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Spendor sp9/1

After many emails with Spendor I will keep the drivers. The new replacement drivers doesn't perfectly match with the crossover.
 
Jowcol said:
This is why so many people describe older Spendors as sounding dull and boring. People say how wonderful it is when they get rid of their old Spendors for a new pair of Harbeth, 'it's like taking a blanket from in front of my speakers'. It isn't 'RADIAL' doing that, it is having a compliant surround..
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I will say that I heard a pair of Harbeth 30.1s a few months ago and I would describe the contrast between the SP100s and the Harbeth's in terms more or less consistent with this description.

It seems weird that Spendor would actively discourage people from getting new drivers. Why would they do that?
 
Why must every surround be replaced? As you may recognized in my case this wasn't so. Maybe there are many other speakers out there of this age which are also still working well.

To use a active crossover is not such a good idea, if you don't know what to do. To create/design isn't as easy as you imagine. If so, everybody is able to design such good speakers as Spendor or Harbeth. If you really think changing a driver from the same company doesn't make much differenc and doen't need changings at the crossover then you have much to learn about speakerdesign.

Maybe you only happy with the new sound of your speaker because of the new driver not only the new surround and the changed sound with your matching with the crossover witch doesn't fit 100%. You have no possibility to compare a "new" orgininal driver to a "new days" replacement driver.

This could also be the reason that customers arn't happy with serviced speaker, because the crossover doesn't match to the new driver or the new driver sounds different as the org. driver.

If the surround is broken/defect/hard then replacing the surround and not the complete driver makes more sense to me in relation with the crossover then a new driver. Also the prices would be far less I guess.
 
What is the surround material on that driver? I can't imagine that it would get so stiff over time as to make a huge difference in sound; I would think that the spider/suspension would have a greater effect on speaker compliance than the surround.
 
@ Vinyl Giraffe: Me too. I know that foam surroundings are drying out and getting brittle but as long as the rubber is still stretchy there is no reason for replacing, as Spendor told me also.
 
Cellofan,

I owned a pair of SP9/1s for a few years but was forced to sell them due to a move abroad.
They're really very good speakers.

Dry suspensions in some vintage Spendors is a fact unfortunately.
Derek Hughes who designed them posted information on how to "cure" hardened suspensions with brake fluid here:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/spendor/info

Best,
Ric
 
I have owned a Rosewood pair. They are really good speakers which are perfect matched with Naim Amplifier. I drive them with 2 pair of Naim NAP135s. Their sound are charming, mid range and bass is to die for. Sound stage is really huge. I really love them.

I also have another speakers: Proac Future 2 and use the same system driving with bi amplification. Spendor SP9/1 vocal is more charming for me. It is easy to drive
 
Rubber surrounds usually last a long time, but in the wrong environment they can dry out, harden and crack.

Some are particularly susceptible, eg the grey surrounds used in some B & W DM and CM series speakers.

Treating the rubber with a preservative is a good idea. It's easy enough to tell by the look and feel and if they seem fine, no point replacing them.
 
Old Shatterhand said:
@ Vinyl Giraffe: Me too. I know that foam surroundings are drying out and getting brittle but as long as the rubber is still stretchy there is no reason for replacing, as Spendor told me also.
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Hi, I wanted to send you a pm but seems I dont have sufficient priviledges. So I am resurrecting this old post to ask the below:

First of all my greetings

@Old Shatterhand from looking at this threat, I understand that you have/had a pair of Spendor 9/1.

I am a considering a pair for my space. I am currently on a pair of Hyperion 968 and I am looking for something smoother and warmer. I have a large space with speakers positioned away from room boundaries and I think the 9/1s will be a good fit.

Would you be so kind to share your experience with them?
The age of the speakers, 25yo, scares me. Is it really an issue?

Any tips of where to find a pair and what to be careful of when buying a used pair.

Thank you in advance

George
 
Hello George,
I didn't recognize that I haven't allowed people to sent me a PM, thanks for that advice. I have changed my settings and now you can send me a PM.

Yes, I have owned them but sold them quite fast because it wasn't my kind of sound in the long run.

The deeper midrange was to cloudy for me and the heights were to polite for my taste (as with every Spendor speaker I have owned).

The surround can dry out so I would check that before buying, if you haven't got the possibility for that, I wouldn't buy them.

Kind regards
 
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Old Shatterhand said:
@ Vinyl Giraffe: Me too. I know that foam surroundings are drying out and getting brittle, but as long as the rubber is still stretchy there is no reason for replacing, as Spendor told me also.
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The only Spendors that I had a problem with re. surrounds were my first BC1s.
When I bought them ( 1976 ) I was unaware they had while roll surrounds.
During the hot summer of ‘76, one bass/mid. driver’s voice coil started fouling the magnet pole piece.

Due to the heat, the cone had drooped.
Inverting the driver temporarily cured the problem.
Spendor replaced both drivers some time later.

I found out later that the while roll surrounds could distort after time and limit the movement of the cone.
 
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The used pair of SP9/1s I owned arrived with a "dead" tweeter, probably the ferrofluid. Fortunately the seller had a pair of SP2/3s and sent me another tweeter.
The Scanspeak D2010/851300 is still available anyway but may require a slight adjustment to the crossover.
Derek Hughes made a video on how to test and treat dry surrounds which I believe is still available at the Spendor Group.

Edit: old thread, I'd written about this before... :rolleyes:
 
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