Spendor SP7/1

[Thing Fish]

Anyone ever own these speakers? Or even heard them?

Not much info or reviews on the interweb or on their site.

Are they a good speaker or turkeys Spendor would rather forget...:scratch:

[nat8808]

Have you spotted the pair on ebay?

The 9/1 was supposed to be v.good - assume 7/1 is good too?

[nat8808]

Don't go crazy on them - there's a pair still for sale on PFM and was the very first thing to come up when Googled ! Google is your friend.. don't be afraid:

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=129979

Here's his ad which includes a review from Gramaphone:


A pair of Spendor SP7/1's from Spendor's Master Series. These have the drivers from the SP2's in a floorstanding cabinet. Along with the larger SP9/1 these were Spendor's top of the line speakers in the 90's.

They are in a beautiful cherry veneer and are immaculate, bar some sun fade where the grilles have been.

There was a detailed review in Gramophone from 1995, but it's been taken down. An extract is here:

"In sum, this is an impressive loudspeaker whose even-handed performance clearly stems from the Spendor tradition of tonal neutrality, whist at the same time it has a crisp attack, a "speed" which is fully up-to-date. It is quite beautifully made with a styling refreshingly different from the usual dour rectangular box but which will nevertheless sit happily among traditional furnishings. It certainly warrants a place on any shortlist in its price band

The Spendor SP7/1 breaks away from the standard rectangular box design, sharing a striking cabinet profile in which the only parallel members are the side panels; although they are necessarily more expensive in manufacture, irregular shaped enclosures such as these offer significant benefits in their pacifying of internal standing waves. The floorstanding loudspeaker employs reflex loading via a port on the front baffle intended for free-space positioning away from the rear wall.

The SP7/1 cabinet has configured sloping front baffle that provides a degree of time-alignment for the two drive units- a 200mm homopolymer polypropylene coned bass/midrange unit and a Scanspeak tweeter, which is mounted just above it.

Spendor subscribes to the view that it is better to make use of panel resonance by controlling it rather than to attempt the near impossible task of suppressing it entirely; and to this effect they have traditionally employed judiciously damped, relatively thin walled cabinets to complement substantial, rigid baffles. Able to flex in this way, the cabinet walls have little tendency to 'hang on' to the unwanted energy; more rigid panels tend to throw energy back into play after a minuscule delay, the audible effect of which is a 'smearing' of detail, noticeable especially in the midrange.

As can be seen from the photograph, the baffle slopes back and is tapered. It also has chamfered edges, which within the region of the drive units helps reduce diffraction effects that would otherwise tend to compromise the stereo image. What is not immediately apparent is the sheer bulk of this front panel, which provides a massive, stable platform to which the drive units are literally referenced. The side and rear panels are loaded (damped) internally by the addition of high hysteresis bitumastic pads. The cabinet has a lateral brace just above the reflex port and apart from the baffle is entirely lined with absorptive polyether foam.

Spendor's bass/midrange drive unit is built into a substantial cast aluminium chassis. The unit is front-mounted into a shelved recess in the baffle and held in place against a thin foam gasket by hex-headed screws, which mate with threaded retainers on the internal face- the proper way to do it."

(Sensitivity 88dB, FR 60 Hz to 20kHz, 8 ohms)

£650 collected from Liverpool. I've no packing so can't post these.

[nat8808]

Plus the ebay ones have a reserve and the seller's name reads like a dealer - expect the reserve to be higher than those for sale on PFM. AND they're offering worldwide shipping so expect the bidding to be much higher than those on PFM too..

Still, as they're local, worth keeping an eye on.

[nat8808]

User reviews on Audio Review:

http://www.audioreview.com/cat/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/spendor/sp7-1/prd_124528_1594crx.aspx

[Thing Fish]

Thanks Nat I've already googled them to death read all those. I just wondered if anyone has owned them.

The ones on PFM are in Liverpool and i'm not a member anyway.

[nat8808]

Only takes a second to join PFM and picking up in London v Liverpool is a difference of 8 hrs and £60 petrol. Pay yourself £12/hr for driving if you need motivation, so count it as £150 cost.

Therefore, if you can get those on PFM for more that £150 less than the ebay ones (which still need some pick up time and cost) then it's the same! They've been for sale for a while so I'm sure some haggling will be ok.

That's how I look at it anyway - some people hate driving and wouldn't do it even for £12/hr whereas that's not far off my day job sometimes!

[Thing Fish]

I'd also have the added expense of buying a car as well...:lol: