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Spendor A9 : Your first impressions

Hi,

I just upgraded my 3 years old Totem Forest with the Spendor A9. It's my first experience with Spendor speakers but after 3 month of listening to find the Forest successor, I believe the A9 is the one.
My system is
Oppo 83bd SE or Imac + AE + Toslink
Dac PS Audio DlIII Cullen IV
Plinius 9200
Hovland Radia
Acoustic Zen Cables

I find the A9 very neutral and quick but the most improvement over the Forest is on timbers accuracy, they are just beautiful. It's also very transparent, so one must pay attention to the association.

They are not spectacular at first, but cd after cd, you can't just stop listening to them. I like the air between instruments, and especially with voices. The forest used to emphasize the voices over the rest, here there is more space to put everything in the right place.

The bass is clean but not very deep, which is maybe the only weakness I see. Although it doesn't bother me, as I don't like boomy speakers.
The sensitivity is over 90dB, and are easier to drive than the Totems.

I use to listen to Jazz, world and classical.

In my quest to replace the Forest (which I loved), I've tried:

802D : associated with Mac amps, and it was not great (maybe not 802 fault)

Cremona M : boomy and colored medium...not my taste at all

Some Adam speaker : aggressive highs

Peak Consult Princess Sign.: a big curtain between them and you, where is the presence and the transparency ?

Some Nola floorstanding speaker: boxy sound, which is weird with theses medium and tweeters outside the cabinet !

Devore Gibbons 8: superb small speakers, so musical, but in the same league as the Forests (slightly more expensive). I regret to not have tested the Nines.

Wilson Sophia 3: a lot of energy and obviously very good. Best bass I've heard. Not as refined mediums & highs as the Magico. 2,5 x more expensive than the A9.

Magico V2: clearly an other class, like the sophia, but I know why they are so expensive. Although for the money I believe the A9 give you 95% of these two...

So now if other people own or have listened to these A9, you are welcome to give your impressions here.

Fabien
bountchacny
kosta123
12 posts
 
Spendor A9's are fantastic. Switched out my interconnects to Gabriel Gold Rev. II and the sonic stage was set.

They need 200 hours of play time to open up and are not too picky with placement.

Spendors play all genre well.

I highly recommend the A9's.
bountchacny OP
13 posts
 
Hi Kosta

When I first read your post on image, I thought it was maybe an association problem. I'm glad you solved it.

On my side, I changed some of my IC which are now full AZ Matrix II vs silver + matrix. The A9 are so revealing that the highs were a little bit fatiguing with the Silver Ref.
I've also a new pre, Capri from Jeff Rowland, which is very neutral, but maybe lack some involvement into the music.
I see you have a full tubes system, I'm thinking about going to tubes for the pre.
How do you like the synergy between tubes and A9 ?
kosta123
12 posts
 
I am pretty sure I can fix your brightness problem. Please give the Gabriel Gold Rapture Interconnects a try. WOW!

Detail with warmth. The dynamic and transparency is all there just with this rich tonal musicality. Hard to put in words but this Gabriel Gold Rapture r cable was a full component upgrade.

The A9's respond well in any system... they really let you know where the weakest link is.

I have tried a SS and TUBE amp with the A9's....preferred TUBE. Not saying the SS was just terrible. In-fact the SS sounded great but if I had to chose with a gun to my head.

The Spendor A9 is a keeper. They are improving as more time passes, fantastic.
bountchacny OP
13 posts
 
Hi Kosta,

I followed you advice, tried some cables (Wireworld, Cardas, AZ, Gabriel) and finally ended with these two:

AZ Absolute xlr between Dac and Pre,
Gabriel Gold Rapture r rca between Pre and Amp

The agressivity is gone, but I still enjoy transparency. And now music is more organic and lively. I replaced also the stock power cables with Wireworld Electra for a nice improvement in refinement and noise reduction.

I've the feeling I can really mesure now the A9 potential, and I believe it could even get better with other improvements (dac, pre).
grimace
624 posts
 
Anyone go from the old S8e model to the A9? I'm curious how they'd compare. I've had the S8e's for about six years, and they're the only thing in my system that I haven't felt compelled to replace.
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