Looking to upgrade Spender S5e to compliment my new Rega Elex R amp.
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Al ears
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Welcome to the forum.
Presumably you want to buy new?
Speakers can be quite personal and very dependant on the room they are going into.
Can you get to a dealers to audition wherever you are?
You might struggle to better your Spendors , that originally cost approximately £1200, for your budget.
Whilst the presentation of some modern speakers may be different only you can tell if they are better....
Presumably you want to buy new?
Speakers can be quite personal and very dependant on the room they are going into.
Can you get to a dealers to audition wherever you are?
You might struggle to better your Spendors , that originally cost approximately £1200, for your budget.
Whilst the presentation of some modern speakers may be different only you can tell if they are better....
matthewpianist
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I agree, improving on your Spendors within your budget may be a tall order. They were great speakers 20 years ago and they remain so now.
Pulling together a shortlist and auditioning is a must, and once you've focused on one or two possibilities you need to hear them with your system and in your room.
In which ways do you think your system could sound better?
Pulling together a shortlist and auditioning is a must, and once you've focused on one or two possibilities you need to hear them with your system and in your room.
In which ways do you think your system could sound better?
Thanks for your response. I have a few dealers I can visit so hopefully be able to compare with my Spendors. Good to know I might struggle to improve on what I have.
Al ears
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audition whatever you can within your budget. Speakers like the Dali Oberon 7 etc come to mind but not sure what is actually available in your area.
plastic penguin
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Agree with the others, you'll really struggle to improve on those Spendors. Not only are they very good but tonally they should be the ideal match.
The newer spendors are the obvious progression but they are way outside your budget.
Al ears
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You say you feel the sound could be improved but don't say what you find lacking.
Unfortunately the only way you can tell for sure if new speakers are the answer is to go audition some and then, better still, get the dealer to let you audition in your own home with your Rega amp.
Unfortunately the only way you can tell for sure if new speakers are the answer is to go audition some and then, better still, get the dealer to let you audition in your own home with your Rega amp.
davidf
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I don’t think your amp will be getting the most from the S5es. I remember they felt pretty inefficient compared to similarly priced speakers, so maybe look at some muscular amps to try out. Again though, you may struggle to greatly better the Elex with the same amount of money unless you look at something used or ex-demo.
Al ears
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Well that's a novel approach...
I feel sure you may be right as I haven't heard a Rega amp in years.
matthewpianist
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I had a Rega Elex-R with Spendor A1s, and to be honest the Rega was fairly hopeless at driving them. It's a great amp, but not necessarily the best fit with more challenging loads.
Al ears
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possibly, although the S5e were slightly more efficient than those A1s.
If the Regas 72wpc has issues driving an 87 dB and nominally 8 ohm speaker then it's certainly something I would avoid...
davidf
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I feel all too often (I’m saying the same in this instance) that people automatically want to change the speakers when they’re not happy with their system, maybe because they feel it’s going to make the biggest difference. But more often than not, their existing amplifier isn’t doing a great job with their current speakers, so moving up to even better speakers (the better the speaker, the more demanding the load, in general) is just going to make things worse, despite the speaker doing things in a different way to the older ones so will bring about some change.Well that's a novel approach...
I feel sure you may be right as I haven't heard a Rega amp in years.
The difference between driving a speaker really well and not driving a speaker well at all can be huge.
The Spendor S5e needed power - always remember using them with numerous amps, and all needed their volume control quite high to get anything out of them - they felt more like an 82/83dB sensitivity! So I would be tempted to try a very capable amplifier with them, even if it is out of the OP’s price range, in order to gauge what the S5es are capable of. At least that way, this approach can be dismissed or further researched, and try and hunt down something affordable. If there isn’t anything, a complete amplifier/speaker rethink may be on the cards.
plastic penguin
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If I recall correctly a poster years ago (can't remember the username) had these speakers and he powered them with a entry-level Quad pairing, which I don't think was anymore powerful than the Elex-R
matthewpianist
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It may be that the pairing in question used QUAD's Current Dumping design, which would explain things.
plastic penguin
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matthewpianist
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The QUAD 405 Current Dumping Amplifier | Hifi Pig
Janine Elliot continues her RetroBites series of articles, where she looks at classic audio and Hifi, with the classic QUAD 405 current dumping amplifiers.
www.hifipig.com
plastic penguin
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Thanks Matthew. Never heard of that before, mind you I've never seen any of the Quad amps in the flesh.The QUAD 405 Current Dumping Amplifier | Hifi Pig
Janine Elliot continues her RetroBites series of articles, where she looks at classic audio and Hifi, with the classic QUAD 405 current dumping amplifiers.
matthewpianist
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The Artera Stereo power amp utilises the principle. The Vena doesn't.
davidf
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As matthewpianist has explained. Quad’s current dumping system increased the amplifiers capabilities when driving more demanding speakers.
There are 50wpc amps for £300, and there are 50wpc amps at £5,000, even more, which shows that an amplifier shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed on its power rating, more on its capabilities. The £300 amp would melt driving some of the same speakers the £5,000 one would be capable of driving.
plastic penguin
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Actually I think the person I'm thinking about had Spendor SA1, which could be tricky to drive, as I demoed them when I first purchased the Leema
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