Spendor SP200

[CDLehner]

Spendor doesn't have a dedicated thread here?

Am I the first to mention, the new monster SP200?

[Kuoppis]

Looks impressive, what are the specs?


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[joeinid]

Nope. I've been drooling since December ... Spendor classic sp200 loudspeaker

[joeinid]

Spendor SP200 New product information.pdf

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
Spendor SP200
Description 3 way floor standing loudspeaker
Enclosure type Thin walled, damped, braced, sealed
Input connection Three pairs gold plated precision binding posts
Links allow for single, bi or tri-wiring
Typical in-room response 20Hz - 25kHz
Power handling 300 watts unclipped programme
Sensitivity 89dB for 1 watt at 1 metre
Nominal impedance 8 ohms (min 6.2)
HF driver 22mm polyamide dome
Bass/mid driver Spendor 18cm EP77 polymer cone
Lower bass driver x2 Spendor 30cm bextrene cone with Kevlar© composite stabiliser
Crossover frequencies 550Hz, 3.8kHz
Net Weight 55kg
Height 1085mm (excluding feet)
Width 370mm
Depth 515mm (excluding terminals)
Finish Cherry (Special finishes quoted on request)
Plinth satin black
Accessories Height adjustable spike feet, grille

[CDLehner]

Joe...why am I not surprised. You're exactly, who I had in mind...when I saw them

All one needs...is a BIG room; and $25k (standard finish)

[joeinid]

Joe...why am I not surprised. You're exactly, who I had in mind...when I saw them

All one needs...is a BIG room; and $25k (standard finish)

[Kuoppis]

Two 30 cm woofers, that's a proposition .


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[kkfan]

Now, if only Harbeth made a floor-stander...

[joeinid]

What intrigues me about the Spendor is the they are often shown together with my Triode M845 amps. I've seen the SP100's used and I'd love to hear the SP200's.

I realize nothing is perfect and these may not be totally accurate, but I think they would be fun to have.

[Mike]

I can get Spendor through my Chord distributor. I've been tempted to try a pair.

[joeinid]

I can get Spendor through my Chord distributor. I've been tempted to try a pair.

[Paul]

Now, if only Harbeth made a floor-stander...

Harbeth never fool around Spendor did with some floor standers and they sounds totally different than their classic series.


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[Mike]

Paul, how are those beautiful Canterbury's sounding?

[Paul]

Paul, how are those beautiful Canterbury's sounding?

I'm in heaven with AirTight you sold me ! They just sing !

[Paul]

I really like to try this pair - Spender SP100R2 SE Vintage edition

[Mike]

Paul, you know these speakers?

[Paul]

Oh boy....Thats a heck of speakers ! Lovely !

Now back to Spender

[joeinid]

Paul,

What's different about the Vintage Edition? I can't seem to find anything about them.

I really like to try this pair - Spender SP100R2 SE Vintage edition

[Paul]

Paul,

What's different about the Vintage Edition? I can't seem to find anything about them.

They went back to retro style including the new grill with old logo



and upgrade the crossover capacitor and filter as well. I heard they sounds bit brighter ( in good way ) than before.

[joeinid]

Thank you Paul, they look awesome.

[harleyguy]

I really think I would like to hear the Spendor's. Two twelves per cabinet is something you don't see much any more. I would be interested to see how they well they image being the size of them.

[Paul]

Let's wait till Joe gets his pair first. It won't be long


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[mresseguie]

Hello. I was just reading through this thread when it dawned on me that I heard these a little more than a year ago. I was attending the Taipei Hi-end Audio Show that was held at the Grand Hotel. The Spendor rep had flown in from England to make sure they were properly positioned, and to answer questions. Prior to my listening to the SP200s, I had had just one brief experience with the smallest Spendor (don't even know its model number/name) at Stereotypes Audio in Portland, OR perhaps two years earlier. As I sat down in the sweet spot, the rep told me there were just two pairs of this speaker in existence - one pair was at the factory and the only other pair was sitting in front of me.

It's been too long now for me to remember anything other than my thinking these are amazing sounding speakers that could be placed in a LARGE room and still fill the entire space with amazing music. The bass was thunderous yet crystal clear. After about ten minutes, I decided I'd had enough (it was a little too loud by my standards). One thought has stuck with me: $25k for this pair certainly seems like a reasonable price to charge for them (even though that's way over my budget btw).

I don't recall which hardware was powering them nor do I recall if they used a CD player or a TT.

I'd really like to someday audition the SP100r2 speakers. They're right at the upper limit of my budget.

Michael

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum Michael, thank you for joining.

[Jack]

Good to see you here Michael.

[mresseguie]

Thank you for the welcome. I don't know why it took me so long to look into the forum here - hard to break away from my usual haunting place, I guess. Heck, I've been using the hifishark.com search function forever...I'll be sure to poke my nose into threads.

Say, I've got a bit of a review on Lawrence Audio speakers (Taiwan) to post. I just need to organize my thoughts and find a bit of time.

Michael

[audio.bill]

Thank you for the welcome. I don't know why it took me so long to look into the forum here - hard to break away from my usual haunting place, I guess. Heck, I've been using the hifishark.com search function forever...I'll be sure to poke my nose into threads.

Say, I've got a bit of a review on Lawrence Audio speakers (Taiwan) to post. I just need to organize my thoughts and find a bit of time.

Michael

Welcome to AudioShark Michael! Just for clarity though http://hifishark.com is owned and administered from Denmark which apparently has no connection to this fine site.

[mresseguie]

Welcome to AudioShark Michael! Just for clarity though hifishark is owned and administered from Denmark which apparently has no connection to this fine site.

Oopsies! That's good to know. I'll remember this.

[harleyguy]

Hello. I was just reading through this thread when it dawned on me that I heard these a little more than a year ago. I was attending the Taipei Hi-end Audio Show that was held at the Grand Hotel. The Spendor rep had flown in from England to make sure they were properly positioned, and to answer questions. Prior to my listening to the SP200s, I had had just one brief experience with the smallest Spendor (don't even know its model number/name) at Stereotypes Audio in Portland, OR perhaps two years earlier. As I sat down in the sweet spot, the rep told me there were just two pairs of this speaker in existence - one pair was at the factory and the only other pair was sitting in front of me.

It's been too long now for me to remember anything other than my thinking these are amazing sounding speakers that could be placed in a LARGE room and still fill the entire space with amazing music. The bass was thunderous yet crystal clear. After about ten minutes, I decided I'd had enough (it was a little too loud by my standards). One thought has stuck with me: $25k for this pair certainly seems like a reasonable price to charge for them (even though that's way over my budget btw).

I don't recall which hardware was powering them nor do I recall if they used a CD player or a TT.

I'd really like to someday audition the SP100r2 speakers. They're right at the upper limit of my budget.

Michael

So are these a factory limited edition or are they now coming out with them? I notice them in the new speakers section of Spendors website. To me it looks like Spendor is trying to catch some of the classic audio bug that some people are having these days(kind of reverting back to the days of big sensitive speakers)

[mresseguie]

So are these a factory limited edition or are they now coming out with them? I notice them in the new speakers section of Spendors website. To me it looks like Spendor is trying to catch some of the classic audio bug that some people are having these days(kind of reverting back to the days of big sensitive speakers)

At the time, I speculated that these speakers were intended for the deep-pocketed Asian audio buyers (distinct from the deep-pocketed Asian audiophiles) who lust after large face giving audiophile speakers. However, I was so unfamiliar with Spender models that I did not know there were SP100 speakers. The rep did mention that the SP200 were due to be presented at the Guangzhou Audio Show following the Taipei show, which is why I speculated what I did.

I am afraid I do not know the answer.

[Jack]

Michael

I suspect your supposition about the intended market is probably correct as $25,000 is considerably outside normal expectations for Spendor pricing. Harbeth would have the same problem if they out of the blue came out with a model twice the price of the 40.2. Whether or not the price is "fair" compared to competitors would not matter as they haven't occupied that segment of the market before. Plus no "exotic" materiasl and drivers are involved in their marketing or product description. Just tried and true methods.

[harleyguy]

I know what you are talking about with the Asian audiophile market. I have seen pictures of some of the systems over there and they really like the big speakers. I see a lot of re done vintage JBL's among others that seem to dominate over there. But I have also seen a little bit of that in the states as well with people reconsidering high sensitivity big driver speakers for their dynamic presence.

[mresseguie]

In 2015, I was invited into a building materials businessman's office/apartment. Imagine a workaholic business owner who spends a few nights each week at the business, so his office doubles as an apartment- all on the third floor of his business. Anyway, he was excited to meet a non-Taiwanese audiophile, so he insisted I head upstairs to view his rig. Burmester mono amps, Burmester preamp, Focal Scala V2 Utopia speakers and a nice CDP (forgot brand) all connected by top of the line loom. This system occupied approximately 1/3 of the 10x10x9-ish office (the apartment was on the other side of a wall).

Now, imagine my staring in utter amazement at this system. I had expected a modest system with standmount monitors only to be presented with a nearly $100k USD power house. I hoped he'd fired it up to give me a listen, but that never happened. I ohhed and ahed for 2 minutes before being ushered back out. That was it. He admitted to only occasionally turning it all on to listen for a while.

It's a showpiece.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just the opposite experience yesterday:

I visited an audio dealer in Taipei yesterday that sells Harbeth, AE, Aurum, and a couple other speaker manufacturers. The amps/preamps/DACs/CDPs, etc. are mostly German made. This is a very laid back operation obviously run by audio lovers who just want to share their love for this hobby. Yesterday's showpiece speakers were Harbeth 20.1 mini-monitors powered by a 120w Trigon integrated amp. I'd never seen or heard the amp or speakers before. They sounded absolutely wonderful. We listened near-field to Jazz, Classical, girl-and-a-guitar, and drums for 45 minutes. Then, a pair of Aurum two-way monitors (ribbon tweeter/6.5" midwoofer) were set in place. Llistened to three songs to make sure of my impressions. The Aurums are very resolving, very analytical. I thanked the guy and told him I would quickly tire of them if I had to listen to them every day.


As I thanked the guy, he handed me his card and mentioned they'd have a pair of Super HL5 Anniversary speakers in by Saturday that were currently on loan. He never asked about my budget, preferences nor did he try to get me to buy anything. This may be one of my favorite dealers.

More later...

Michael

[joeinid]

Great stories Michael. Thank you for sharing.

[Mdroger]

I really think I would like to hear the Spendor's. Two twelves per cabinet is something you don't see much any more. I would be interested to see how they well they image being the size of them.

I just posted on another thread about if you had to choose one speaker for the rest of your life. To recap, I just purchased a pair of sp-200s in November. To me, they do everything: great midrange with incredible voice reproduction, great deep, accurate bass reproduction with incredible dynamics. As to soundstage reproduction, deep and expansive. Incredible that without any real exotic materials, these speakers just do most, if not everything right. I would happily keep these speakers for the next few decades. I highly suggest that yo audition them if the chance becomes available

[Kuoppis]

I just posted on another thread about if you had to choose one speaker for the rest of your life. To recap, I just purchased a pair of sp-200s in November. To me, they do everything: great midrange with incredible voice reproduction, great deep, accurate bass reproduction with incredible dynamics. As to soundstage reproduction, deep and expansive. Incredible that without any real exotic materials, these speakers just do most, if not everything right. I would happily keep these speakers for the next few decades. I highly suggest that yo audition them if the chance becomes available

It remains to be seen how long exotic materials used by Magico, B&W, Wilson Benesch and others do prevail. As history shows, usually not that long.

While some of the LS do sound good, I'm not sure how much being made of the latest unobtainium actually is a factor. Yesterday it was Kevlar or Rohacell, today you need Graphene, Continuum or Isotactic Polypropylene. Fanbois keep hyping about those and parroting marketing slogans with very limited understanding about actual material science. In a couple of months there will be the next fad which is again supposed to be the bees knees for half a year.

Another nice example of marketing bull is the Q7 mk2 which Magico advertises is made with 600 screws to hold together the braces and the cabinet. How is that supposed to make the LS sound better? It's 1200 risks built into a pair of LS, which can loosen and then start to rattle. Good luck trying to find out which one is loose. I also think if a LS has to cost as much as a condo to sound good, then there is something wrong with the purported science behind it (or the science is simply marketing and storytelling) - it's a loudspeaker for pete sake.

Hence, to me an honest LS like the SP-200 is refreshing for a change. Big sound coming out of big woofers, as simple as that.


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[joeinid]

Since owning my JBLs, I am a believer in "no replacement for displacement". Big woofers, big air.

I was surprised when I immediately went back to my Strads how much bass there actually is coming from those babies. Between both woofers and the back port, I did not feel as if I was losing anything to the JBLs. A wonderful surprise and another reason to love them even more.

I do confess to badly wanting to hear the SP200 (and even the SP100R2) for fun. Something draws me to those speakers, especially the SP200 .

edit ...

Hence, to me an honest LS like the SP-200 is refreshing for a change. Big sound coming out of big woofers, as simple as that.


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[Fourlegs]

I just posted on another thread about if you had to choose one speaker for the rest of your life. To recap, I just purchased a pair of sp-200s in November. To me, they do everything: great midrange with incredible voice reproduction, great deep, accurate bass reproduction with incredible dynamics. As to soundstage reproduction, deep and expansive. Incredible that without any real exotic materials, these speakers just do most, if not everything right. I would happily keep these speakers for the next few decades. I highly suggest that yo audition them if the chance becomes available

I am interested to hear more from anyone who has experience of the SP200 speakers. I have had S100 speakers for many many years and now finally have a pair of SP200 on home demo. What people say about the bass is true. It is quite awesome. The top and mid range is also excellent and all in all I am impressed. Well, who would not be? They are amazing speakers.

However, what I am interested in is whether anyone who has or has tried SP200 speakers is tri wiring or whether you are using a single really good speaker cable and using jumpers at the speaker end? My ears tell me that the jumpers supplied with the speakers are not doing the sound any favours.

Any thoughts?

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum Fourlegs, thank you for joining.

[Mdroger]

I have my speakers biwired with straight wire crescendo speaker wires and a bridge made from arc litz cables between the mid and woofer. It sounds better than single wired but would imagine that tri-wired would be optimal

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum.

I fell in love with the SP200 on looks alone years ago. I’m dying to hear them.

[Jack]

Joe

Did you ever find a dealer that even stocks a floor demo pair? Seems the D series is much more popular in the US.

[joeinid]

I never really followed up. Price seems more than I’d like to pay plus my Avantgarde are sounding awesome these days. If there were a little more efficient, I’d probably be all over them.

[joeinid]

There is a pair of SP200 on Ebay for $12,000

Hmmmm, I’ll take a look.

Hopefully you could buy them, that would be awesome.

[joeinid]

That’s a beautiful looking pair.

[Jack]

Do you still have an amp around with enough juice to push them if they are like the big Harbeth's. Seems the D series are the efficient Spendors though the claim the SP200's are 89 db I find that hard to believe with those two big woofers plus 120 lbs a piece. You would need to hire some people.

[joeinid]

I only have the Job 250’s which might work. It would be too much speaker for me at this point. I still lust for them but I couldn’t, unfortunately.

[Jack]

Appears to be a dealer of sorts in the Atlanta area that also has McIntosh and Audio Research. Also has a floor demo pair of SP-100 R2's for sale. Been selling on Ebay for about fifteen years. I'm with as I wouldn't want to move them around. I have a couple of pairs like that now. I've been playing around with used monitors like the Reynaud Bliss Jubilee, Fritz Carrera Be and the C7's at the SC house and that has kept me occupied as the setups in Florida are fine until things are sorted out.

[Jack]

The SP100 is more the alternative to the Harbeth 40 series. They both have their devoted fans.