Spendor BC-1

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It may come as a surprise, but that is not me. I have only ever worn one briefly when seconded to test on the production line at AR during the early 70's VAT crisis. It seems on the production line test rig you had to wear one. AND it was part of the Muppets Joke that the guy was obviously incompetent as none of his inventions worked. I would say if he was real he would have been ripe for hiring by the BBC as a loudspeaker designer.

White coats like suits are my labels of uniforms that denote position and status in large companies. Brown coats for workers, white coats for techies, and suits for sales and management.

[southall-1998]

Those BC-1's have a pleasant,warm and laid-back presentation. Very refined and non-confrontational.
De-wadding them would tighten up the performance, making them more detailed and dynamic.
The sound character is similar to my Arcams, just 'bigger' with more presence.
I considered buying them once but found them too expensive (new).

Right - BC1's do NOT have wadding inside and removing the foam/bitumen linings would totally destroy any pretence to low colouration, as the boxes were deliberately tuned BY EXPERTS WHO LISTENED!!!!!!! I disagree with the Doc on this point, as 'proper' speakers were designed properly and with great care and were NOT built as cheaply as possible to a low price. Any butchery to these will invalidate any resale value and they'll end up having to be parted out as spares IME, which is a shame if they're a nice looking pair.

The BC1 (this is a pair that came after the mid 70's difficulties and with studs on the grilles instead of the Velcro which my warped grilles have) is now a desirable collectors item and will finish at £500 at least I suspect. Leave them to it and put them on 18" stands (the Beeb used them even higher and bass boom wasn't an issue), or ignore then and Doc-mod some Mission 770's instead

Do I defend BC1's too much? Yes, I suppose I do, but I've known and loved this speaker since 1974 and used it with a very wide range of gear. On orchestral music, it's amazingly good for a speaker of the period and a small 'window' in the midrange is absolutely sublime, but it only ever did 'rock' in smaller rooms without too much volume - any 'head banging' makes it sound as if it's going to shake apart. I tried to be negative in a recent AOS thread started by Rexton, because I didn't want this model to be murdered by people who don't understand it.

Shane, save hard for some Cubes. The bass and midrange available from the Doc's latest drivers is far better for a wider range of music and rooms than the BC1 and colouration is so low as never to be an issue IMO. The treble sparkle is great too, but maybe not with a small Naim amp - the AP40 you have coming will be far better...

I'm saving up some money. So that the Doc can build me a pair of Mini Cube Speakers. They will be the modern equivalent to the Cube 3.

But I will still try them with my Naim amp!!

S.

[Fretless]

I'm saving up some money. So that the Doc can build me a pair of Mini Cube Speakers. They will be the modern equivalent to the Cube 3.

But I will still try them with my Naim amp!!

S.

Does the Doc know that - or is he building specials for us all? A pair of mini Cubes sounds very interesting ....

[Daniel Quinn]

DSJR. I bow to your superior knowledge. I did not know that the BC1 has no intenal wadding. Certainly, and for a long time, I would have jumped at the chance of getting a pair at the price of the currently offered set. I really did like the rich and creamy sound of the Spendors and would have been very happy with them.

My ears want different things nowadays (Cubes) and I hope the Spendors find a good home somewhere.

fretless you need to stop bowing -

for all intents and purposes vis a vis effects on SQ lining your cabinets and port with bitumen/foam is much the same as stuffing them with wadding -

it is a you say tomato , i say tomato distinction .

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

If I am asked for specials at ebay then it is no, but if I can do it here I will, and they often lead to new product, like Jammy headphone amp special, even the Cubix Pro was because of chatting to applemarc and him saying "what is the best you can make". The thing with specials is they take time to build as there are lots of non stock parts, they need to be financed either with full upfront payment or if very expensive with long build time as with Pros then 30% deposit to help finance build.

Go to the Cube mk1 thread and you will see how it came about.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

DQ - the difference is wadding is easy to take out and put back. Strip a BC1 of its waffle layer and you wont be able to put it back without a lot of work and effort.

AND as Dave says the cabinet was designed to be a transducer and to contribute to the sound so removing the waffle layer changes that. This for me is one of the daftest things about them.

[Daniel Quinn]

DQ - the difference is wadding is easy to take out and put back. Strip a BC1 of its waffle layer and you wont be able to put it back without a lot of work and effort.

Is that analogous to the doctor asking if you want him to put the cancerous tumour he has just removed back

[_D_S_J_R_]

Not the same at all. BC1's would sound (even more) horrible if you took the linings out, as the box is deliberately designed to vibrate. So many other speakers far more worthy of Doc mods as they're not so compromised.

Stuffing the internals with filling isn't the same as lining the cabinet walls. to quote the Doc - Who told you that (it was)?

[Daniel Quinn]

it may be we are speaking at cross purposes -

foam/bitumen will act as a passive mechanical filter ergo it is the same as wadding in this sense .

And a cabinet designed to add coloration ,go figure .

[_D_S_J_R_]

Go read up on it. A proper design concept for the period as I don't believe MDF was available. The object was to keep midrange colourations as low as possible and program material at the time seemed to have far less bass than today, when much balancing is done (seemingly) on tiny active boxes. Cabinet vibrations were allowed in the bass on these, but not the midband and treble. I can't speak for current Spendors, but Harbeth now use thin and critically damped/braced MDF enclosures and they're as 'dead' as any mass-loaded box I've ever seen and 'rapped'