Optimizing Performance of Spendor BCIII

[Mrs. Henry]

Hi folks,

I recently bought a pair of Spendor BCIII's, and I'm noticing a bit of harshness, especially in the high frequencies.

Everything sounds good at VERY low volume, but as soon as I give them any juice, the sound quality suffers. All drivers are functional. I've been told that these are notoriously power-hungry speakers - could it be that my amplifier is not up to the task? The amp is a Luxman R-1050 (55 wpc).

My Sansui au-5900 seems a little more sure of itself driving the Spendors, but it simply isn't as sonically beautiful as the Luxman.

Do I need a new amp?

Could the speakers benefit from a recap/crossover rebuild?

Maybe my listening room is just too small (13' X 13')

I can't help but feeling like the speakers aren't operating at their full potential, which is a pretty serious bummer.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[sax6]

A recap could shurely improve listening experience. Can't believe that these can be harsh ?

The crossover could be very complicated. Many capacitors. Do not, in my opinion, change capacitors values.

Are both speaker delivering the same harshness ? These are quite fragile drivers, would be ashame that one would be defective.
I once experienced '' sizzling '' in a Ditton 33 tweeter with acoustic guitar notes... could your problem be similar ?

Can you elaborate on harshness ?

Finally, you've got some verrrrrrry nice speakers. Good luck there !

 

[Mrs. Henry]

Thanks for your response!

I don't think any of the drivers are defective - the harshness is more subtle than that.

As for elaborating on the harshness, I can only say that music that sounded exceptionally clean and refined on other (perhaps easier-to-drive) speakers just doesn't come through as flawlessly.

"Sizzling" might be too strong a word - I would say "untidy". As I said above, the troublesome recordings sound cleaner with the Sansui so I'm thinking maybe the Luxman just doesn't deliver enough current.

You seem to be familiar with the Spendors - what kind of amplifier would you choose to drive them with?

 

[sax6]

I've never had ( the chance ) any Spendors speakers.
As for amplification, it always comes back to an amp with guts, hi current capability with watts per channel of at least 50 thru 150 I would guess.

It also depends if you like it loud ( ear bleeding ) or loud ( dynamic ) or just '' room filling ''.

I have a pair of Rogers ( Brit made ) run from a Sansui AU7500 of, I think, 35 watts per channel.
It is all right for room filling listening with enough headroom for dynamic punchs.

I would stay away from cheap AVR or low cost amp and, for 1 reason, Harman Kardon amps. Though the HK have Hi current capability, they do not carry relay protection at the output.

A faulty ( shorted ) output transistor could fry up your woofer (s).

Good luck there !

 

[MudSlideSlim]

I had owned the BC1 in another century and I had the opportunity to hear and buy the BC3 but unfortunately I didn't.
The drivers are indeed fragile as I blew my tweeters on an amp without relay protection.

These speakers were more voiced for vinyl and polite British/BBC listening levels.
Maybe source material might be an issue? I find lots of CD have a bright or brighter sound.

Yes they are amp sensitive.To agree with what others above have said.
They did shine with a Quad 405 II and didn't sound as good with similar priced American amps from that era.
I think they like a decent amount of current (Quad called it current dumping) and not just watts.
I don't recall them sounding bright but modern amps do have a brighter sound.
While I never heard them with a Luxman. I've never heard a Luxman I didn't like. Excellent amps. Excellent

Michael