WestieWorld: A blog from the dog.

If its of any interest i had a pair of 15 Ohm Audiomaster 'LS3/5a' before the 'Kan' but could not live with the sound of the tweeter.

Not as I recall. The ARC's were larger and again, a bit 'middy' as I remember. Active with Nytech was a great sound for the late 70's/early 80's.

As far as I can ascertain, the crossover and driver complement is the same as the SA2. It’s ten cabinet that’s a cheaper build. The mk1s did indeed have spring clips but there’s are later ones with binding posts, I’m not sure about internal push tags but I can see internal wiring through the port and it looks really cheap.

These certainly aren’t “flat”; they are cloaked and tubby with a rolled off treble. I accept the Kans aren’t flat, but they aren’t my usual speakers. Nobody has ever accused Spicas of having the balance you describe and they are my usual speakers. It’s not so much the frequency balance that’s an issue, it’s the loss of information and presence.

I think your assessment of mid-bass prominence with very little below is pretty much what I’m hearing. They are pretty much as I recall back in the day, frequency wise.

It’s not something I’d be motivated to do, but I feel that upgrading crossover components and wiring, as well as mass-damping the cabinets and removing some wadding would do quite a lot to help. Sadly it wouldn’t make them nice to look at

Russ Andrews worked for ARC back then

I picked up,some Misison Solid Core bi wire cable out of curiosity. My only other dabble with solid core was 30+ years ago with DNM . Basically it had Sh#t bass. The mission is the same but not as revealing in the higher registers than DNM., A million miles away from my regular cable, but a fun experiment which I will simply sell on.

What you could try is to bypass the bass crossover and give a quick listen. My drivers have conventional 4mm binding posts on them so easy to do but the Prelude version may have tags instead? The BBC used these later drivers as a replacement for one of their odd corner-ceiling models I recall, but they're long gone now.

Spencer when he was alive, seemed keen to look at different approaches to sound balance and design while working within acceptable limits. He knew his BC1 backwards, acknowledged where improvements were needed and quietly worked on them before his passing at 60 (I believe) in 1983. The SP1 original model was much tauter, just as clear really in the mids and with some sparkle too certainly standing its ground in the company of larger more modern fare I remember. His son is an engineering? graduate and well able to make a BC1-esque speaker (SP1/2 with totally different drivers), but he seemed to go down the fruity-lush-squidgy presentation style which far eastern customers lapped up. It took Spendor a while to shake that off and Derek now has re-imagined the BC1-ish LS3/6, the 5/9 and probably the godawful domestically passive 5/8, as well as helping or designing the Harbeth 40.1 (and .2?) 12" bextrene I believe bass driver. There's a huge far eastern market for this, so good commercially for these companies.

Tell you something sad. two years ago when I heard the JBL 4367 and loved 'em, I wasn't alone. NOBODY who heard them at the same time and claimed to like them wanted to pursue a dem follow-up. I was excited when I heard they'd ordered the L100mk2, which as a retro-kick (actually a very modern three way in L100-esque clothes) would surely sell a few pairs over here, but yesterday I was told they'd cancelled them as despite a positive write up in their online blog, I was the only person to express any interest - and of course I wouldn't buy them as I'm skint!

Very, very sad situation. JBL Pro still have the professional version (6332), but they're not very attractive and with no grilles.

I have my eye on another pair of speakers for the 2nd system. As they are on auction I won’t say more til I win

I’m sure Dave said he hated them...

Have I heard about these speakers before?

S.

Expensive when new? British made?

S.

Can we rule out Linn and Naim? (he asked hopefully)

Maybe something a little obscure, like SMC's?

'Qunitessentialy British'. Celestion or Wharfedale? Can't see it being QUAD or Tannoy. Won't be more Spendors. Harbeth? Don't think so. Mordaunt Short?