Just what is it that makes a pair of Spender loudspeakers so respected, so revered and so coveted by audiophiles the world over?   Could it be that a pair of Spendor loudspeakers gives you that unique pleasure of experiencing your favourite artistes first hand - as if they were there, performing in your listening room?  Quite possibly, but there's more to it than that. It's about heritage. It's about understanding. Moreover it's about experience.  Spendor was established in 1969 by Spencer and Dorothy Hughes. It was the fulfillment of an engineer's dream. Spencer Hughes had worked within the British Broadcasting Corporation's Research Department and had been one of a select group pioneering the use of new plastics technology for drive units.

The advances made enabled the BBC to produce Studio Monitors of previously unparalleled neutrality. The establishment of Spender enabled those qualifies to be made commercially available. Spendor's first loudspeaker system was the almost legendary BC I. Never before had a moving coil system rivaled the qualities of electrostatic transducers, the performance of the BCl belied its outwardly simple design. A legend had been born. The original conceptual foundations laid down by Spencer Hughes have remained over the intervening twenty-five years. Whilst there have been constant advances and refinements to the original plastics technology, the attention to fine detail and continuous striving for audio perfection is as strong today as ever.

Absolutely nothing is left to chance.  The drive units are doped to produce a consistent response throughout the frequency range and finally matched to within 0.5dB. The cross-overs employ close tolerance components together with hand wound inductors to precisely integrate the drive units and thereby ensuring a seamless transition over the entire audio spectrum. The cabinets are lovingly hand crafted from the finest materials and finished in a glorious range of rich, real-wood veneers.  Then we listen. - Only by listening can we be assured that a pair of loudspeakers deserve the name Spender. As you turn the pages of this brochure you'll be introduced to award winning loudspeakers capable of reproducing audio with un-equalled and un-questionable accuracy.
In the true tradition of Spendor.

 

 

 

 Spendor Speaker Lineage

 

 

Let's take a quick look it's history.

Although its looks are starting to become dated.   It's design history and lineage can be traced back to the famous BBC LS3/5 design from days or yore.   If you compare the SP3/1 with the LS3/5 you will notice that they bear an uncanny resemblance to each other.  Indeed Spencer Hughes who founded Spendor was a member of the original design team on the LS3/5's.  

The name Spendor is derived from the name of the founders of the company, SPENcer and DORothy Hughes.

 The original LS3/5 was designed as a 'B' grade monitor designed for use in small BBC studios and outside broadcasting units.   The original specification with them was that any one speaker would be exactly matched to another LS3/5 regardless of age and manufacturer, such was the rigid manufacturing process and at times there would be a 90% reject rate at the factories manufacturing these.  I nothing else the BBC demanded quality products and the got them!

The LS3/5 was never actually manufactured by the BBC but was built under license for them by a number of British companies including;  Goodmans,  KEF (who manufactured the crossovers and drive units),  Rogers,  Harbeth and of course Spendor.   Others makes that can be found are Audiomaster and Chartwell.

Sadly production of the LS3/5 ceased in the mid 1990's ('95?).   The last ones manufactured were the Raymond Cook Special Edition LS3/5's that sported an exquisite Piano Black finish.  And so passed another chapter of Audio history.

As with all mini monitors, bass is really at a premium.   The LS3/5 although it had a superb midrange and treble response it bass output was sadly lacking.   This can be bettered by giving them rigid support and mass loading with stands and spikes but there is only so much that can be done with them.    During the '80s Rogers manufactured a Stand-come-SubWoofer for the LS3/5 but it was generally found to destroy the sweet sounding midrange and treble virtues for the sake of a little extra bass response.

After the LS3/5, Spencer Hughes turned his attention to another speaker design, that being the BC1.   The BC1 was essentially an LS3/5 but with an increased internal volume and a larger, more substantial main driver unit.   The BC1 also had a split crossover and twin sets of binding posts so it was also possible to bi-amp with this speaker.  The benefits of bi-amping are many but it can also be costly to do.

The rest as they say is history.   The SP3/1 is just a continuation of this once very proud English tradition for manufacturing high quality loudspeakers.

Of course the LS3/5 was designed when Valves (Tubes) were the norm in most people's amplifiers and as such the power handling on them is very low so be think twice when connecting them to your 3.5KW Ampzilla.    Instead a nice 20watt tube amplifier will have them singing like a 'canary' on a perch.    Indeed my own  SP3/1's sound much better for the addition of valve amplification courtesy of a brace TubeTechnology Genesis amps.

 

A bit more about the SP3/1 itself.

Extremely compact, with high power handling and a natural sound that belies its size, the Spendor SP3/1 draws together some of the most advanced features of previous Spendor designs resulting in a compact, high quality monitor loudspeaker. 

Loudspeakers of this size normally have difficulty in delivering a consistent sound across the frequency range, adding unnecessary colorations and dynamic inequalities to the the stereo image. But the SP3/1 is no ordinary loudspeaker.. Sound definition and neutrality is superb with every expression and subtle nuance of the programme material being delivered within an accurate and consistent stereo image of full width and detail. - Due in part to the Spendor discipline of matching drive units and cross-overs to within an unusually tight 0.5dB tolerance.

To obtain such sonic purity demands high-grade components and `fine tolerance' assembly. In the SP3/1, the doped Bass Driver is a derivation c the SP100 mid range driver. Drawing upon the intrinsic rigidity of it's cast frame, the purpose designed cone and suspension is allied to a revised magnet assembly, the result of which is a very effective bass/mid-range driver. The high frequencies are expertly handled by a special version of the Scanspeak D2010, a 19mm high grade soft domed unit renowned for its crystal clear transparency. Skillful design and hand assembly of the SP3/1eleven element bi-wired cross-over unit means a silky smooth transition between the low and high frequency units. Metal film capacitors, wire-wound resistors, radio metal core and air-core chokes are all mounted on a high-grade glass-fibre circuit board which features wide tracks in order to minimize current loss. All internal wiring utilizes high quality, low loss, Oxygen Free Cable. The beautifully veneered cabinet features a delicately chamfered solid wood front lipping, emphasizing the care and skill shown by the manufacturer. Internally, cabinet resonance's and standing waves are minimized by the addition of bitumen damping panels and high density acoustic foam. The SP3/1 enclosure is a perfect example of the overall attention to detail which has become a Spendor hallmark. All you hear is a faithful, accurate reproduction of the original material. Precisely how it should be.

 

SPECIFICATIONS:      Spendor SP3/1P
Cabinet dimensions	400mm x 220mm x 280mm
Cabinet weight	9.5 kg
Nominal Impedance	8 ohms nominal
HF Drive Unit	Scanspeak D2010 Soft Dome .75" (19mm), ferrofluid cooled
LF Drive Unit	Spendor 6.5" (160mm) 1" (25mm) Coil  Homopolymer Polypropylene cone
Sensitivity	88 dB for 1 watt at 1 metre
Maximum SPL	103 dBA at 1 metre
Crossover point	4 kHz
Frequency response	60 Hz to 20 kHz, +/- 3dB
Pair matching	within 1 dB
Power handling	80 watts