The company was founded by Guy Fountain in London, England, as Tulsemere Manufacturing Company in 1926, and moved to Coatbridge, Scotland in the 1970s.

Tannoy's image is particularly linked to both studio monitors as well as its Prestige range of home speakers. Prestige speakers use Dual Concentric cone speakers and are easily recognizable by their "vintage" design. Tannoy is notable for its 'Dual Concentric' speaker design, which places the tweeter behind the centre of the medium or bass driver. "Dual Concentric" is a trademark although Tannoy is not the only speaker manufacturer to design coaxial speakers.

In 2002, Tannoy was acquired by TC Group, and TC Group was subsequently acquired by Music Group in 2015. Following the Music Group acquisition, it was suggested that the Coatbridge facility would be closed and all related activities would be relocated to Manchester, England. In 2016, however, Music Group confirmed that Tannoy loudspeaker manufacturing would continue in Scotland, with a brand new manufacturing facility planned.