Spendor SP-100.
Easy to drive, outstandingly natural sound from 40-50 Hz up.....AN-E, O/96, others?
If my goal were to find
natural-sounding, dynamic, and efficient speakers that can be driven with a somewhat lower-powered a (i.e., 50-watt SS) amplifier, and that work well with a variety of music, would I be looking at AN-Es, O/96s, or which others?
I am not particularly interested in using a 10-20 watt SET, but being able to use something lower-powered than the 300-watt amplifiers required for my 85dB speakers would open up a lot of other amplifier options and simplify things for me. I have two fairly high-quality powered subs so the goal would be to fill my (moderately large) room from 40-50 Hz and up and let the subs handle the lower registers.
Any thoughts on the two speakers listed, or recommendations for others?
I am not particularly interested in using a 10-20 watt SET, but being able to use something lower-powered than the 300-watt amplifiers required for my 85dB speakers would open up a lot of other amplifier options and simplify things for me. I have two fairly high-quality powered subs so the goal would be to fill my (moderately large) room from 40-50 Hz and up and let the subs handle the lower registers.
Any thoughts on the two speakers listed, or recommendations for others?
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- 71 posts total
@salectric , I have been interested in Spendor SP 100s, as well as Harbeth M40.2s but both of those have relatively low sensitivity for a 50-watt amp, although both are somewhat "easy" to drive from the standpoint of impedance. Just not sure 50 watts would make them jump. From Stereophile: Spendor Classic SP100R2 loudspeaker Specifications Sensitivity: 89dB/W/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 5.5 ohms minimum. Harbeth M40.1 loudspeaker Specifications Sensitivity: 85dB/W/m. Impedance: 6 ohms nominal. Suggested amplification: >50W. |
http://www.stereomojo.com/Onix%20XCD-50%20and%20XIA160%20review/XCD-50ReferenceCDPlayerReview.htm With ceramic midrange driver, it has an organic midrange sound with good details. Also with active bass it is easy to drive with 50 W SET. I drove this speaker with Line Magnetic 508 with good result. I keep this one as second speaker to Lansche 4.1 (55K$ speaker with plasma tweeter). Although it go down decent, it will help to match it with good subwoofer. If you are interested, I can loan VAUGHN CABERNET to you for 2 weeks. Tweeter: Split Ribbon Mid Range: 6.5" Ceramic w/ 6.5" Passive Woofers: Two 10" w/ Dual 10" Passives Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 12 ohms in bass region, minimum 6 ohm Sensitivity: 93 db Response: 34 hz - 60,000 hz Power: 8 - 120 watts Weight: 86 lbs Size: 9" x 14" x 42" |
Mitch2, i owned the Spendor SP-100 for over 15 years and used it with a variety of amps ranging from Classe CA-300 (300 watts per channel) at one extreme to a single ended 46 tube amp (1 watt) at the other extreme, with lots of other tube amps in between. They all sounded good (although the 1w amp clearly had its limits). Based on my experience, with some occasional loud volumes, I would say the Spendors sound their best with a high-quality push-pull tube amp of 35-50 watts per channel. The sensitivity rating of 90db only tells part of the story, however. The SP-100 also has a rather flat impedance and is easy to drive. My comments are limited to the SP-100, not the R or R2 models which are different speakers. I considered the Harbeth 40.2 when I was in the market for a new speaker. Although I wasn’t able to compare them directly, I am pretty confident the Harbeth would have a similar tonal balance with slightly better detail. The Harbeth is not as easy a load as the SP-100 though and many people feel it needs a powerful solid state amp. |
- 71 posts total