Former Spica owners ... what did you trade up to ?


This question is brought on by my borrowing of a friend's Spendor s3/5. The spendors are very highly reviewed, particularly in the area of imaging. To cut a long story short I lived with the spendors for 3 days and then put back my trusty Spica Angelus and the conclusion...

The spicas are head and shoulders above the Spendors in every possible way, but especially in imaging. With the spendors it was very apparent that the sound was coming from two small boxes. The sound was also veiled, which surprised me since their top end extension is supposed to be superior to the aging angelus.

Ok the Spendors win in looks. But that's it.

So that got me thinking, with all the review hype out there I need to hear from previous spica owners on which speakers they have found to be a clear upgrade, both monitors and floorstanders.
seandtaylor99
actually Dunlavy 4 is a better speaker than the Mirage I recommended above but the Mirage is good speaker also Mirage is very musical sounding and vary easy to just listen to the music with them. I have nice memories of their sound.
Went from tc-50s to Quads 12Ls to now Green Mountain Europas...and I have to agree...Spicas have legendary imaging qualities...however...they do have severe limitations....I cant speak for the Angelus...but I found the 50s to be far too rolled off and zero bass for my musical tastes...but to be fair...they did show me want I wanted in my next set of speakers...that is...3-d imaging,huge soundstaging, and a very involving sound that only time and phasecorrect designs seem to achieve...and now I have returned to phasecorrect speaker...the GMA Europas...life is good...
Thiel CS 2.2's.

However, I recently put together a bedroom system and guess what I used for speakers. You got it! Spica TC 50's. There just aren't any speakers that image like the Spica's.
I replaced TC-60's with Meadowlark Swifts. The Swifts are more dynamic and less veiled, but the Spica's threw a wider soundstage in my room. Great speakers, but I got tired of them visually and the Swifts integrate with my room better in that regard. I hedged my bet by not selling the Spica's and just letting my son use them.....I can always get them back!

Gerry