View Full Version : Spendor BC1
Picked a pair up at the weekend,havent had them fired up yet,any opinions/hints? How will they compare to my Kef 104/2 or Castle Harlechs??
Picked a pair up at the weekend,havent had them fired up yet,any opinions/hints? How will they compare to my Kef 104/2 or Castle Harlechs??
Only you can answer that - use your ears!
Yes,Must get them wired in,just had the cabinets fed and polished as they were looking a bit tired,so now for the real test,how do they sound....
sq225917
14-06-2012, 18:40
Which version are they, clear mid bass or black midbass, alnico or ferrite magnets?
Black mids-not sure about magnets,havent had back off yet
Only you can answer that - use your ears!
Yes,Must get them wired in,just had the cabinets fed and polished as they were looking a bit tired,so now for the real test,how do they sound....
I tend to keep mine wired in all the time, just helps in general, having conversations and things without having to stop the procedings until they're back in place and wired in.
StanleyB
15-06-2012, 06:01
There is when my TC-7220 amp/speaker switch comes in handy.
Well....
Love them! Not as sensitive as the Kef's im guessing due to difference in volume,but sound fantastic
Good that you're enjoying them! I enjoyed my BC1s for a couple of years and recall that they really excelled on vocals and acoustic music.
BTW when I got mine about 10 years ago as my first "vintage" loudspeaker, I sent Spendor an e-mail quoting their serial numbers. In return, Spendor responded with their production dates and sent me a pair of speaker badges for free! Not sure whether Spendor still offer the same service nowadays, but it was a really nice gesture on their part.
BTW although my BC1s are currently in storage, although I still have a pair of the original Spendor SA1 in my daughter's bedroom being driven by her mini hi-fi :)
Get 'em well off the floor and away from rear walls. The port could be usefully tuned too with a trimmed Maplin port tube as per the Yahoo Spendor group posts and since the surrounds are black in colour, I'd say straight off that you have ceramic magnets, which are more stable over forty years of use and storage in these speakers. I finally re-wired the internals in my BC2's with Maplin 50st instrument cable and I'm sure the sound was slightly better. The crossover caps were good stable ones to start with and selected for exact values and matching to the drivers, so I'd avoid thoughts of making them "better" as you'd probably make 'em worse.
BC1's are fetching insane money now and what was a good bargain at £150 to £250 the pair, is now a collectors 9wet) dream at the £500 or so they seem to fetch these days - it's not as if you can get them serviced in the bass unit department either...
spendorman
21-06-2012, 17:01
Get 'em well off the floor and away from rear walls. The port could be usefully tuned too with a trimmed Maplin port tube as per the Yahoo Spendor group posts and since the surrounds are black in colour, I'd say straight off that you have ceramic magnets, which are more stable over forty years of use and storage in these speakers. I finally re-wired the internals in my BC2's with Maplin 50st instrument cable and I'm sure the sound was slightly better. The crossover caps were good stable ones to start with and selected for exact values and matching to the drivers, so I'd avoid thoughts of making them "better" as you'd probably make 'em worse.
BC1's are fetching insane money now and what was a good bargain at £150 to £250 the pair, is now a collectors 9wet) dream at the £500 or so they seem to fetch these days - it's not as if you can get them serviced in the bass unit department either...
Need not necessarily be the ceramic magnets with black surrounds, I have several pairs with Alnico magnet bass units, and they have black surrounds. There was a change point from white surrounds to black surrounds fairly early on. The date will probably be on the Spendor Yahoo Newsgroup.
I also have a single pair of black surround ceramic magnet BC1's, and several BC1's with Alnico magnets and white surrounds.
Just thought, to confuse the situation a bit more! I have a pair of BC2's which have white surround bass units with ceramic magnets.
You're quite right and I'm having senior moments these days :lol:
My 1976 pair of BC1's did indeed have alnico drivers with the original troublesome black surrounds. When the ceramic ones came along in '78 or so, Spen sold me a fresh pair of bass units and with the foam port lining which came along at around this time? the bass was better I thought.
The BC2's always had ceramic magnets I think. The old drivers for mine (1974 vintage) are thus equipped...
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/DSJR_photos/BC2_smaller.jpg
spendorman
21-06-2012, 20:24
Actually, never had troublesome black surrounds on BC1, only white. But there seems to be magic midrange from white surround bass/ mid drivers that are still in usable condition.
I have a pair of Preludes, that I believe use the same bass/mid as the BC2. And the Preludes have black surrounds.
Might try these bass/ mids in the BC2's. Only problem is that Spendor selected units for sensitivity.
In my view, black surrounds are the later ones, will be more reliable, give better bass, but the white surround units, if working OK, will give better mid.
hifi_dave
21-06-2012, 20:33
Exactly - the very early white drivers had far better mid than the later black ones.
Unfortunately, the white ones had the dreaded sag, as the material reverted to it's natural flat form..:eek:
After 1978, and the higher power driver came into production, I thought the midrange came back on song and the bass reproduction was significantly less distorted on R&R.
The white cone surround on early BC1's did offer a lovely sweet upper midrange I thought, but as dave says above, most of not all of these now will have reverted to the flat-sheet from the half roll they were when made, and the bass will be way off now. The designer at Spendor used to offer a bespoke re-surround service on BC1's but I'm not sure of he's able to offer this service now. My own thoughts are that Spendor would benefit from offering this retoration service themselves - to otherwise good cones and chassis, but it would take a few years to recoup the expense of re-manufacturing the tooling for coils etc, and as of a few years ago, they weren't able to do this.
spendorman
22-06-2012, 09:04
The B&W DM4 suffered in a similar way with white surrounds. They later went to a black surround. I have several pairs of both.
Interestingly, the best midrange comes from a pair with white surrounds (still in a serviceable condition).
Was there a carcinogenic element in the surround material which was the main reason why it was abandoned?
These seem to get better hour after hour...placement isnt ideal right now due to space,and could do with some proper stands,does anyone have an original pair doing nothing..:P
spendorman
22-06-2012, 14:40
Was there a carcinogenic element in the surround material which was the main reason why it was abandoned?
I remember reading something on that line.
hifi_dave
22-06-2012, 15:16
Was there a carcinogenic element in the surround material which was the main reason why it was abandoned?
I understood it was because of the sag problem.:hmm:
spendorman
22-06-2012, 15:24
Was there a carcinogenic element in the surround material which was the main reason why it was abandoned?
Might have been the adhesive used, that sort of rings a bell!
I understood it was because of the sag problem.:hmm:
I could be wrong, but I don't seem to remember these things sagging en masse until they were ten or so years old???????
hifi_dave
23-06-2012, 09:04
I had one of the first pairs to be fitted with the Coles and the bass driver sagged after 18 months or so. The replacement and the other one sagged some time after. I only had them for five years in total.
Dingdong
23-06-2012, 09:12
My Dm2's haven't sagged. Sound lovely too.
spendorman
23-06-2012, 09:14
I suspect that it is a matter of temperature, UV exposure, humidity, manufacturing variations, and luck! etc. etc.
I have quite a few white surround BC1 bass /mids that are still usable. In fact, I think all are. Probably three pairs of white surround BC1's.
spendorman
23-06-2012, 09:17
My Dm2's haven't sagged. Sound lovely too.
Different type of surround, more rubber like, only way I got a DM2 bass unit to sag was when I accidentally trod on the cone of one when the unit was on the floor. It did damage the voice coil former though.
Managed to take unit apart straighten out former and speaker works.
I had one of the first pairs to be fitted with the Coles and the bass driver sagged after 18 months or so. The replacement and the other one sagged some time after. I only had them for five years in total.
Well, we're both feeling the effects of saggy bottoms now, ain't we squire :rofl:
hifi_dave
23-06-2012, 19:30
Speak for yerself, mine's taut and perky..:upyours:
Martyn Miles
19-07-2019, 10:20
Exactly - the very early white drivers had far better mid than the later black ones.
Unfortunately, the white ones had the dreaded sag, as the material reverted to its natural flat form..:eek:
My early BC1s ( Serial Nos. 6703/04 ) had white roll surrounds which were affected by the hot summer of ‘76.
Later in the year Spendor fitted replacement drivers with black surrounds.
Years later one of those started fouling and I inverted the driver to solve the problem.
The BC1s were later sold, for personal reasons.
Sometime later a pair came up for sale with one non-working bass/mid. driver.
I took a chance and bought them. It was a fractured braid to the voice coil which was reasonably easily repaired.
This pair has Serial Nos. 10203/4, so are a fair bit younger than my original pair.
I know aural memory can be suspect, but this later pair do sound better than the original BC1s.
In fact, I will never change them.
They have a certain ‘way’ with the type of music I play and no comparable speakers I’ve tried betters them...
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