Spendor Classic 1/2

Reviving this old thread. 

Did anyone get a chance to listen to the Classic 1/2 or 100?

My comments on Classic 100 and A7, recently posted in another thread:
I’ve recently had the chance to listen to a pair of Classic 100 paired with some lower end Naim gear but also with my own Audio Analogue Maestro Anniversary integrated amplifier and my own source and cables. A bit underwhelming to be honest, at least compared to my very high expectations. The highs were OK, not as refined as those of my Harbeth M30.2 Anniversaries (I compared them directly) but nice and not "too polite" as I’ve fount the highs of the Classic 1/2 described on another forum. The bass was big (the whole sound had the scale I was expecting from such large standmounts) but, surprisingly, not deep enough for my taste - strong enough until, I don’t know, 40 Hz or so and then it plummets. My old Mackie HR824 monitors, which should be a joke compared to these in terms of size, price and reputation, go obviously deeper. Also, the bass was not very tight.
The mids were their strongest point, sweet and musical with a natural, inner warmth that is unfortunately missing in my Harbeths. Because of this, the midrange piano notes were more natural, more convincing on the Spendors - piano is my favourite instrument as well as my main audiophile benchmark and I know the timbre very well, I grew up with a piano in house. Also, my Harbeths have a mild but audible dip in the presence region (the BBC dip I guess) that I’m not particularly found of - the Spendors don’t have it or maybe they do a little bit, but to a much smaller degree.

Overall, the sound was a bit unexciting I guess, to be honest I have a suspicion they were not totally burned in. The resolution could have been better too - the Harbeths were a bit better and my Martin Logans at home are in another world from this point of view.

Some Spendor A7 I’ve heard in another system though were really promising:: beautiful mids without a trace of a BBC dip as far as I could tell, silky and lively highs albeit a bit too pronounced, very nice upper bass detail, good timbre reproduction, good scale and bass extension considering their dimensions but ultimately trying too hard to descend where that 7 inch driver shouldn’t. This or it was the amplifier - a rather cheap Atoll I’ve never heard before or after so an unknown factor for me. If I were to move on from my electrostats, which I might eventually, I could live with some hypothetical improved A7’s with better bass extension, a bit better scale and, of course, higher resolution overall.

Some Spendor A7 I’ve heard in another system though were really promising:: beautiful mids without a trace of a BBC dip as far as I could tell, silky and lively highs albeit a bit too pronounced, very nice upper bass detail, good timbre reproduction, good scale and bass extension considering their dimensions but ultimately trying too hard to descend where that 7 inch driver shouldn’t. This or it was the amplifier - a rather cheap Atoll I’ve never heard before or after so an unknown factor for me.

I owned A7’s for the past year and this is a great summary of their sound profile. I had them paired with a Line Magnetic 805ia SET amp. No slouch by any measure. What you heard re. trying to reach too deep, was one of the few issues I had with them. There was a lot of bass but the bottom did get congested/messy.

If I were to move on from my electrostats, which I might eventually, I could live with some hypothetical improved A7’s with better bass extension, a bit better scale and, of course, higher resolution overall.

They are called the D7.2’s and are now what I own. They improve upon the A7’s in exactly those 3 categories. Bottom end of bass has better extension, clarity, and articulation. The LPZ tweeter has much better resolution and clarity. Though some would say too much - and this is where pairing with electronics becomes crucial for the D7’s. I have them running off of the 4 ohm tap on my LM 805ia and they sound absolutely fantastic and almost perfectly balanced. It’s really hard for me to find fault with them at the moment.

All that said, they are simply not the same kind of sounding speaker as the Classics/SP1's or Devore's.

I listen more to the music on the Spendors (jazz, vocals, some pop/soul) and more to the system using the other speakers.

Same here. I notice this every time I throw my Spendor S3/5s in to my system. Which is why I wanted to hear the new Classic series. Unfortunately no one ever had them for demo, even local Spendor dealers.

I actually traced a demo pair to a dealer in Montreal when I was there, came in to hear them, but they suddenly didn’t seem keen on setting them up for me. Instead I got to hear the Devore O/96 speakers there again and they actually had a sound like my Spendors but "on steroids," - that is the same woody, organic tone, but more vivid, greater clarity and nuance, and more dynamic. (Though with sometimes overbearing bass).

Once the pandemic abates I’ll probably go sniffing around for an audition of Spendors again.

I've just bought a used pair of Spendor SP2/3R2 - the model that charmed me a couple of years ago. Actually, they might be the very same speakers I auditioned! Tomorrow I'll get to hear them again - can't wait! I'll post impressions if anyone is interested.