Are spendor speakers competitive in sound quality to KEF, B&W, ProAC, Audio Physic


 ARE SPENDOR SPEAKERS IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS THE ABOVE BRANDS?. THE COMPANY DOES NOT TO APPEAR TO DO MUCH ADVERTISING, AND THERE ARE FEW REVIEWS OF THEIR PRODUCTS, IN PARTICULAR, THE MODEL A6R

I know from reading reviews, KEF, B&W have changed their house sound, Audio Physic has changed its sound signature but not as dramatically as the former brands indicted.  ProAc and Spendor  are often described as more the traditional BRITISH sound. I have listened to the above three over the years, but never auditioned either the Pro's or the Spendor in a home setting or audio showroom 

Thank you,

S.J.

sunnyjim
I’ve been a major fan of British speakers for many decades.  Spendors “house” sound is lush and lovely.  I have two pair of their ls35a’s as well as an older SP1 that I still use on a daily basis in a second system.
Ran Proac response 2.5 as well.  I have heard the newer house sound on B&W as well as KEF.  While quite nice I do prefer Spendor and/or Proac.  They are every bit as good and possibly better than the others.  Harbeth is also a major contender.  More like Spendor than the others......I love the SLH5 plus......
But you must hear for yourself.
Spendor make, well, splendid speakers.  The D7 and D9 are superlative.  Their SP100 is also very interesting, but is often in the shadow of the Harbeth 40.  Unlike Harbeth, who goes the monitor route, Spendor also make these less expensive floor-standers.  They have a major presence in Britain and Europe; as with Proac, it's a question of distribution and publicity campaigns in the US, compared to the likes of KEF.
I think so, yes.

Of course if you are talking about old Spendor models, they are wonderful sounding and many will say they still do some things "better" than many modern competitors.

But in terms of sheer technical prowess, advancements in accuracy, detail, clarity etc, they have been surpassed.

However Spendor hasn't sat on it's hands.  I remember thinking the sound coming from a pair of Spendor D9s (or was it D7?) was among the best at a recent audio show.   Really convincing clarity and timbre with jazz saxophone, drums, sense of drive, etc.
Spendor were my first foray into high quality speakers and historically they are a top British speaker manufacturer. I have owned the 3/1, 7/1, and 1/2e (twice) all from the Classic Series of days gone by (versus the Classic Series of today). I would not classify their sound as lush, in fact I have found them to be fairly transparent, and in the case of the 1/2e, with a midrange only bested by my Quad ESL 57s and Music Reference ESLs. I found my Spendors sounded better with solid state amps of moderate power vs. tube amps. Many others feel Spendors and tubes are a great match.

Today's series of Spendors are quite different in my opinion, and admittedly I have not listened to any of them. However, Derek Hughes (son of SPENcer and DORothy Hughes) designed the Stirling Broadcast LS 3/6 and from all accounts has recreated the classic Spendor sound.

As a point of reference here are a few links that I have found useful:

http://www.regonaudio.com/The%20Spendor%20SP9%20Loudspeaker%20July%201996.pdf

http://www.regonaudio.com/SpendorSP12Loudspeakers.html 

http://www.regonaudio.com/Spendor%20SP1.html

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/stirling-broadcast-ls36/ 

@clio09 +1

I used to own the Spendor 9/1 and have always regretted selling them.

Currently using the ProAc Response D 40r