My comments on Classic 100 and A7, recently posted in another thread:
I’ve recently had the chance to listen to a pair of Classic 100 paired
with some lower end Naim gear but also with my own Audio Analogue
Maestro Anniversary integrated amplifier and my own source and cables. A
bit underwhelming to be honest, at least compared to my very high
expectations. The highs were OK, not as refined as those of my Harbeth
M30.2 Anniversaries (I compared them directly) but nice and not "too
polite" as I’ve fount the highs of the Classic 1/2 described on another
forum. The bass was big (the whole sound had the scale I was expecting
from such large standmounts) but, surprisingly, not deep enough for my
taste - strong enough until, I don’t know, 40 Hz or so and then it
plummets. My old Mackie HR824 monitors, which should be a joke compared
to these in terms of size, price and reputation, go obviously deeper.
Also, the bass was not very tight.
The mids were their strongest
point, sweet and musical with a natural, inner warmth that is
unfortunately missing in my Harbeths. Because of this, the midrange
piano notes were more natural, more convincing on the Spendors - piano
is my favourite instrument as well as my main audiophile benchmark and I
know the timbre very well, I grew up with a piano in house. Also, my
Harbeths have a mild but audible dip in the presence region (the BBC dip
I guess) that I’m not particularly found of - the Spendors don’t have
it or maybe they do a little bit, but to a much smaller degree.
Overall, the sound was a bit unexciting I guess, to be honest I have a
suspicion they were not totally burned in. The resolution could have
been better too - the Harbeths were a bit better and my Martin Logans at
home are in another world from this point of view.
Some Spendor
A7 I’ve heard in another system though were really promising::
beautiful mids without a trace of a BBC dip as far as I could tell,
silky and lively highs albeit a bit too pronounced, very nice upper bass
detail, good timbre reproduction, good scale and bass extension
considering their dimensions but ultimately trying too hard to descend
where that 7 inch driver shouldn’t. This or it was the amplifier - a
rather cheap Atoll I’ve never heard before or after so an unknown factor
for me. If I were to move on from my electrostats, which I might
eventually, I could live with some hypothetical improved A7’s with
better bass extension, a bit better scale and, of course, higher
resolution overall.
