Speakers

With large 30cm bass drivers and retro styling you will be forgiven for thinking these are speakers from the 60s. And that's because they've been made to look, sound and feel like they were.

Thin walled and heavily dampened is something unusual these days as most modrn designs strive for super high rigidity in their cabinet to control the resonances as best they can. Spendor argues, however, that that's an impossibility - you'll always have a cabinet that resonates to some degree. The trick, they say, is to mke sure those resonances occur where you want them to and that's in the low frequencies where they are less audible to our ears.

Highly rigid cabinetry tends to push these resonances into the upper bandwidths creating a harshness or brightness to the tone. 

These Spendors don't have that built-in brittleness and are the classic easy-listening speaker.

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These are the latest iteration of this big no compromise UK design. The outstanding characteristics of this speaker are the immense delicacy of the treble nature along with the massive attack offered by the exceptional bass drivers. The original Platinum 300 is still in use by many of our clients and is really hard to get a positive upgrade of. The third generation retains all those virtues of air and space with thunder but has refined and deepened the musical portrayal.

A speaker to die for ...

 

The Platinum 300 official site. 

 

The Platinum 300 review by Stereophile Oct 2023. 

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The Classic series from Spendor is a unique design harking back to the good old days where vinyl records were carried around to house parties, speakers were big and their bass drivers were just as big!

If you miss the sound of smoky rooms, rock n roll and brown and gold interior decoration these are the speakers for you. 

With large 30cm bass drivers and retro styling you will be forgiven for thinking these are speakers from the 60s. And that's because they've been made to look, sound and feel like they were.

Thin walled and heavily dampened is something unusual these days as most modrn designs strive for super high rigidity in their cabinet to control the resonances as best they can. Spendor argues, however, that that's an impossibility - you'll always have a cabinet that resonates to some degree. The trick, they say, is to mke sure those resonances occur where you want them to and that's in the low frequencies where they are less audible to our ears.

Highly rigid cabinetry tends to push these resonances into the upper bandwidths creating a harshness or brightness to the tone. 

These Spendors don't have that built-in brittleness and are the classic easy-listening speaker. 

Read the What Hi-Fi review here

 

 

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Available to audition in their own Lygon st Showroom. These are a speaker of remarkable presence and beauty. They are highly capable of presenting the music in a natural and completely unfettered manner. Properly powered it doesn't matter what the volume is, they retain their particular quality at low volume and can very nearly do PA type sound pressure levels while remaining tonally consistent throughout. A remarkable performance envelope.

I fell in love with the spiritual and physical precursor to this speaker being the NS1000 of the 1980's, indeed I still have clients from that era who bought those speakers back then from me and feed them a diet of new amplification and sources every 15 years or so. These NS5000 speakers are better, like a new Lexus is better than my old Corolla.

The official Yamaha NS5000 web page

StereoNet on the Yamaha NS5000

Soundstage Australia on the Yamaha NS5000

The Absolute Sound on the Yamaha 5000 system

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The D9.2 is quite possibly the finest loudspeaker Spendor have ever made. The D9 is a different kind of beast having cutting edge dynamics and resolution that the un-braced cabinet designs of the Classic series do not approach.

We have found this to be the end run for those we call the seeker clients. That is that select group of dedicated audiophile clients who may take literally years to hunt down and find their particular loudspeaker nirvana. This is like that hunt for the holy grail of loudspeaker that gives all the detail and all the emotion. These very dedicated people will take years to find their perfect loudspeaker. Several of them have purchased the Spendor D9.2 ...

An elegant, modern, 3-way loudspeaker, the D9 delivers music with exceptional resolution and a vibrant realism with any genre. Easy to drive and highly efficient, the D9 is also remarkably flexible and can be placed in any living environment.

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Homage Vox is the center channel designed to be the perfect completion of a home theater system. From the aesthetic and functional point-of-view, the new 3-way  by Sonus faber is totally compatible with the rest of the precious elements of the line. Homage Vox is not only the best choice in terms of performance, but also the most “natural” solution to bring to life a voice that was still missing in the Sonus faber’s Homage home theater system lineup.

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 way, full para-aperiodic vented box “Stealth Ultraflex”, floorstanding loudspeaker system.

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The original Electa Amator was one of the foundation models for Sonus faber that set the seductive timbre and musicaity allied to unique cabinetry artisanship that is very much the signature of this brand.

The Electa Amator III is immensly tactile with its combination of wood marble and leather, In my mind it feels like one of those precious pieces of preserved Roman art that is found in the corridoors of The Louvre rather than a mere loudspeaker.

These speakers do not come with the stands. Their matching stands which have a base of Carrara Marble can be purchased separately for $2995.

Sonus faber Electa Amator III official site

 

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The brand new Platinum PL200 3G sports significant improvements over and above the previous PL200. 

New driver designs have meant less distortion and better consistency, new crossovers go to help its consistency as well.

We have the PL100 3G and the big PL300 3G on display ready to listen to.

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The Spendor Classic 1/2 Standmount speakers have the ultimate classic look and a classic sound as well that harkens back to that luscious era of 60s swinging London. 

But with a warmth and a ripened depth to the sound these aren't spekers that'll just look the part, they sound it as well. A full 3 way bookshelf loudspeaker with a serious pedigree.

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We have the first pair of these on display in Australia. We only had to pledge one of our children to indentured servitude for life in Japan to acquire them, They are beautiful and much easier to live with than an annoying child.

"SoundStageAustralia.com" on the Yamaha NS3000 

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This is the top of the Sonetto range and is one of those awesome-at-everything loudspeakers ...

Full blooded deep bass with that romantic and seductive treble nature that characterises the Sonus faber range. The Sonetto VIII offers house party levels on an appropriate amplifier, but retains a smooth treble presence and warmth and depth when being played quietly as well.

Run these on a McIntosh MA352 amplifier and experience bliss

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Olympica Nova I is the bookshelf model of the line wonderfully finished in its clean design, intended to be used on a bookshelf or on its stand.

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The brand new Acoustic Energy Coriniums are now on demonstration at Carlton Audio Visual

Acoustic Energy was founded in 1987 and its ethos has always been about bringing high-end sound to an affordable level. The Corinium, however, is taking this further. This time Acoustic Energy has developed its own high-end loudspeaker.

Acoustic Energy has always been clear on what its sound is. For each new speaker design, Acoustic Energy have their team listening and referencing their old speakers to match the sound and then go in with acute measuring devices to verify what they're hearing.

The goal was to continue the hallmark Acoustic Energy sound yet add another two levels of performance on their current reference speakers. 

This meant an excruciating years long process to find the perfect driver materials that would exactly match their criteria. 

The bass drivers are Carbon like the 500 series but don't let this fool you, they have been redesigned behind those cones so that they are faster and less coloured than their little brothers.

The tweeter has been completely redesigned. Now using a Tetoron driver which holds its shape under extreme excursion but also has the signature Acoustic Energy warmth and engagement.

The last interesting piece of this design I'll mention, although there are many that you can read about here, is the front baffle design. It is made of two materials: mdf housing the bass and mid drivers and an aluminium front baffle which holds the tweeter isolating the tweeter from any unwanted infractions from the mid and bass.

All in all, the Coriniums are a beautiful and thoughtfully made set of speakers. Still not extravagantly expensive...although this is all relative of course. 

 Stereonet on the Acoustic Energy Corinium November 2023 

(Pricing varies with colour/finish choice)

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The D7.2 is an unusual synthesis of absolute trad cabinetry and artisanship in woodwork allied to one of the most sophisticated high frequency drive units we have seen. They are aesthetically understated in a way that doesn't translate to imagery but draws people to them in the flesh.

Even the shipping carton is unlike that of other brands. It is made out of a stiff unlabled very high quality cardboard that itself feels like it has ben made by hand to survive a journey through time. Honestly it feels the way they used to make boxes for Hi fi gear in the seventies..

Hi Fi Choice on the Spendor D7.2

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This centre channel will be the heart of a theatre on a professional scale but with the authentic presence, detail and texture that only very finest high-end audio design can conjure.

The PLC350 II’s system of twin 8" RDT II bass drivers, 4" RDT II midrange and MPD high frequency transducer will personalise the nuance of each whisper. When at least sixty per cent of the film’s emotional content is directed through the centre channel, the PLC350 II provides the extraordinary focus that transports you, exhilarated, to the end of every performance.

 

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It's a thing of beauty unlike other subwoofers that look like large black, square lumps in a room. The finish on this Subwoofer is second to none.

Pair it with any set of speakers and it will be a commanding force acoustically in the room. We had one of these on demonstration with the over 2M tall Platinum 500 loudspeakers that already have mighty bass extension. The PLW215 though rocketed that bass extension to new depths.

But not only that...it ENERGISES a room. It's the kind of difference will literally put the hairs up on your arms and make your heart race faster. When you put a movie chase scene on, you start to actually feel anxious...it's a little unerving.

Of course all of that is paired with sublime control, fast responses and oooooodles of power (2000W peak RMS). Just a magnificent subwoofer and this one is new in a box, never touched.

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Twin 15" C-CAM drivers, triple-suspended for a full 4cm of excursion and individually powered by DSP-controlled amplifiers, will deliver clean frequencies down to 16 Hz. At this level, bass arrives with a percussive impact that you feel from head to toe, seamlessly extending even the PL500 II to deliver breath-taking audio resolution beyond the limits of your audible range, but with a physical dimension that absorbs the senses. Put simply, it’s the sound of nature, vividly re-created.

Even so, all this explosive audio potency would be wasted without control. Adjust the in-room response of the PLW215 II on the top panel or via laptop using our proprietary ‘SubConnect’ software. Within this global setting, the 24bit DSP offers four fully configurable user presets per input, including pre-set modes for Flat/Music/Movie/Impact EQ settings. If you wish to fine-tune, you can adjust frequency, slope, trim and EQ filters for each preset. There’s also a Night Mode, which actively reduces the dynamic range of louder sections according to the level you desire. The PLW215 II is the most powerful, sophisticated and natural sounding bass engine we have ever built, and so complements the flagship Platinum II range with impeccable precision.

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