To r3mor,Gofast, Aktchi, jtdesigns, and Mlsstl: Thanks for all the valuable info. I am improving the setup, and the speaker perfomance is improving as well. One more question - how much power can they take? They are not very efficient, and I want to get the best dynamics out of them, but I don't want to damage them either.
Spendor BC1's -How do you set them up best?
I had Spendor BC1s on 18" Sound Organization stands and the treble was a bit shrill, rough and edgy, the bass tuneful but boomy, the midrange recessed and the imaging shut in. For a while, I wondered how they ever got their legendary name and status. They didn't sound anywhere near as good as the LS 3/5a's I was using earlier with my Scott 222c integrated. I am fond of the BBC speaker sound and was wondering "how good a sound can I get from these 1960's designed speakers with this 1960's integrated amp?"
I got a $20 pair of 12" oak stands by Wood Technology. I would have preferred metal stands, but these are hard to find in this height. Now, the Spendors seem much better balanced tonally. The imaging is better also with the tweeters lower. There seems to be a bright and rough sounding spot between the tweeter /supertweeter combo of these speakers, and when the speakers are too high it is aimed at the listener.
Apparently, these speakers are very sensitive to setup. There is some tweaking that can be done with these, and I have heard of things that are not too drastic that bring them to their full potential - specific stands, speaker positioning and alignment, modifications to the port to reduce bass boominess, and even minor crossover modifications to remove a 12 kHz peak near the tweeter / supertweeter crossover point.
Clearly, there is potential here. I don't want to completely redesign and modernize them or the associated electronics. Apart from that, any sugestions on how to make these babies really sing?
I got a $20 pair of 12" oak stands by Wood Technology. I would have preferred metal stands, but these are hard to find in this height. Now, the Spendors seem much better balanced tonally. The imaging is better also with the tweeters lower. There seems to be a bright and rough sounding spot between the tweeter /supertweeter combo of these speakers, and when the speakers are too high it is aimed at the listener.
Apparently, these speakers are very sensitive to setup. There is some tweaking that can be done with these, and I have heard of things that are not too drastic that bring them to their full potential - specific stands, speaker positioning and alignment, modifications to the port to reduce bass boominess, and even minor crossover modifications to remove a 12 kHz peak near the tweeter / supertweeter crossover point.
Clearly, there is potential here. I don't want to completely redesign and modernize them or the associated electronics. Apart from that, any sugestions on how to make these babies really sing?
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