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Spendor S3/5R2 speakers.

TheDecameron said:
Good to hear from you Jon! No, an eBay scraper bought your pair from me on here some years ago and hiked them on eBay. I foolishly replaced them with ATC 7s and bought the ones in the pic only recently from a hospice charity eBay seller. They are fantastic speakers and I went out and bought a brand new pair of 3/5R2s for another room too. What are you using yourself these days?
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Ha! I too swapped a pair of S3/5Rs for ATC SCM7s some years ago and I've regretted it ever since. The funny thing is I think I sold the S3/5Rs to JonR.

I now have a pair of Harbeth P3-ES2s, and I've lived with P3ESRs too, but I'm not sure either beats those old Spendors.

I've also owned S3/5R2s. They have quite a different character and I dodn't like them nearly as much as their predecessor.

Still, I'm now toying with the idea of buying the latest iteration of the little Spendor (the A1) which is available new at a fair price from my local dealer...
 
droodzilla said:
Ha! I too swapped a pair of S3/5Rs for ATC SCM7s some years ago and I've regretted it ever since. The funny thing is I think I sold the S3/5Rs to JonR.

I now have a pair of Harbeth P3-ES2s, and I've lived with P3ESRs too, but I'm not sure either beats those old Spendors.

I've also owned S3/5R2s. They have quite a different character and I dodn't like them nearly as much as their predecessor.

Still, I'm now toying with the idea of buying the latest iteration of the little Spendor (the A1) which is available new at a fair price from my local dealer...
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Jon’s pair were light oak I recall. I think your Harbeths will be at least as good as new Spendors. I’d only be selling them if a useful profit could be made to buy new speakers.
 
TheDecameron said:
Jon’s pair were light oak I recall. I think your Harbeths will be at least as good as new Spendors. I’d only be selling them if a useful profit could be made to buy new speakers.
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Yes, those are the ones; I'm sure I owned that very pair.

I once annoyed my neighbour with them when I cranked up Sibelius' 5th Symphony after her bedtime. Ironically, she was born in Helsinki.

Pleased to hear you enjoyed them.
 
I impulsively nabbed a pair of S3/5R2s on Ebay this morning. They should be here on Wednesday, so I look forward to hearing what they can do in my small listening room – though my experience with the Proac Tablette 10s (too light and bright to my ears) has left me a tad wary…
 
JustJohn said:
I impulsively nabbed a pair of S3/5R2s on Ebay this morning. They should be here on Wednesday, so I look forward to hearing what they can do in my small listening room – though my experience with the Proac Tablette 10s (too light and bright to my ears) has left me a tad wary…
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I hope you get on with them. I usually listen to my Harbeth P3-ESRs, but these little Spendors have
slotted well into the system.
If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you pay for them ?
I fully understand if you don’t wish to divulge the price.
 
Not listened to mine for a good few days and listening now to something I’ve not played since getting subwoofer last year, Belle and Sebastian, they’re so good, great speakers!!
 
Just swapped in my Bushmaster DAC, I’ve been using Chromecast Audio without for quite a while (being satisfied as is).

So I’m now running: S3/5r2’s, CCA, DAC, Sony 940 amp and BK 200xls sub, using only Spotify Premium, and...............it’s bloody brilliant!

Does all I currently need, very listenable, good all round, makes a fair stab at every genre. This lowly system is proving to me that with good speakers you’re most of the way there.
 
Okay, I've had a few days with the Spendors now and I'm slowly adjusting to them. The big surprise has been the sheer level of detail. I thought the Regas were good, but these are on a different level, especially in the midrange. The downside to this is that they are ruthless, albeit in an apologetic sort of way. Any shortcomings with the material or source have nowhere to run. I think part of the issue is the absence of that mid-bass bloom of ported speakers that can hide a multitude of sins. That said, the actual, proper bass on the Spendors is pretty good. Clean and taut. I'm still not convinced they're all-rounders, but I'll give them a few weeks before making a final judgement. One thing, though, I'm starting to think I just need an amp with (whisper it) tone controls and maybe a loudness function. Ooh, I could get kicked out of Hifi Club for just thinking that.

James Evans said:
John, were they the ones in Wigan?
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I believe they were. I figured if I didn't snap them up somebody else would.
 
The user manual suggests around 20cm, and that's where I've got them, but only because it's where the stands were to begin with. I will experiment a little at some point, though the wall is not solid but stud.
 
JustJohn said:
Okay, I've had a few days with the Spendors now and I'm slowly adjusting to them. The big surprise has been the sheer level of detail. I thought the Regas were good, but these are on a different level, especially in the midrange. The downside to this is that they are ruthless, albeit in an apologetic sort of way. Any shortcomings with the material or source have nowhere to run. I think part of the issue is the absence of that mid-bass bloom of ported speakers that can hide a multitude of sins. That said, the actual, proper bass on the Spendors is pretty good. Clean and taut. I'm still not convinced they're all-rounders, but I'll give them a few weeks before making a final judgement. One thing, though, I'm starting to think I just need an amp with (whisper it) tone controls and maybe a loudness function. Ooh, I could get kicked out of Hifi Club for just thinking that.



I believe they were. I figured if I didn't snap them up somebody else would.
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My findings with the S3/5R2s fit in very closely with yours.
Re. your mention of ( perhaps...) needing an amp. with tone controls, I find the Tilt controls on my Quad
34 preamp very useful.
You can get some useful bass boost for the little Spendors.
 
The thing about the bass is that when it's there in the recording the Spendors do quite a good job of it. Listening to the recent Chris Carter CD reissues earlier, every thump and throb was present and correct. I wouldn't want it any deeper. It's when it's not there that it's a bit of a problem: the original CD of Kraftwerk's Computer World, for example, is anaemic at normal levels. I'd be really interested to compare these against the new Spendor A1, which has a 150mm woofer compared to the S3/5R2's 140mm, and is supposed to go down to 55hz as opposed to 75hz. I did hear the A1s at a dealer recently but preferred the Proac Tablette 10s in that demo, though at home I found them lacking – I already much prefer the S3/5R2.
 
JustJohn said:
The thing about the bass is that when it's there in the recording the Spendors do quite a good job of it. Listening to the recent Chris Carter CD reissues earlier, every thump and throb was present and correct. I wouldn't want it any deeper. It's when it's not there that it's a bit of a problem: the original CD of Kraftwerk's Computer World, for example, is anaemic at normal levels. I'd be really interested to compare these against the new Spendor A1, which has a 150mm woofer compared to the S3/5R2's 140mm, and is supposed to go down to 55hz as opposed to 75hz. I did hear the A1s at a dealer recently but preferred the Proac Tablette 10s in that demo, though at home I found them lacking – I already much prefer the S3/5R2.
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You may wish to investigate the ifi itube 2 - it could be the answer here and may well make the r2's keepers. Trust me.
 
A quick update. It's normally during the second week of a new pair of speakers that I become apparent of their shortcomings and decide they're not quite what I thought they were. This hasn't happened with the Spendors. I seem happy to overlook their limitations because the overall package is so appealing and unfussy. We're getting on just fine.
 
John, reading your ‘aneamic’ comment above, it’s kind of where I was, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that, but definitely lacking something in the bass/midrange, they’re clean and smooth but can understand someone wanting more.

So, me being in that position and always hankering after a sub, I got myself a BK Xls 200, like the S3’s, it’s sealed unit and works well with them, it’s done what I wanted, adding a good dose of realism all-round.

I’m pretty much at a point now where I’m thinking my system is as good as I want and will be happy for a while to come.
 
I was totally delighted when I added a second system some months. The Audiolab M one amp/dac and Spendor S3/5R2's in a small upstairs room held up well against my main system: Musicarch 300b valve amp and Audionote an-j speakers. Circumstances involved me trying my main system in the smaller room. The an-j speakers were impossible. Curiosity lead me to just trying the S3/5R2's with my Musicarch 300b amp. I was so impressed I thought I would leave the amp for a few days. To my ears the small Spendors were so bloody good I ended up forking for another valve amp for downstairs, leaving the 300b with the S3/5R'2s. I am no longer quite sure which is my main system. Bravo S3/5R2's.
 
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