Tannoy Ltd is a British manufacturer of loudspeakers and public-address (PA) systems. The company was founded as Tulsemere Manufacturing Company in London in 1926. Closeup of a loudspeaker driver. ... A public address system, abbreviated PA system, is an electronic amplification system used as a communication system in public areas. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ...

The name Tannoy is a syllabic abbreviation of tantalum alloy, which was the material used in a type of electrolytic rectifier developed by the company. The brand had been trademarked by 10 March 1932, on which date the Tulsemere Manufacturing Company was formally registered as Guy R. Fountain Limited. A syllabic abbreviation is an abbreviation formed from (usually) initial syllables of several words, such as Interpol = International + police. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tantalum, Ta, 73 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 5, 6, d Appearance gray blue Atomic mass 180. ... An alloy is a combination, either in solution or compound, of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal, and where the resulting material has metallic properties. ... An electrolyte is a substance containing free ions which behaves as an electrically conductive medium. ... AC, half-wave and full wave rectified signals A rectifier is an electrical device, comprising one or more semiconductive devices (such as diodes) or vacuum tubes arranged for converting alternating current to direct current. ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in leap years). ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ...

It became a household name as a result of supplying PA systems to the armed forces during World War II, and to Butlins and Pontins holiday camps after the war. Tannoy is now based in Coatbridge in Scotland, and is part of the Danish-based TC Group. Tannoy is famous for its "dual concentric" speaker design which places the tweeter behind the center of the bass driver. The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majestys Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian... Butlins Holiday Camps were founded by (later Sir) Billy Butlin to provide economical holidays in the United Kingdom and Ireland. ... Pontins is a British holiday company founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. ... Holiday camp, in Britain, generally refers to a resort with a boundary that includes accommodation, entertainment and other facilities. ... Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland approximately 9 miles east of Glasgow. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I...

The term "tannoy" in colloquial British English is used generically to mean any public-address system, and although the word is a registered trademark, it has become a genericised trademark. The company's intellectual property department keeps a close eye on the media and will often write to publications using its trade name without a capital letter or as a generic term for P.A. systems, in order to preserve its trademark. Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ... The Bass Red Triangle, was the first trademark registered in Britain in 1876. ... A genericized trademark (Commonwealth English genericised trade mark), sometimes known as a generic trade mark, generic descriptor or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name which is often used as the colloquial description for a particular type of product or service as a result of widespread popular or cultural...

References

• Alderton, Julian (2004). The Tannoy Story. Edward Gaskell. ISBN 1-898546-58-4. 

External links

• Tannoy worldwide homepage
• Tannoy Monitor Gold website
• Tannoy Dual Concentric website
• A Tannoy is mentioned in the Clash song "What's My Name". [1]