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Spendor A9 : Your first impressions

Hi,

I just upgraded my 3 years old Totem Forest with the Spendor A9. It's my first experience with Spendor speakers but after 3 month of listening to find the Forest successor, I believe the A9 is the one.
My system is
Oppo 83bd SE or Imac + AE + Toslink
Dac PS Audio DlIII Cullen IV
Plinius 9200
Hovland Radia
Acoustic Zen Cables

I find the A9 very neutral and quick but the most improvement over the Forest is on timbers accuracy, they are just beautiful. It's also very transparent, so one must pay attention to the association.

They are not spectacular at first, but cd after cd, you can't just stop listening to them. I like the air between instruments, and especially with voices. The forest used to emphasize the voices over the rest, here there is more space to put everything in the right place.

The bass is clean but not very deep, which is maybe the only weakness I see. Although it doesn't bother me, as I don't like boomy speakers.
The sensitivity is over 90dB, and are easier to drive than the Totems.

I use to listen to Jazz, world and classical.

In my quest to replace the Forest (which I loved), I've tried:

802D : associated with Mac amps, and it was not great (maybe not 802 fault)

Cremona M : boomy and colored medium...not my taste at all

Some Adam speaker : aggressive highs

Peak Consult Princess Sign.: a big curtain between them and you, where is the presence and the transparency ?

Some Nola floorstanding speaker: boxy sound, which is weird with theses medium and tweeters outside the cabinet !

Devore Gibbons 8: superb small speakers, so musical, but in the same league as the Forests (slightly more expensive). I regret to not have tested the Nines.

Wilson Sophia 3: a lot of energy and obviously very good. Best bass I've heard. Not as refined mediums & highs as the Magico. 2,5 x more expensive than the A9.

Magico V2: clearly an other class, like the sophia, but I know why they are so expensive. Although for the money I believe the A9 give you 95% of these two...

So now if other people own or have listened to these A9, you are welcome to give your impressions here.

Fabien
bountchacny
kosta123
12 posts
 
I am pretty sure I can fix your brightness problem. Please give the Gabriel Gold Rapture Interconnects a try. WOW!

Detail with warmth. The dynamic and transparency is all there just with this rich tonal musicality. Hard to put in words but this Gabriel Gold Rapture r cable was a full component upgrade.

The A9's respond well in any system... they really let you know where the weakest link is.

I have tried a SS and TUBE amp with the A9's....preferred TUBE. Not saying the SS was just terrible. In-fact the SS sounded great but if I had to chose with a gun to my head.

The Spendor A9 is a keeper. They are improving as more time passes, fantastic.
bountchacny OP
13 posts
 
Hi Kosta,

I followed you advice, tried some cables (Wireworld, Cardas, AZ, Gabriel) and finally ended with these two:

AZ Absolute xlr between Dac and Pre,
Gabriel Gold Rapture r rca between Pre and Amp

The agressivity is gone, but I still enjoy transparency. And now music is more organic and lively. I replaced also the stock power cables with Wireworld Electra for a nice improvement in refinement and noise reduction.

I've the feeling I can really mesure now the A9 potential, and I believe it could even get better with other improvements (dac, pre).
grimace
624 posts
 
Anyone go from the old S8e model to the A9? I'm curious how they'd compare. I've had the S8e's for about six years, and they're the only thing in my system that I haven't felt compelled to replace.
rgs92
974 posts
 
I'm surprised Spendors are described as bright. I thought they were similar to Harbeths. This was my impression when I heard Spendors at shows. (I have Harb. SHL5s and sometimes I wish they were more resolving. They are anything but bright.)
bountchacny OP
13 posts
 


Rgs, I have always been attracted to revealing and transparent speakers. And as an old owner of ML Quest I can say the A9 is on this category, and very close to the Quest midrange (and much better on some other fields). I hope you'll have the opportunity to listen to the A9 on a store or show. I believe you'll realise they are quite revealing.

But before all, the main quality you'll finally remember is the seamless integration between all registers from bass to treeble and the almost infinite range of timbers and colors from one CD to an other.

I've noticed this brightness in the store after 20/30 mins of listening (paired with vahallas) and at home with different elements.
I used to have bright cables (AZ Silver ref) and when I upgraded to the Absolutes, the aggressivity was gone. They will show any unbalance in you system.

They are also quite easy to drive, which may be also a other difference with previous Spendor speakers. I don't have any experience with previous models, but every person who have seems to confirm the people in Spendor did something quite new with this one.

Finally, here is a quote from a review (HI Fi+ 77):

"A few issues back, I waxed lyrical about the Magico Q5. Sadly, not everyone has the amplifier girth, the room width or length or the wallet depth to cope with so demanding a £65,000 loudspeaker. What happens for the rest of us? The Spendor A9 happens. It gives you a lot of that Q5 sound for nigh on 1/13th the cost, and doesn’t need a powerhouse amp or a stateroom to hold court."

http://www.avguide.com/review/spendor-a9-hi-fi-77?page=1

I had the luck to listen to the Magico V2 on the same day and same store as the A9. It also also occured to me they were quite close to the V2 in terms of balance, linearity and richness, this time for 1/3 of the cost.
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