SPENDOR ST LOUDSPEAKERS

SPENDOR ST LOUDSPEAKERS
lassic designs such as the BBC1
and the LS3/5a were produced
for the BBC by Spendor, and
later both expanded on and
improved by Spendor itself for
the consumer market.The company was
taken over by Philip Swift, founder of the
Audiolab amplifier brand, in 2001.
The ST (apparently short for Statement)
is Spendor's all-new flagship. It draws on
the expertise and design experience of the
Spendor team, but contextualises these
with the use of state-of-the-art technology,
both in terms of design and the components
employed.
A 2,5-way floorstanding design, the ST is
certainly attractive and distinctive, considering
the understated, almost old-fashioned
cosmetics of much of the current Spendor
range.The slim dimensions and relatively
small drive units allow a narrow baffle with
slightly curved edges, which has benefits in
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Loudspeaker maker
Spendor has a history
that stretches back to
the 1960s. Originally
founded by Spencer
and Dorothy Hughes,
the company had
its R&D foundations
in loudspeakers
specifically designed
for use in the BBC's
broadcasting studios.
terms of diffraction and linear accuracy.
Beautifully finished in glossy piano black
lacquer, the enclosures feature a front inlay
which, Spendor says, can be customised to
suit individual taste. Current offerings include
exotic woods such as ebony and zebrano, as
well as high-tech aluminium, but apparently,
the sky's the limit – at a price, I'm sure.
The enclosure features integrated, solidly
anchored metal discs which offer a secure
home to four adjustable spikes in the
interests of efficient coupling.The rear panel
features a single pair of WBT NextGen
four-way binding posts.The ST's design team
clearly saw no need for bi-wiring.
At first, the ST appears to be a sealedenclosure, infinite baffle design. But on
closer inspection, you'll find that it is indeed
bass-loaded, with a narrow, rectangular linear
flow aperture located at the bottom edge
of the box.
The linear flow bass reflex system will be
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familiar to those exposed to Spendor's
current S-series speakers, and is said to allow
exceptional bass control and delivery, almost
regardless of room positioning – quite a claim
in the context of a large floorstanding speaker,
with a 45-litre internal volume.
The drive unit array is designed and
manufactured in-house, and is headed up by a
wide-dispersion 29 mm soft dome tweeter
with bi-elliptical front plate, ferrofluid cooling
and damped rear acoustic plate. A 180 mm
polymer-cone mid/bass driver is partnered by
a 180 mm reinforced Kevlar composite woofer.
The crossover network is also an in-house
design, and delivers a single 4,8 kHz crossover
point, underscoring the 2,5-way design
approach adopted here.
Initially, I thought the STs might be a little
large for my listening room, but decided it was
worth a shot anyway – even if it meant locating
them pretty close to the side walls of my
listening room, albeit a good 1,8 m away from
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VITAL STATS
the rear wall and corners.
I toed them in slightly, and ran a variety
of speaker cables over the extended test
period, ranging from the affordable and
astonishingly taut AntiCable to Van Den Hul
The Revelation, Cardas Golden Reference
and XLO Signature.
The Spendor STs sounded good right out
of the box, displaying an ability to project a
rich tonal range, and showing off a penchant
for agility and momentum. More importantly
was a talent for transparency that made their
physical presence in the room less daunting,
and allowed them to 'disappear' as point
sources from the soundstage.
I really liked the bass of these floorstanders.
It's the kind of bottom end that has force
and substance, so that you can as much
feel it as hear it – but not in the drive-by
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Enclosure type ..................Floorstanding
bass-reflex
Drive units ..........29 mm dome tweeter,
180 mm polymer cone mid/bass,
180 mm Kevlar composite cone woofer
Bi-wiring ..................................................No
Impedance ....................8 ohm (nominal),
4,2 ohm (min)
Sensitivity ..........87 dB (1 watt/1 metre)
Frequency response
..............58 Hz – 20 kHz (±3 dB anechoic)
Power handling ....200 watts unclipped
Dimensions (HxWxD)
......................................970 x 200 x 390 mm
Weight......................................22,5 kg each
PRICE................................................R87 999
VERDICT
Regal but thoroughly accessible and involving
performance from these immaculately
presented speakers. Deserve top-class ancillaries. Superior bass delivery and control.
SUPPLIED BY
WEBSITE
AV Cables
082 774-4831
www.avcables.co.za
boom-box taxi kind of way than can leave
you with your ears ringing and gasping
for breath.
Rather, the STs deliver their low-frequency
wares with smooth authority, with ample
control ensuring that you only hear what
is there, and not what resonates as a
result. It's big and powerful bass, but never
overpowering.
With such a tonal foundation, the rest of
the sonic package promises to be good, and
it is.The midrange (where the majority of
the audible sonic spectrum is seated) is full
and textured enough to do full justice to
the music.
The spidery, percussive guitars and echoed
ambience of that classic guitar trio recording,
‘Friday Night in San Francisco’ had all the
presence, pace and excitement one could
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wish for, with the mastery of Messrs Da
Lucia, McLaughlin and Di Meola coming alive
with holographic gusto.
The Spendors were equally at home
rendering the full majesty of Handel's ‘Water
Music’ on a re-released, Decca LP version
performed by George Szell and the LSO.
The scale of the orchestra, the layers of
melody laid down by the orchestra's sections
– the sheer power of the performance –
was conveyed with articulate elegance.
Francis Cabrel's Alsatian-tinged acoustic
gypsy-rock on ‘Samedi Soir Sur La Terre’,
remains a stern challenge for even a top-end
system, but one that the Spendors embraced
with a certain relish.The filigreed detail of
the acoustic guitar, the closely miked voice
of Cabrel, the boom of the bass, the slap and
slam of the drum kit: the Spendors made it
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all come thrillingly, believably alive.
The immaculately produced rockabilly
of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals on
‘Cold Roses’ sounded every bit as raw and
resonant as its creators intended – and the
polish and elegance of the Spendors never
got in the way of the energy and pathos
of the music here. Adams has a goose
bump-inducing voice, and here, it bobs
and weaves on an expansive, translucent
soundstage, to absolutely spellbinding effect.
While the Spendors sound big, bold
and majestic, they are able to extract and
present those fine strands of detail so
often glossed over by lesser designs.They
have the ability to open up the music, to
present the soundstage with so much
space and air that appreciating even the
tiniest element becomes intuitive.
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The result is a strong thrust of realism
that adds to the overall satisfaction of the
listening experience.
The accuracy of the Spendor STs is the
legacy of a company dedicated to producing
broadcast-quality monitors, but these floorstanders manage to match that precision
to musical cohesion, a seamlessly rendered
soundstage and a polished overall performance
that does the music true justice.
While they have little difficulty in recreating
the scale and impetus of a musical performance,
their ease of placement, and generally benign
character, makes them easier to install than
many other floorstanders at this level.
And when partnered with ancillaries of
similar quality, they’re a truly class act:
sonic sovereigns of the highest order.
Deon Schoeman
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