Spendor s8e Imaging/Soundstage?

Hi Steve:

The Spicas are not what I would consider polite. To my ears, the S8e's are a bit rolled off on top. This was particularly the case when I had them paired with a Cary V12r amp and copper Kimber Bifocal XL cables. Switching to the MF KW-500 integrated and Kimber Select KS-3035 Silver/copper cables worked alot better, but at a price. Although I like my current system better, I could have lived quite hapily with the S8e's.

It appears tha Kw6 did have a different experience of the S8e's depth of imaging capabilities. Perhaps this is room dependent. Over the years I've owned various Spendor, Spica, Snell, Epos, Totem, Thiel and Reynaud speakers. My floorstanders have never had the same imaging magic as the monitors. By the same token, my floorstanders have mostly added a sense of fullness that most of the monitors couldn't match (Offrandes excepted). Why not keep both, if you can? Or seriously, look for a pair of used Trente's.

Yes, Gary is correct the room is very important!

Also The S8e has more layers in the depth plane than most speakers. Most have the front middle and back, basically three. The S8e has about five or six and generally double the depth of most speakers.

Another example I can offer is track 16 on the Opus 3 test disk, "The House of the Rising Sun". I sometimes use this track for demoing speakers and I assuming most of us own this disk. On the Sax solo near the end coming from the left channel, almost all box speakers, have the sound coming forward from the speaker and planar speakers (Maggie) have the sound stuck on the panel. The S8e, when set up optimally, you should hear & SEE this image floating above the cabinet top and slightly behind the speaker in free space totally detached from the speaker, thus creating a better illusion of a musical performance and not being reminded that we're listening to a speaker.

You know what. All speakers should be able to do that if set up right for a particular room. If you don't hear what you described then maybe the speakers need to be moved around some more. I know I'm not happy untill I do get that holigrahic floating image hanging out in the middle. That Iron Chef speaker placement method describes how to setup any speaker correctly in a room to get that effect.
My Usher CP-6371 does that trick with no problem at all. :)

That said, yeah, differant speakers do that trick better than others. Bigger, wider, deeper and more solid.

Kw6, I like what hear from you re. the S8e. I'm afraid the only thing that is "dedicated" about my listening room is that one has to be dedicated enough not to mind scooting the coffee table out of the way and sliding the chair down in order to listen at the proper place between the speakers! I will get and try those test cd's that you mention on my Spicas.

Everybody: thanks for the input; I have a lot to mull over. But that's part of the fun.

Steve O.

Hi Steve,

Yes, the Spendor S8e in a living room setting will not be as good as what I'm getting but because of their coherence, crossover implementation and driver matching the will image better than most. Do you remember the Stereophile rave of the Proac 1SC for its imaging prowess, well I've have own it as well as the 2S and the S8e is better.

Have fun!*>)