Thoughts and experiences on the Spendor SP100 R2

Successive iterations of the S100 have moved gradually away from the classic Spendor (British) sound, though even in the latest one, the Classic 100, a lot of it remains.  If they're in good shape and a good price, I'd jump on them.  The R1 may be a little more euphonic, but then you're getting into aging drivers, aging crossover components, etc.

the spendor sp100 is the ONLY speaker i ever regretted selling, and i have been at this pursuit since the early 80’s - if the price of this pair of r2’s is anywhere near reasonable, you would be well served to buy them and enjoy them (these almost never appear used) - these are not headbanger speakers - but for any acoustic, vocal, orchestral, pop or jazz music they are among the very best ever - for the balance of all traits valued by music lovers - clarity, tonality/timbre, rhythm, top to bottom coherence, full range response, midrange tactility and warmth, detail presented in a natural way - there have been various reviews over time by the leading reviewers touting their excellence, just search online and you will find

you do need proper stands and a room large enough to run these speakers well away from room boundaries or the bass response may overwhelm

other great thing about the big spendor is their (relatively) high efficiency and benign load, so reasonable powered, lovely tube amps can do the job

it is true what @twoleftears says... the successive revisions of the spendor sp series (now called ’classic’) from inception to present have led to a gradual, subtle treble lift and some damping of the bass - highly analogous to what harbeth has been doing with its speakers in .2 and .3 and ’anniversary’ and now their heavily marketed xd versions... basic character of the speaker is the same (no one will ever mistake these for a focal kanta, magico a3 or wilson sabrina and their sizzly, hyper hifi nature) but the sound is being ’modernized’ at the margins for more perceived clarity and speed and absolutely volume capability

I bought a demo pair with stands from a dealer in my area last year and love them. They do everything extremely well with no listener fatigue ever. Maybe not headbanger speakers but I do listen to a good deal of album rock on them. Outstanding on acoustical music of course, and spooky good imaging on ambient. No buyers remorse here.

Agree completely with jjss49. 
I have owned 19 different pairs of good speakers, and the SP100'S the only speakers that I regret selling. I had several others between them and my current Klipsch Epics, and I do love the Epics, but I love the SP100 just as much. The Epics are more dynamic and somewhat larger in scale, but as soon as I got them. I noticed that in comparison to the Spendor, there was a certain warmth in the mid bass that added an ineffable richness to the music that I missed. 
They are soo god at everything overall that I would recommend them to anyone. They are good for all types of music, but yes, if you are an audiophile who picks everything apart to the nth degree, they may not be for you; but they are a speaker that satisfies every time that you sit with them, and you never feel like you are missing the content, or the intent of the music you are listening to. 
I give them 5 stars.

 

How about a comparison to their lesser siblings? I hope this will not feel like derailing the thread. I'm thinking about upgrading from the SP2/3R2, which I love, to the SP100R2, but I couldn't find a single comparison between them. Should I expect better midrange detail due to the 3 way construction? Also, any extra punch to be gained? (I mean impactfull, hard hitting upper- and mid-bass, not talking about extended, full and weighty bass which I'm sure is much superior) Any downsides (like lesser coherence, maybe)?

Oh, and would they fit in a 23 square meters room with about 80 cm free space behind and playing at a moderate volume level? Maybe it's not wise, but I'm more tempted to move to the SP100R2's than to add a pair of subwoofers...

Thank you!