution Signature range of home cinema speakers auditioned here are evolved way past this illustrious history.

And although Tannoy still makes speakers with names rather than numbers, this new lineup is definitely a 21st Century AV offering, with some style and pizzazz, too.

Odd one out

Well, style and pizzazz except for the subwoofer, that is, which is designed to be hidden - or at least not looked at. It is as ugly as an ogre in comparison to the lovely, lustrous woodwork the other teardrop-shaped boxes are wrapped in.

The woofer is from a series simply called TS as in, er, Tannoy Subwoofer, and boasts a soft grey finish. The one in this array is the biggest, a 12in job with 500W in its guts. It has a sexy set of balanced inputs and outputs on XLR plugs, as well as the de-rigeur phono inputs. There's no silly high level speaker nonsense on the back of this one.

The subwoofer fires downwards and the driver has a huge surround suspension to it - it looks like it might hit the floor. Of course, it doesn't, but the supplied spikes are a good idea.

There is, in fact, an extra sheet in the instruction book, that has clearly been printed and added afterwards, that suggests use of the small cup-shaped thingies underneath the spikes, when the sub is used on a hard floor.

This woofer was probably rattling like a ball-bearing in the back of Transit van before these were added for use in marble halls. The moving mass of the woofer must be considerable.

There are some useful controls on the TS12. You get a continuously variable phase knob to go from 0-180° and LF extension control with adjustment marked from 50Hz to 40Hz to 30Hz. A 'Music' label adorns the 50Hz setting.

30Hz is the 'Theater' (sic) setting - obviously meant for sale in the USA then. Crossover frequency is selectable between 50Hz and 150Hz.