audiodon
Addicted Member
Hi,
I've submitted the first two posts to the Yahoo Spendor forum. Hopefully reading them again will inspire me to write sections 3 and 4.
Here goes:
I've been a Spendor fan for close to a decade now.
I've had various pairs in house, though I'm not a speaker collector by nature.
My home is vertically oriented, with three floors, so between the home and my tube gear restoration workshop, I've got one system on each floor plus the workshop system.
I'd been fortunate and patient enough to assemble a very good reference system with BC1s, along with a Sub-3, as my speakers. They are in a room and adjoining room with total mostly open space of about 30 feet by 13 feet. These BC1s were upgraded with the assistance of Terry Miles into a pair that probably cannot be bettered by any other pair in North America.
Over time, I found myself getting anxious about their use.
My goal is to have all my systems easy enough to use that any family member can turn a system on and use it. I've had fussy systems and I value people and visitors immensely, so I'm willing to compromise a bit of esoterica for accessibility.
Reasons I was getting anxious about the use of the BC1s:
1. The kids have now reached the Ipod age and I'd found myself increasingly anxious that the BC1s could get damaged because of the delay of the output of music when you turn on a tube system.
2. Coping with the pandemonium of daily life with school-age children and two working parents, we have cleaners come in every other week. They just don't seem capable of not moving the speakers or stands to clean, no matter how frequent the instructions or written signs, because of the revolving cast members of the cleaning crew.
With the speakers being spiked both at the floor and at the base, I found myself becoming impatient with the cleaners. I have the original roller trolleys, and have used a pair of Target stands, but was fortunate enough to get a pair of stands made by an Arts & Crafts furniture master, originally made for his own use.
3. The final reason is that I pay for my audio acquisitions with vintage tube gear restorations and all of my in-house speakers were 15 years old or older and, as my technical and voicing skills have improved, I've wanted to have a final voicing speaker pair that were made in this century.
The conclusion I reached was that I needed a reference system that goes louder than the BC1s, that has a sonic signature that is modern, yet classic, with a neutral balance of reserve and forwardness that I can live with, and that I can get factory replacement parts for if, heaven forbid, it becomes necessary.
So, over a year or so, with the assistance of some inheritance money, some gear restoration money, and six months of patience watching a used pair sit on Audiogon, I was able to get that pair of Spendor A9s in house.
That's all I have time to write for this pass, what I think about them will have to wait until the next installment.
I've submitted the first two posts to the Yahoo Spendor forum. Hopefully reading them again will inspire me to write sections 3 and 4.
Here goes:
I've been a Spendor fan for close to a decade now.
I've had various pairs in house, though I'm not a speaker collector by nature.
My home is vertically oriented, with three floors, so between the home and my tube gear restoration workshop, I've got one system on each floor plus the workshop system.
I'd been fortunate and patient enough to assemble a very good reference system with BC1s, along with a Sub-3, as my speakers. They are in a room and adjoining room with total mostly open space of about 30 feet by 13 feet. These BC1s were upgraded with the assistance of Terry Miles into a pair that probably cannot be bettered by any other pair in North America.
Over time, I found myself getting anxious about their use.
My goal is to have all my systems easy enough to use that any family member can turn a system on and use it. I've had fussy systems and I value people and visitors immensely, so I'm willing to compromise a bit of esoterica for accessibility.
Reasons I was getting anxious about the use of the BC1s:
1. The kids have now reached the Ipod age and I'd found myself increasingly anxious that the BC1s could get damaged because of the delay of the output of music when you turn on a tube system.
2. Coping with the pandemonium of daily life with school-age children and two working parents, we have cleaners come in every other week. They just don't seem capable of not moving the speakers or stands to clean, no matter how frequent the instructions or written signs, because of the revolving cast members of the cleaning crew.
With the speakers being spiked both at the floor and at the base, I found myself becoming impatient with the cleaners. I have the original roller trolleys, and have used a pair of Target stands, but was fortunate enough to get a pair of stands made by an Arts & Crafts furniture master, originally made for his own use.
3. The final reason is that I pay for my audio acquisitions with vintage tube gear restorations and all of my in-house speakers were 15 years old or older and, as my technical and voicing skills have improved, I've wanted to have a final voicing speaker pair that were made in this century.
The conclusion I reached was that I needed a reference system that goes louder than the BC1s, that has a sonic signature that is modern, yet classic, with a neutral balance of reserve and forwardness that I can live with, and that I can get factory replacement parts for if, heaven forbid, it becomes necessary.
So, over a year or so, with the assistance of some inheritance money, some gear restoration money, and six months of patience watching a used pair sit on Audiogon, I was able to get that pair of Spendor A9s in house.
That's all I have time to write for this pass, what I think about them will have to wait until the next installment.
