Tremendous midrange clarity, silk treble

Lack of bass extension

I'm actually reviewing the SP2/2 as well, since there's no separate listing for it. Also, since its no longer available this is aimed at second hand buyers or else those contemplating a new pair of SP2/3's.

I've used this speaker with an Audiolab 8000A for 8 years. Over that time I've heard many other speakers, and the few I preferred were about 3-4 times the price. In its price range, I've never heard better midrange.

If neutrality and clarity are your benchmark, then have a listen before buying anything else. The SP2/2's have a rare ability to reproduce 'air' around suitably recorded albums.

On the down side, the speaker lacks ultimate extension but to be fair it's only a bookshelf sized box. The SP2/3 betters it slightly in this respect.

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compared to Epos 14 in shop

Anything vocal, esp female vocal. Very analytical but easy to listen to; very natural and never irritating. That's what makes a good speaker system.

Very hard to fault, price? Who's heard of Spendor?

It took a lot to pursuade me to give up my KEF Calindas but these demolished them. Great speaker, same abou the price. I use them with a Mission Cyrus 2+PSX and Sansui X777 high-end CD-Player.

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Have heard the SP-2. Very good but the SP1-2 is the king.

Im actually reviewing the slightly smaller 2 way which is the SP2/2.I missed my quads ESL 63's which I left over in Nottingham and finally managed to convince a friend to sell me these classic spendors after hearing it at his place.

These are the masters of vocals among box speakers, Tonally very sweet
and come fairly close to the Quads electrostatic vocal articulation. Bass is not stupendous unlike my Thiels but if you are a sucker for female vocals, give these guys a listen.

truth of timbre, rhythmic agility, just plain musical

a well-balanced package with no glaring weakness. Bass is light in large room, but not a problem for me 'cuz I use an REL Storm Subwoofer....

Based on time with a pair of late '80's SP-1 speakers in two different settings, and my recent purchase of the current SP1-2/E, these speakers richly deserve their legendary status.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I've always enjoyed Spendors for their timbral accuracy and overall ablility to communicate musical intention; other speakers may excel in specific audiophile parameters, but I find virtually all Spendor models to be well-balanced units capable of providing extraordinary pleasure. I have a half-dozen friends who now use Spendors, largely at my instigation. None of them are audiophiles, but all are music lovers, generally with a background in performance and/or extraordiary record collections.

My thing for the SP1-2/E (current model) relates to my room, which is fairly large (26x18x9, more or less open on two sides) and which has poor acoustics but superior visual aesthtics. It will not accommodate unsightly room treatments; after all, it's our living room! When we moved in, my Spendor S-100's interacted poorly with the room; so much so, that I sold them and went to the best small speakers with real power-handling capabilities I could find: the ATC SCM 20. Supplemented by an REL Storm subwoofer, the ATC's have been a blast for over four years.

However, whenever I visited with my Spendor-wielding friends, I'd be blown away with how good their systems sounded, even with cheesy electronics. I also found myself wanting to listen more later at night, at lower volume levels. And while the ATC's did an amazing job of projecting instruments into the room, a 2-way with a 6.5 inch woofer is only going to move so much air; projection and presence are two different things. I certainly did not want to go to larger speakers, especially due to the wierd things that could happen in the mid and low bass range in our room, but increasingly felt that we could use more oomph or presence.

Several things came together over the last year. We completed decorating the room and did some structural work, which reinforced the wooden floor of our older hillside house. And in reading through an old Robert Greene review of the SP-1/2's in an early-'90's issue of The Absolute Sound, I noted his belief that the SP-1 interacts less with room boundaries due to a deliberate design decision to "beam" the bass/midrange unit -- which crosses over to the tweeters at a fairly high frequency -- directly at the listener. It dawned on me that this characteristic might be most useful in my room, wheras my ATC's were more into a uniform radiation pattern: certainly useful for mid-field monitoring, but perhaps not so great in my living room.

Serendipity struck when I scored a pair of late-'80's SP-1's off of the Audiogon for a modest price. I figured I'd try them out, and then sell them to a friend. They made an immediate impression, as they had the sense of gravitas I was seeking, and could provide it at all but the loudest volume levels. They also provided a degree of imaging and soundstage depth that was a new experience for me in my current room. It reminded me of the first time I'd heard SP-1's, at a New York audio salon in the mid-'80's, which was my first meaningful exposure to the phenomena of imaging and soundstage. So I took the plunge, and now have a new pair, while a friend now has the older pair, with which he can listen to his 6000 albums and 1500 cds (a superb collection...)

In his small and well-proportioned room, the older SP-1's sound remarkable. He will never need to push them hard in order to fill his room, and no lack of bass is discernable (I should add that his tastes run to blues and rock, so there won't be that search for the lowest organ or synthesizer notes that obsess so many audiophiles). They have a nice sense of focus, and voices sound very natural. And mid-range instrumental sounds are exceptional; if you have any affection for the way rock, R&B and Brazilian rhythm guitar parts can be warm, focused and punchy, yet also crackle with sparkle and crunch, then you need to hear these speakers; they manage to convey all of that complexity, which is one of the glories of live music, but is so often lost at home.

As for the SP1-2/E set I now have, I couldn't be happier. The same virtues of the older SP-1's apply, but I have more confidence that these can handle high-volume, high-energy listening in my space. Low level acoustic music is great, as even at modest volume levels guitars, lutes and the like have body, rather than only the leading envelope of sound projecting into the room. Again, voices are superb; even most of the FM announcers sound better, although the posers who rely on microphone proximity to simulate richness are not well-served. As these speakers have broken in, I've been playing some rock and robust world music, and am very pleased with the results. I listen to a lot of Brazilian and African music, and if the speakers can't get those low drum sounds right, and preserve timbral and rhythmic accuracy and nuance at a wide range of listening levels, then they don't work for me. These speakers, along with the REL subwoofer, are doing just fine on that score.

Perhaps most interstingly, I'm puzzling over the way these speakers allow you to better understand the dynamic development of extended musical passages. Understand that my ATC's were exceptional at presenting micro and macro-dynamic changes. I never heard compression from them, and micro-dynamic gradations were very clear. With the Spendors, microdynamic gradations are less pronounced, but they are there if you listen for them. More importantly, it seems that intentional dynamic shadings are more easily tracked over the course of a piece, giving greater appreciation for what the musicians were trying to do. At the risk of sounding like a Naim/Linn kind of guy, it's simply easier to "follow the tune..."

Similarly, while the ATC's made beat-by-beat impact very clear, the Spendors are less obvious in that regard, but ultimately seem to provide a more rewarding overview of rhythmic effects. I'm particularly getting this from my current flirtation with Spanish gitane/flamenco stylists (NOT the Gypsy Kings!!), and from trap drummers in a variety of contexts.

Yet again, a given cymbal sound is not as present, but seems to instead lend color in a broader context.

To summarize -- and to use a hackneyed cliche -- these Spendors don't allow the trees to obscure the forest. Each individual tree is present in proper proportion and plays its part in defining the forest, but the ultimate effect is akin to viewing the forest in its entirety, with the ability to zoom in on details when so inclined. Many audiophile-approved speakers or components take the music apart, almost like an exercise in dissection, facilitating the study of individual organs. These Spendors will let you go there if you must, but they also put the music back together again, so you can comprehend the holistic wonder of the entire functioning organism. I'm quite pleased, and am happy to be back with Spendors after several years away. (Although to be fair, the ATC's were also wonderful, and I can't help but wonder whether larger ATC's -- way beyond my financial reach -- might present some of the same relative virtues I'm obtaining from the SP-1-2/E)

Net Net: These are great speakers if you love music, and are flexible in their compatability with a wide range of systems, rooms, and musical tastes.

Similar Products Used:

Spendor S-100, S-20, Prelude; ATC SCM 20; KEF 104.2; Thiel 2.2

spendor sp 1-2,musically, it is perfect and complete. this bbc-based design is a true classic on its own. what you hear from this speaker will let you forget what hi-fi is all about. the only thing remain is how beautiful the music can be,when heard through this modern music "instrument". the tonal accuracy,realistic image presentation and very fine soundstage of this spendor will force you to rethink of why paying more for the dream speaker.

sounds like music. shimmering highs, real vocals, fast bass.

none

sold my sp1's with top and bottom spiked stands in a fit of depression after loved ones death.

haven't heard anything since that can articilate vocals and make cymbals "shimmer" rather than "spit" at you.

sold mine to college kid in bozeman. if you read this, please sell them back.

note; model year incorrect due to menu option choices. mine were made in late 80's.

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1970's had jbl 100's.
1980's had b&W 802's.
1990 to 1996 had spendor sp1's.

plays music, good 2 listen. bad 2 sleep.

speed

this speaker sounds very natural esp. in mid range.
i agree that. but the mutual performance should be considred if someone want to handle this full.
many man says "lack of base". but i think that's not true.
in my experience, mammoth s.s power is more adequate then pretty tubes^^.
not because the s.s sounds prior to tubes,
but b'cause, the character of this speaker is very certain, so the diferences,causing by changing amplifier is not so much then nowdays everage one.
i think the lack of base is caused by lacks of damping factor and handling ability of low impedence of power amplifier.
mid and high range can be played wonderful by somany amps.
but, low range requires much money.
good luck~

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kef ref(104/2,5/3). bnw(80x). proac(1sc, 2s). atc(SCM10, 20), dynaudio 1.3mk2, snell c/v .....

Sweet, musical--no, wait--raunchy, overbearing--hold on--clean, fluid--just a second...hey, these speakers don't add anything or take away from the recordings! How did they do that?

Bass extension is not particularly deep or strong, but it is accurate. Easily fixed in my set-up by adding a Velodyne Sub.

Nothing in my system is newer than 1992, but, hey, if it ain't broke . . .

The system consists of ADCOM electronics (GFA 545 and GFP 565), NAD 5000 CD player enhanced by an Audio Alchemy DDE v1.0 DAC, Velodyne F-1200 subwoofer driven by the "lab" outputs of the 565. I use the 565's "bypass" outputs to feed the amp and Audioquest Midnight speaker cables. The system doesn't seem particularly sensitive to interconnect changes--I use a variety of wires from Music Metre to Kimber. Everything contributes, or should I say doesn't contribute, to the system's very neutral sound. So, my goal of a nearly colorless sytem is met, and I have never seen any reason to alter it. I rue the day when something breaks, but so far, so good.

Since this is supposed to be about my SP1s, I'll finish with them. The 1991 SP1s are hands down my favorite loudspeakers in the whole world for listening to classical, jazz, folk . . . maybe even rock. They make great recordings sound great, ok ones sound ok, and crappy ones sound, well, crappy. Quite simply, these gorgeously crafted speakers don't sound like anything. What better compliment can a speaker get?

Maybe this one. A friend of mine recently got "a really good deal" on a mass-market 200-watt (so?) rack system. You cannot imagine how bad this thing sounded, loud or not. I said he should take it back because it sounded awful, but he insisted that to his ears it was awesome. I offered to show him what a system should sound like, and brought over my Spendors. Changing nothing else, we connected the SP1s to the lamp wire that protruded from the spring clips on the back of the receiver, and powered up the monster. Behold, my friend's favorite Pink Floyd CD sprang renewed from the Spendors. As I expected, you could here the cheap amp's impending harmonic distortion, and you could plainly pick up bumps and valleys in the frequency curve. But the difference in the overall sound quality was striking. Gone were the booming, one-note midbass and the honking vocals. Still present, though, were the lifeless highs and the over-boosted deep bass. Ok, I admit the thing still sounded generally awful, but before it had been just a muddy mishmash of awful. At least now the indiviudal components of awful were clearly discernable.

That demo got his attention, so we went back to my house and hooked the Spendors to the system described above. Within 20 minutes, the 10-year-old SP1s driven by even older semi-high-end electronics completely converted my friend. He took the rack thing back, and is now shopping for a real system.

Only one problem--he's miffed at me because I won't sell him my SP1s!

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Dahlquist DQM-9 Compact (from 1987)
Thiel
Merlin
and a bunch of other stuff

Excellent sound that you never will get tired of in domestic use.

A few small tweaks can exctract a little extract from what is basically an excellent loudspeaker

These are great speakers that I have had for about 10years plus. I have modest equipment and use an AudioLab 8000C pre-amp and two Audiolab 8000P power amplifiers to give bi-ampted operation. I use stands to get the speakers about 1 foot from the floor. I like the clear unfatiguing sound which is great for domestic use and I never get tired of them. My paricular pair are serial numbers 011830/1 Tweaks that give benefit in decreasing order of importance are a) Bi-wire/Bi-amping b) Use really good loudpeaker cable like Nordorst c) Rewire the internals using heavy cable and solder rather than used spades (the internal wiring on my speakers was poor)d) place a small amount of foam in the reflex ports to give some acoustic resistance and damping (my speakers sounded slighly resonant on bass guitar- maybe to do with my room )With these tweaks the speakers are excellent.

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Tannoy
Celestion
Acoustic Energy

Natural and honest representation of music. Extremely satisfying.

The price for their strength, probably: no deep bass. Can't carry the weight of a full orchestra on their own.

One should be cautious in giving added weight to myths, and the 1/2's are certainly becoming one -- thanks partly to their esteemed ancestors, the BC 1's but thanks also
to their own remarkable virtues. I would like to add to the myth as responsibly as I can.

I listened to the 1/2's on and off for just 3 hours, at Sound Asylum in Venice, CA, just south of Santa Monica. I listened to several of my favorite test cd's -- all classical, all of music prior to 1900. No jazz, no rock, so I didn't get to their the human voice which these speakers are famous for, nor did I find out if they can rock. And, stupidly, I forgot to bring anything with a piano on it. All of these caveats recorded, it still felt like a definitive audition. Strangely, I felt no need to hear more.

I compared them with the Spendor SP 100's and the Merlin VSM-SE's (i.e.,with BAM) through the same front end and electronics, on the premises. I found the 100's warm, full, and bassy. The justly praised Spendor midrange was there, but it was little overwhelmed by...well bassyness. I found the Merlins impressive but a little too insistent for my taste; not bright or lean as some have characterized them, just assertive, pushy even. Like a very smart kid who wants you to know it. This may well be what music sounds like to mikes suspended just above and just in front of orchestras; but that's not where I sit. I expect that an all-tube amp might back off their personality some: I notice some owners praise a Joule/Merlin combination. But that's not the kind of compromise/adjustment I make unless I'm already in love with a component's other qualities and I'm trying to rationalize marrying her. The Merlins won my respect but not my love.

I've filled in the system below. I don't know the Accuphase cd player but it's well and widely praised so I assume no problems there. The electronics were essentially what I have at home, though the BC 3000 preamp is two upgrades (total retail $6250) beyond my BC 3. Based on my experience with Blue Circle, that means some added refinement: a little better but not different. Single-ended, hybrid (tube/solid state) electronics. The mono blocks run in Class A. The speaker cabling was also Blue Circle and seemed to do just fine. Neglected to check the interconnects.

What I noticed right away and all through the listening session was that my cd's sounded better than I'd ever heard them. Not more spectacular, more detailed, more dramatic; just REALLY GOOD. Overall good.

Kuijken's Bach solo violin sonatas were clear and strong, as always, but also captivating. Huggett & Koopman's Bach violin and harpsichord sonatas: the violin was THERE, before me; the harpsichord was wonderfully firm and clear. Manze's Handel Opus 6 Concerti Grossi had weight and air along with their usual crispness and zip. Zehetman's violin (Beethoven concerto) had a wonderful lyrical quality I
don't remember hearing from it before: not over sweet just appealing, solicitous. Hard to take that one off the cd player. Wand's Bruckner's 8th was not as grand as I would
have liked but otherwise fine; good brass. By this point in an audition I generally ask for other cd's to check stuff out or just smile and go home. We took one last whack at
the SP 100's just to be sure, but no contest.

Okay, generalizations. These speakers do exactly what I've frequently praised Blue Circle electronics for doing: they capture the touch of music performance by not trying
to do too much, by focusing on the essentials. They don't project the midrange too much; they don't try to plumb the depths. They go for the heart of the music and nail it.
They achieve their marvelous sense of touch, I think, partly by assigning the frequency range from 40/45 to 3,000 to one 8-inch driver. They also do it by eschewing an extremely highly resolving tweeter like the one used in the Merlins, wisely, I think, settling for a less ambitious one, a middle-of-the-line Scanspeak. It is surprising how satisfying this overall approach can be, knowing just how much to go for without losing the prize, "playing within yourself" as athletes say. The detail is there, in the mix, about how you'd hear it in Boston's Jordon Hall about 1/3 of the way back, once it's had a chance to inhabit the hall and the air. The bass is fine, so far as it goes. Not a problem of any consequence, to me anyway.

I can imagine adding REL sub(s): the Bruckner would thank me. REG of TAS swears by this combination. (If you can track down his review of the 1/2's in TAS, don't miss
it. He hadn't heard the RELs yet at that point, which makes his review even more interesting.)

I know the Blue Circle electronics were responsible for some of what I heard, and that gives me added satisfaction. Buying your amps first as I have done is always a risk -- but in my case, it turns out, one worth taking. BC electronics and Spendors appear to be a marriage made in heaven. (Gilbert Yeung, BC designer and president, told me earlier this year when I told him I was interested in the 1/2's, that they were one of his "first loves".) I would love to hear how other Spendors, say the 3/1's, sound with the BC 6 or the new BC 21/22 solid state "value line" Gilbert has just come out with. I can see a fine $8-10K system brewing there. If I ran a shop: Naim digital front end, BC electronics, and Spendors. And lots of Nordost SPM.

Okay, conclusions: Repeat, these are NOT spectacular speakers. They will not wow you or your audiophile friends. They are not arm candy. As others have said (reviewer in the The Listener, most recently), they are the marrying kind, a wonderful relief and shelter from the audiophile storm. To put it unbearably, they sound like home - if you love music. That is the essence of the Spendor SP 1/2 myth. The theme
that runs through all of the reviews and commentary I've read. They feel familiar; they satisfy; they please, honestly; they are coherent, natural, comfortable. They won't cheat on you. They were once BBC monitors, back when the goal of monitoring was monitoring the musical performance, not the recording.

Final note: some have said these speakers demand good equipment ahead of them and clearly I heard them with very good equipment. I don't know how they'd sound with
cheaper stuff. My rule of thumb, learned from Ivor of Linn and then exaggerated, is that speakers should cost far less than the rest of your system. Mine (I'll likely buy them later this year when I've paid off my cable and Aurios!) will end up representing around 15% max -- but then I'm a cable nut. I would be reluctant to put these speakers in a system costing under $15K and doubt they'd embarrass themselves at all in one costing $40K. That's now good they sounded to me.



Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Blue Circle BC 2.1 monoblocks (75 watts, SE, Class A)

Preamplifier : Blue Circle BC 3000

Sources (CDP/Turntable): Accuphase one box cd player

Speakers: Spendor SP 1/2's

Room Size (LxWxH): 50'? x 30'? x 9'?

Room Comments/Treatments: carpet over slab

Similar Products Used:

Merlin VSM/SE, Spendor SP 100...