I received some lovely speakers from the UK yesterday: Spendor SP3/1R2*

BTW, this move also allowed me to upgrade the system in the bedroom... out with the Pioneer SP-BS22LR's and in with the Dentons (powered by a Rega Brio-R).

 

Any news on how the Spendors are running in?

 

Congrats! Huge step up from the Dentons IMO. Killer with that Fisher tube amp. You got this 'audio thing' figured out!

 

These speakers are wonderful, exactly what I was hoping they would be.

The funny thing is, they sounded good when I was single-wiring them (with Kimber 4TC), but someone on another forum suggesting bi-wiring, which I hadn't considered. I ordered a 10' pair of Canare Star Quad 4S11 bi-wire from an eBay seller for not much $$, and it was a night-and-day improvement. It sounds so much more fuller and tighter, with improved dynamics and imaging vividness. I liked them so much, I ordered another pair to use with the Dentons and Rega Brio-R upstairs, and got similarly upgraded results. The icing on the cake is I just sold the Kimbers on eBay, and that paid for the two sets of Canare with some $$ left over!

Thanks, man! I've cycled through a lot of gear during the past decade, which was a lot of fun, but it also allowed me to gain insight into what kind of presentation I like. I'm pretty darn happy with what I've got now.

I recently acquired a pair of 1958-59 Rek-O-Kut B-12-GH turntables, and am working on restoring them right now. One of them will go alongside the resto-modded AR and the other might take the place of the Dual 1019 upstairs. This is my way of filling the void left by the sweet TD-124 that I sold recently.

 

Very good on the Rel-O-Kut. I just bought a refurbished Luxman PD272 TT with the factory stock installed Micro Seiki tone arm.

 

Congratulations on your new speaker acquisition!

Given the size of your listening room, I think that you have wisely maxed out your audio conquests, given the size of your listening room.

Now enjoy your music.

S&G

 

Sweet!!

 

very nice, congrats! now off with those curtains!

 

Because they don't match the carpet?

 

Thanks man! Your thread inspired me to go for a pair of Spendor Preludes from the early 80s that I found locally. I've got them set up now. Wow! Wonderful speaker, very relaxing to listen to on my Line Magnetic 211ia.

I got them for € 250 which seems fair.

 

I have a little LM 211iA, with KT77 tubes. I bet that the LM and the Splendor's make for a beautiful combination!

 

FANTASTIC.

 

Aw nuts, FedEx just sent me a bill for the duty tax... a whopping $22!

 

Good thing I kept reading the whole thread. I was just about to post about those crappy jumpers and too get rid of them pronto. Proper bi-wiring took care of it. Well done.

 

Yessir, it made a significant difference!

 

For the heck of it, today I swapped my Rega Brio-R in place of the Fisher tubes, to see if the Spendors prefer a little more power from solid state and, you know, if British speakers prefers British amplification.

I'm actually kind of digging the combination. The presentation is slightly more fulsome (the Rega is a pretty warm-sounding amp), but the tonality is not that different from my Fisher X-100. The difference in imaging vividness is not as pronounced as I expected, and that's offset by finer detail and overall rhythmic tightness. Oh, and I had forgotten how quiet backgrounds are with solid state.

I'm gonna live with this pairing for a little while and see if prefer it. The Fisher will likewise go upstairs to the bedroom system, and be paired with the Dentons.

 

It's nice to try different combinations. When paired with the right speakers, SS can sound really nice.

 

A great description of what a good ss amp can bring to the table after you've been enjoying tubes for a while.

How are voices and older recordings handled by the Rega? That's usually what brings me back to tubes after enjoying the merits of ss for a while. Having said that, I am really enjoying my Spendor Preludes with my Yamaha A-S1100, but admittedly that is the most tube like ss amp I have ever heard.

 

I know exactly what you're talking about, much of the music I listen to is from earlier than 1970, lots of jazz, lounge, vintage rock'n'roll, r&b/soul, etc. I value a lusher presentation over quickness or detail.

As much as I loath the expression, the Brio-R does have a reasonably tube-like character, in that it doesn't have any hint of a hard edge, and it is capable of producing much of the midrange bloom that makes tubes so inviting.

 

BTW- congrats on the speakers. You are at a level of performance now that upgrades may be only a sideways move or just a matter of personal taste.

 

Thank you, I'm very happy with what I've acquired. My current equipment should be plenty satisfactory until I get a larger listening space.

 

UPDATE:

I left the Rega powered on for a few days, as is often recommended with SS amps, and found that the tone became much thicker. The Spendors are voiced on the warm side as are my preferred Grado cartridge, so the system was now just too warm-sounding, almost to the point of congestion. (In a larger room, the pairing could very well sound great, but there isn't enough "air" in my 8 x 12 room.)

So I'm trying a new experiment. Back in went the Fisher, but this time I decided to try the Spendors off the 4-ohm taps. (They are nominally rated at 8 ohms, dipping down to 5.7 ohms.) I got good results before running the KEF LS50's (8 ohms nominally) and Wharfedale Dentons (6 ohms nominally) off the 4-ohm taps, so it made sense to try it.

Will follow up later...

 

I went back to the 8 ohm taps... The speakers became sort of bloated-sounding and there wasn't enough top-end air.

 

Ha, that's quick. I have had similar experiences, always coming back to the 8 Ohm taps.

 

I'm a believer in using the proper taps, which is to use the taps that match the Ohm rating as indicated on the speaker.

Altec speakers are designed to be a certain Ohm speaker. For example, my A7's are the 8-Ohm version. Altec specifically stated, not to connect them to 4-Ohm taps.

I would never do this, unless the manufacturer of the speaker were to specifically recommend it.

Most recommendations to try both sets of taps come from the amplifier manufacturer and NOT the manufacturer of the speaker.

Even if you have speaker cables the size of garden hoses leading to the speaker, the wire that is used in the voice coil is thin and is only designed to carry so much current.

If the speakers are designed to operate off of the 8-Omn tap, if you connect them to the 4-Ohm tap, then yhere will be twice the current running through the voice coil.

That is not a good thing.