Description: Two-way, stand-mounted, sealed-box loudspeaker for use with stands 24-31" high (not included). Drive-units: 0.75" coated fabric-dome tweeter, 5" homopolymer cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 3.5kHz. Frequency response: 90Hz-20kHz, ±3dB. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 6 ohms minimum. Sensitivity: 84dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 12" H by 6.5" W by 7" D. Weight: 10 lbs.
Finishes: Light cherry, rosewood, bird's-eye maple veneers.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 201A00011, 201A00012.
Price: $1249/pair in light cherry veneer, rosewood veneer adds $100/…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Linn LP-12 turntables (two) with Linn Lingo and Naim Armageddon power supplies; Naim Aro and Linn Ekos tonearms; Supex 900 Super, Miyabi 47, Denon DL-103D, and Lyra Helikon Mono phono cartridges; Audio Note AN-S2 moving-coil step-up transformer; Rega Planar 3 turntable with Rega RB-300 tonearm and Rega Elys and Exact phono cartridges.
Digital source: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplifiers: Naim NAC32-5, Linn Klimax Kontrol.
Amplifiers: Naim NAP110, Linn Klimax Twin.
Cables: Nordost Valhalla, Linn Balanced, Linn Analogue,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As expected, Spendor's little S35/se is not very sensitive, 2.83V raising just 81.5dB(B) at 1m—a dB less than the BBC's original LS3/5a. However, its plot of impedance magnitude and electrical phase against frequency (fig.1) indicates that it is a kind load for the partnering amplifier to drive. The impedance drops below 8 ohms only below 40Hz and in the lower midrange, and stays above 10 ohms for much of the audioband. The peak of 28 ohms at 71Hz indicates the tuning of the sealed box, which in turn implies limited LF extension.
Fig.1 Spendor S3/…
These diminutive little sleepers have been available in the US for quite some time but have attracted little attention because (1) they have never really been promoted and (2) they are just too small to look as if they could be worth $430 a pair.
Originally designed by the BBC for monitoring of on-location broadcast and recording pickups (footnote 1), they hide most of their cost—a complex equalizer and phase-corrected crossover network—inside a cabinet only slightly larger than a shoe box. They were intended for "close-in" listening in a small control room rather than to fill a large…
We were not able to determine how far out the high end goes, because our oscillator's upper limit is 20kHz, but the smoothness and the ability to reproduce hard transient information (triangles, castanets, etc.) suggested that 27kHz might not be a bad guess for the upper rolloff point (footnote 3). Overall, the monitors have an extraordinary feeling of depth and breadth to their sound. Inner details were excellently rendered, and there were no audible vowel-like colorations that we could detect. The only thing we could fault the Monitors on (other than the low-end range) was a subtle…
A review by Dick Olsher of the Spendor version of the BBC LS3/5a appeared in August 1984 (Vol.7 No.4):
The speakers in this survey range in price from $300 to $500 per pair which makes them less than extremely budget (eg, the Boston Acoustics A40 at $150/pair). It has been my experience that $400 or thereabouts is about the least one can pay for a pair of speakers with the expectation of audiophile-calibre sound.
Design constraints are quite serious in this price range. Cabinet size is kept modest so that lumber and finishing costs are kept to a minimum. Driver quality and…
Another full review of the original Rogers version of the LS3/5a, by John Atkinson, appeared in February 1989 (Vol.12 No.2):
It is unusual for a loudspeaker to remain in production for more than three years. It is rare for one to still be sold five years after its introduction. It is virtually unknown for a speaker to be still available, virtually unchanged, 14 years after that date. Such is the case, however, with the $650/pair LS3/5a design, which is still popular well into its teenage. (Only a number of horn speakers from Tannoy and Klipsch have been around as long.)
Its…
Above that region, however, the speaker was commendably free from coloration, if a little recessed. The treble seemed to gently tilt up, adding a wispy character to the sound, as well as a slight "spitch" to sibilants, though it was relatively free from sizzle. At levels above 90dB, the sound could be heard to harden, violins then taking too much of an astringent edge.
But what a relief, after most of the speakers reviewed in the last issue and this one, to hear instruments and voices presented with the correct spatial and sonic relationship to one another. So many designs will present…
Sidebar 1: 1989 Review Context
This followed, with minor changes, that established for my previous loudspeaker reviews: Each pair was used with both a Krell KSA-50 and a pair of VTL 100W Compact monoblocks, connected with Monster M1 speaker cable, while the preamplifier was the Mod Squad Phono Drive/Deluxe Line Drive combination. Source components consisted of a Marantz CD-94 CD player, which was also used to drive the Sony DAS-R1 D/A converter unit reviewed by JGH in December, a 1975 vintage Revox A77 to play my own 15ips master tapes, and a Linn Sondek/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on a…
Sidebar 2: 1989 Measurements
I estimated the voltage sensitivity (using 1/3-octave pink noise centered on 1kHz) and measured the change of impedance with frequency, while the nearfield low-frequency response of each speaker was assessed with a sinewave sweep to get an idea of the true bass extension relative to the level at 100Hz. The frequency response of each speaker in the listening area was measured using pink noise and an Audio Control SA-3050A 1/3-octave spectrum analyzer. Nine sets of six averaged measurements were taken independently for left and right loudspeakers at a distance…