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Spendor SP100R2 Colossal standmounters have true retro style and an easy-listening tone TECHSPECS
*****
Price R79999 Designmirade A big stand mounted - yes, stand mounted - cabinet made with an unusual thin-walled construction combined with a massive 30cm woofer. Bring on the bass
Tempted? Traditional design techniques combined with cutting-edge modern engineering rneanszte best of both worlds for tone - and those trad/retro looks seal the deal for us
I
t's no surprise that the SPlOOR2 looks like a throwback to speakers past. It is. It's the largest speaker in the company's Classic range and can trace its lineage back to the Spendor BC3, first launched in 1973. But while the engineering principles go back . decades, the R2 brings in much of the knowledge gained by developing modern Spendors such as the STl and SAL It's a classic design engineered to modern standards and sensibilities. One thing that can't be called modern is the SPlOOR2s' appearance. These are big, chunky speakers - about the size of a small beer fridge - and proud of it.
How it works Spendor is rare among the smaller specialist speaker manufacturers for making most of its own drive units. The tweeter is bought in from an OEM company but the 1Scm midrange and 30cm bass units are made in-house. The advantages are plentiful: the company has total control over the . manufacturing process and can keep a beady eye on quality, and the units can also be specified exactly as the designer desires - so, in theory, at least. the result should be a better-sounding product.
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Most high-end speakers have 16.5cm bass drivers, so it comes as something of a shock to see an old-fashioned 12in unit - that's around 30cm in new money. This massive driver and cabinet suggest oodles of bass - and that's what you get. Apart from the proportions and large bass driver it's the cabinet that flies most in the face of current thinking. Unlike just about every rival. the SPlOOR2s' cabinets are thin-walled and heavily damped. Tap a panel and you'll hear a low, controlled thud. This kind of construction takes cabinet resonances lower in frequency than the ultra-rigid approach used in modern alternatives.
Volume, unsurprisingly, is no problem for these speakers: they have the ability to fill a large room without straining. Large-scale dynamics are handled with grace, and stereo imaging is nice and expansive, if lacking the out-of-the box projection of smaller, more modern rivals. Perhaps the SPlOOR2s' biggest strength is that they're easy to listen to for hours without getting tiring. Their ability to reveal and entertain while remaining undemanding is a rare one. These are large speakers so an appropriately sized room is mandatory if that lush bass isn't going to dominate.
The SPIOOR2sare gentle giants. They do everything you could hope for in such a large design, but with a grace and refinement that their appearance doesn't even hint at Playing a favourite of ours - the Dark Knight OST - results in a sea of lows delivered with rare depth, weight and subtlety. Very large drivers produce bass in an alluring way that smaller units can't match (even in numbers) - so the SPlOOR2 doesn't smack you in the chest. Instead the lows flow, swelling as the music demands, while agility and definition are still crisp. Move upward in frequency and it's all good news. The new in-house midrange unit along with the 22mm surround tweeter combine to deliver a lovely, natural presentation. The SPlOOR2 manages to sound fluid, informative and entertaining without edginess, even with poor recordings. There's enough transparency to expose ropey material, but the Spendors still manage detail with an unusual amount of politeness.
Take care with positioning. We found away from walls with a touch of toe-in worked well in our room. Stands should put the tweeter near ear height; deviate too far and the tonal balance goes amiss. Get it right and these are true gentle giants. They do everything you'd hope for in a speaker, but with a grace that their appearance doesn't hint at. The' SPlOOR2s show that past engineering solutions still have plenty of merit.
Rating
*****
Powerful,large-scalesound; impressive subtlety;great bass;easy-goingsonicstyle FOR
They'rereally,reallymassive and lookrather old-fashioned
AGAINST
VERDICT Thisrevisedold-timercan still compete with the best at this price level
Type Standmounter Sensitivity 89dB/W/m Impedance 8 ohms Max power 200W Biwirable Yes Finishes 2 Dimensions (hwd) 70 x 37 x43cm
space - they aren't
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What's so clever?
Traditional design, done better
Everything but the grille
m Integration
Like most speakers, the SP100R2s
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sensation
These are proper three-way
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Get all amped up Like most speakers, the
come with grilles and sound better
speakers. The advantage is that each
without them. The recessed front panel makes removing the grilles very difficult.
drive unit can be optimised for its
SP100R2s can be biwired. In our system, biwiring didn't make a massive
frequency range, but the downside is the immense difficulty of trying to
sonic difference, but it's well worth experimenting with your setup.
combine three drivers seamlessly. Spendor has done this better than most.
always brings improvements.
probably the hardest we've found on any speaker; take care to avoid damaging the grille and cabinet edges.
Biamping, on the other hand, almost
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