Spendor speakers

I was a former dealer, still use them, have SP1s, SP 1/2Es, SP 2s, S-100s. The ones or one/2s are very good and often very reasonable. The 100s are very good in larger rooms, the twos in smaller ones. I use a pair of REL subs with mine. I think the older ones are the ones to get. I may be selling one of my S100 s pairs eventually.

I've owned my S100's for 19 years! Paired with my tube amp & pre-amp I've been a very happy man. Spendor + tubes = sonic bliss!;)

This is where I tend to disagree with some Spendor owners. Tube amps and Spendors never sounded as good in my system as they did powered by solid state amps.

My experience is in line with the comments so far. I've been very happy with my Spendor SP1/2 loudspeakers, which I run with ample solid state power amplification (McIntosh MC352 stereo amp). They are natural-sounding, non-analytical speakers that are not fatiguing in any way. New, the Spendors are pretty expensive for what they are, but I found a used pair for less than $2K including the essential Sound Anchor stands. The SP1/2 won't handle deep bass, however, and I believe it is essential to get a subwoofer to hear them at their best. My current subwoofer is a single REL Stentor, which has made a huge difference. A lot of Spendor owners use REL subwoofers, sometimes in pairs. Others have reported excellent bass with the Spendor SP100, but I have not auditioned them. Still others have also reported success with Spendor loudspeakers on relatively low power, whereas I find them to perform well with a high current amplifier. I suspect that high-power tube amplification would be a nice match for Spendor. If you are able, do experimentation with amplifiers to see what you like.

Just one more comment on the power issue. I use a tube amp with my SP1/2Es. The amp is an Image 65i with 6550 output tubes and is rated at 50 watts a channel. I listen at an average volume of 80 to 85 dB in a medium-small room (about 15' X 14' with 9 1/2' ceilings) and the amp very comfortably powers the speakers. I previously used a Bel Canto S300 (solid state with 150 watts/ch) and do not believe I lost anything in dynamics when I switched to the lower power tube amp.