Any Spendor fans?
- Thread starter Bigerik
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
You could give BrianB a call.
They're one of my favorite speaker brands. Although I haven't heard all that many Spendors, I've never heard one that I had any disagreement with whatsoever. Any faults were sins of omission. While they may make numbers (I have no idea, but they sound relatively neutral if on the warm side of neutral with out saying "hey, over here, I'm warm!"), they certainly make music.
The only Spendors I own are mint condition BC-1s. I've heard a lot of them, though. My favorite store in town used to be a dealer and I got to audition a lot of them there. It was a small pair of their S 3/5 that helped pry me out of vintage speakers. The first time I'd really heard excellent imaging.
The only Spendors I own are mint condition BC-1s. I've heard a lot of them, though. My favorite store in town used to be a dealer and I got to audition a lot of them there. It was a small pair of their S 3/5 that helped pry me out of vintage speakers. The first time I'd really heard excellent imaging.
He's not selling, but he would have some good information, I'm sure. Need his number?
John, you have the BC1s? Classic Spendor. I'd love to hear them someday, as part of your system.
Yes, they're very nice speakers, Audiodon's old pair that are about the best examples of them that you'll find anywhere, fully restored. A bit dated in presentation compared to their progeny like the Harbeth SHL-5, or I suspect the Spendor Sp 1/2 (can't remember exactly, been a few years since I heard them), but still a very good performer today.
When you say "dated in presentation", what do you mean exactly? Or even approximately.
They sound similar to the Harbeths that they are, in some ways, the fathers or grandfathers of. But everything is a slight bit less refined. The driver coherency/integration and transparency isn't quite up to the current speakers.They are a bit more dynamically challenged. The image is more attached to the speakers, whereas the Harbeth's image is completely detached, the sound being more "in the room" with them. Overall, the newer speakers sound less like speakers, more like music. But I've found those issues with almost every speaker of the BC-1s age (except E-stats), and they suffer from them less then most, and have a lot going for them regardless,and are truly classic speakers if there ever were some. They're quite a bit older than Sp-1/2s. The SHL-5 is very much the superior speaker, no doubt, but what's cooler to have? Probably one of the nicest pairs of BC-1s in North America
I prefer to use the BC-1s with tubes. They seem to work best with them, though I've tried many combinations.
Art K.
The Voodoo You Do!
I think that John's characterization used to be quite accurate. With every update of Spendor's line, though, that has changed. The most recent iteration of their classic line is more than competitive with any Harbeth. The latest Harbeth, the 30.1, is an answer to those who criticise the Harbeth sound as soft. The greater internal bracing is what Walter at Fidelis has already been doing to Americanize Harbeth speakers...only upon request as a mod.
Last edited:
What do you mean when you say they Americanize the sound?
audiodon
Addicted Member
I have only Spendors in the house.
I've chosen them over every speaker that's come in, but I cannot say I've spent enough time with Harbeths to do an A/B comparison.
Here's my take:
They are a music lover's speaker.
The BC-1's that JohnVF has now were originally the outgrowth of the BBC's government sponsored research in the 1960s and were productized in 1969.
The other speaker productized out of that program that became popular was the LS3/5A minimonitor. The minimonitors were designed to reproduce the voice properly in mobile recording trailers. The BC1, or Rogers LS-6 (I believe) were the studio monitors used at the BBC in some studios until the turn of the century.
The BC1s were sold as a three way instead of their original two way iteration because at the time Great Britain had an additional tax on two way speakers. Hence the supertweeter.
More later.
I've chosen them over every speaker that's come in, but I cannot say I've spent enough time with Harbeths to do an A/B comparison.
Here's my take:
They are a music lover's speaker.
The BC-1's that JohnVF has now were originally the outgrowth of the BBC's government sponsored research in the 1960s and were productized in 1969.
The other speaker productized out of that program that became popular was the LS3/5A minimonitor. The minimonitors were designed to reproduce the voice properly in mobile recording trailers. The BC1, or Rogers LS-6 (I believe) were the studio monitors used at the BBC in some studios until the turn of the century.
The BC1s were sold as a three way instead of their original two way iteration because at the time Great Britain had an additional tax on two way speakers. Hence the supertweeter.
More later.
Art K.
The Voodoo You Do!
I will have to discuss it this weekend as I don't as time for all of the details (work week) but I guarantee that many who thought they knew Harbeth will be surprised and some will be shocked. Suffice it to say that the U.S. Distributor has permission to do significant modifications to Harbeth speakers. I have this straight from horses mouth.
My characterization should really only apply to the older models. I agree that current Spendors are comparible to Harbeth- just different flavors of a similar recipe.
audiodon
Addicted Member
I'm going to shortcut what I was going to write by stating the following:
Sometime in the 1980s, speaker voicing and design on some projects, including the SP1/2, the grandchild of the BC1, moved from Spencer Hughes to his son Derek Hughes.
Derek now works independently, but has voiced speakers for Harbeth, the Sterling Broadcast LS3/5A replacement, and the recently introduced Sterling Broadcast LS3/6, all to favorable reviews.
I've had some contact with the present design star at Spendor. The company has gone in two directions, maintaining classic speakers and modern towers.
I now have their flagship modern tower, the A9, discussed here.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=443182&highlight=Spendor
mtaudio also has the A6s.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=460377&highlight=Spendor
Conclusion:
An updated modern sound? See the classic series.
A modern sound that keeps the history in mind? See something like the A series or the S(x)e series for one generation back, available used.
Sometime in the 1980s, speaker voicing and design on some projects, including the SP1/2, the grandchild of the BC1, moved from Spencer Hughes to his son Derek Hughes.
Derek now works independently, but has voiced speakers for Harbeth, the Sterling Broadcast LS3/5A replacement, and the recently introduced Sterling Broadcast LS3/6, all to favorable reviews.
I've had some contact with the present design star at Spendor. The company has gone in two directions, maintaining classic speakers and modern towers.
I now have their flagship modern tower, the A9, discussed here.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=443182&highlight=Spendor
mtaudio also has the A6s.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=460377&highlight=Spendor
Conclusion:
An updated modern sound? See the classic series.
A modern sound that keeps the history in mind? See something like the A series or the S(x)e series for one generation back, available used.
Last edited:
