Spendor.....................Spencer & Dorothy. BC1.......I have pair since + 30 years. Works great with Neotech silver speaker cable and good results with an optimized Jadis DA30 and a Mac Intosh MC240 ...and some others . Capacitors in the filter .........use Pure copper foil. ( AN/Dueleund/other quality brands ) Put a felt sheet arround the Celestion 1300. Won't sing with some more common Solid State amplifiers ....but WHEN it sings it goes for your handkerchiefs.....just like some other BBC LS............ The Coles is crossed over at 13Khz...( this super tweeter is derived from a microphone diafragm ) The first version does not have the Coles tweeter , nor does the 25 years anniversary edition... This speaker is a survivor ......... Jadis tube complement ... Input ECC82 Telefunken flat plates or 5814A (same as phase splitter ) Phase splitter 5814A RCA triple mica /black plates Drivers...ECC83 Output ...6550A Tung-sol ( nos not the reissues ) MC240......... Input 5751 RCA /triple mica/BP ECC82 TFK 12BH7A GE 7027A Sylvania Tall boys ! Have a nice day.........
Thank you Frank for confirming my suspicions, that this classic wonderful loudspeaker has even more potential!! I think there is so little attention on the fantastic affordable speakers that surround us. The Spendor with the gentle care is just so much more worth to seek out than the lot of the new speakers on the front page of the Stereophile...
Yes these are part of the tresors by the time filtering out what's real worth ....same as some amplifiers etc ...... What I would tell ( that I forgot to ùention .............BE real caushious when anyone do the restoration or maintaining job ! After any intervention, repair, upgrade .........LISTEN ........... For long I would talk about some missunderstandings in the audiophile world for those who upgrade vintage components ......so many times the recap, upgrade ends up in a desaster when the amp, speaker etc lost his soul after the intervention.... For more I warn about replacing also the old A/B resistors .......they have a bad reputation for aging ........BUT tha's half of the story ! When someone replaces the A/B , even by precision modern resistors in tuned circuits ( RADIO )............they never get it working correctly after ....those resistor might be a bit noisy by modern standards but they are NON INDUCTIVE !!!!! Farther more , when you replace those in say the Mac Intodh amps .......the amps stops singing even when all measure better or gained those hyped audiophiles qualities .... There are still old stocks of A/B and other brands of composit carbon resistors............. There is a methode to proceed before using tyhem nos old ladies ...... Moisture is the enemy of time ..........place them on a dish in the oven for several hoours at 80°C............to get rid of internal moisture .........measure them before use and there you go . Audiophiles confuse high precision resistorsz wit QUALITY and musical sounding without stress or HF harshness ........most of those amplifiers etc do not care abouit some % deviaton .....they were build with tose tolerances in mind by the engineers. Even so when replacing Capacitors in crossovers .........precise values are OK but few do even mention the ESR of the original that came in to play when voicing the results. Many times when the gain is in the audiophie requireents of today .......there's as acrifice somewhere ...........the coherence, the harmony and the TONE .............when that is lost the component looses all it's magic and beguiling beauty .. But who am I to argue with the new school of the modern mindset ....when you are given powder baby formula milk instead of breastfeeding ......and drinking creamed sterilized milk and eating processed food........MAC DO like it ! Have a very sunny nice day ......and if not so let shine music on your soul..... @@realworldaudio
Excellent video! Thanks for confirming what I suspected:that the need to put them on their metal stands pulled out into the room is not necessarily the best for everybody. I've had them that like that since getting them several months ago, but recently, because of limited space, stuck them on top of a pair of Klipsch La Scala's that they share the room with(along with several other speakers...yes, I'm an addict) and voila!, they still sound fantastic! In fact, they produce a wider soundstage to my ears. Also, I'm currently driving them with a $60 Ayima A07 3255 chip amp, and the sound is as good, if not better, then how they sound with my various McIntosh tube amps(including the same 240 as another poster spoke of). Now I am using a McIntosh MX-110z pre in front of it, so maybe that has something to do with it, but the A07 is really a giant killer that I highly recommend. I will receive a Quad 303 later this week and am looking forward to pairing it with the BC-1 for a classic British combo.
I'm glad you have shared this! I also found that some speakers really benefit from placing them on top of other speakers. The same happened to my Ryan 610, placing them on the floor stander Aurum Cantus made them sound as if they were floor standers themselves, very mature sound with astonishing bass (for their size), it really overdid the much bigger Aurum Cactus below. However, when I placed them on a stand and took the Aurums out of the room, the bass extension has collapsed, and they were again bookshelf-sounding speakers...
Yup, Celestion speakers are great for guitars. I’ve always used them after trying many others, but I prefer the 25W “greenbacks” in a 4x12” configuration at 16R. Either those or 15W “Alinco Blue” speakers, especially in a VOX AC-30 or 15. Both break up just right when driven enough, which is of course as good thing for electric guitar tube amps, but can also produce a beautiful “clean” sounds.
Celestion Greenbacks!!!! I was eyeing them for soooo long, wanted them so much to build audio speakers around them. We are so much kindred spirits, they are definitively also my favorite guitar drivers, so much so I can imagine a wonderful audio loudspeaker around them. And the VOXes are my second favorite guitar speakers!!! :))))
@@realworldaudio Hahaha 🤣 No f’ing way! That’s uncanny that our listening rooms are basically set up the same, and now to find out our favorite guitar speakers are the same too!!!? Plus, we both used to lay under pianos while listening to them, both have 2 cats our lives revolve around, and I’m sure there’s more. Definitely kindred spirits! 😂 Wow…. Yeah, I’d love to hear greenbacks used in an audio speaker. They’ve got a beautiful tonality, especially in the midrange, their highs are airy without sounding harsh, and the lows are just right. A very balanced sounding speaker 🔊😊🎶🐱💜🐱
I used to own BC1s, they were designed as live cabinets with a little damping from thin bituminous panels. They worked well with my old Quad 11, 15 Watt amps. In retrospect that system was the one that gave me the most satisfaction. My "audiophile" upgrade path took me toward more clarity but less pleasure. I also acquired a pair of B&W DM4s which have a similar driver line up. I think they were a copy of the BC1s. However they use chipboard cabinets and it really makes a difference and they do lack the liveliness of the BC1s to my ears. As regards the hf peak, the tweeter crosses over to the super tweeter at 13kHz, so maybe you could drop the peak without losing out higher up as the super tweeter takes over above that frequency.
Hi Janos, you made an interesting remark regarding terminology and the meaning of it. So you need to understand the context. I remember growing up that the term "dry" was a positive term and it would be used for base. It was the opposite of booming and woolly and implied speed. Despite these pitfalls I much prefer to hear someone describing the sound then to listen to a recording of it (on my laptop speakers). a Bit unrelated, a while ago I was streaming TH-cam trough my speakers and I was surprised by the amount of static and background noises (both in high and low frequencies) I was hearing, to the point that I was getting edgy (this was all content creator related, I am not blaming YT). So I am sticking with my laptop or low res BT speakers for YT content :)
Hi Janos, I'm in the process (slow going because of time restraint 😅) of trying to improve my bose 901 series 2. The goal is to make a larger "live" cabinet for better bass response with less equalisation needed. I was also searching for a way to improve the high frequency response as it needs a lot of equalisation as well. I found some information about changing the original dust cap on the drivers for phase plugs. Today I made my first phase plug out of brass on the lathe. Removed the dusr cap and placed the phase plug. It seens to provide something like an octave of extra hf response (from an unequalised response to 5khz to over 10 khz). This is in accordance with the info I found. But are there any drawbacks on using a phase plug instead of the original dust cap? I will have to make 17 more if I proceed the way I'm going 😅 so it better be worth it 😂
Fantastic!!! I do not have anything to go against the phase plug! It is one every way an improvement to the dustcap. Go ahead with the rest of the 17! ; ) 👏
![[LIVE] MCHOICE & MINT AWARDS 2024 at TRUE ICON HALL, ICONSIAM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wMewUeT5nbY/mqdefault.jpg)
Spendor.....................Spencer & Dorothy.
BC1.......I have pair since + 30 years.
Works great with Neotech silver speaker cable and good results with an optimized Jadis DA30 and a Mac Intosh MC240 ...and some others .
Capacitors in the filter .........use Pure copper foil. ( AN/Dueleund/other quality brands )
Put a felt sheet arround the Celestion 1300.
Won't sing with some more common Solid State amplifiers ....but WHEN it sings it goes for your handkerchiefs.....just like some other BBC LS............
The Coles is crossed over at 13Khz...( this super tweeter is derived from a microphone diafragm )
The first version does not have the Coles tweeter , nor does the 25 years anniversary edition...
This speaker is a survivor .........
Jadis tube complement ...
Input ECC82 Telefunken flat plates or 5814A (same as phase splitter )
Phase splitter 5814A RCA triple mica /black plates
Drivers...ECC83
Output ...6550A Tung-sol ( nos not the reissues )
MC240.........
Input 5751 RCA /triple mica/BP
ECC82 TFK
12BH7A GE
7027A Sylvania Tall boys !
Have a nice day.........
Thank you Frank for confirming my suspicions, that this classic wonderful loudspeaker has even more potential!! I think there is so little attention on the fantastic affordable speakers that surround us. The Spendor with the gentle care is just so much more worth to seek out than the lot of the new speakers on the front page of the Stereophile...
Yes these are part of the tresors by the time filtering out what's real worth ....same as some amplifiers etc ......
What I would tell ( that I forgot to ùention .............BE real caushious when anyone do the restoration or maintaining job !
After any intervention, repair, upgrade .........LISTEN ...........
For long I would talk about some missunderstandings in the audiophile world for those who upgrade vintage components ......so many times the recap, upgrade ends up in a desaster when the amp, speaker etc lost his soul after the intervention....
For more I warn about replacing also the old A/B resistors .......they have a bad reputation for aging ........BUT tha's half of the story !
When someone replaces the A/B , even by precision modern resistors in tuned circuits ( RADIO )............they never get it working correctly after ....those resistor might be a bit noisy by modern standards but they are NON INDUCTIVE !!!!!
Farther more , when you replace those in say the Mac Intodh amps .......the amps stops singing even when all measure better or gained those hyped audiophiles qualities ....
There are still old stocks of A/B and other brands of composit carbon resistors.............
There is a methode to proceed before using tyhem nos old ladies ......
Moisture is the enemy of time ..........place them on a dish in the oven for several hoours at 80°C............to get rid of internal moisture .........measure them before use and there you go .
Audiophiles confuse high precision resistorsz wit QUALITY and musical sounding without stress or HF harshness ........most of those amplifiers etc do not care abouit some % deviaton .....they were build with tose tolerances in mind by the engineers.
Even so when replacing Capacitors in crossovers .........precise values are OK but few do even mention the ESR of the original that came in to play when voicing the results.
Many times when the gain is in the audiophie requireents of today .......there's as acrifice somewhere ...........the coherence, the harmony and the TONE .............when that is lost the component looses all it's magic and beguiling beauty ..
But who am I to argue with the new school of the modern mindset ....when you are given powder baby formula milk instead of breastfeeding ......and drinking creamed sterilized milk and eating processed food........MAC DO like it !
Have a very sunny nice day ......and if not so let shine music on your soul.....
@@realworldaudio
Excellent video! Thanks for confirming what I suspected:that the need to put them on their metal stands pulled out into the room is not necessarily the best for everybody. I've had them that like that since getting them several months ago, but recently, because of limited space, stuck them on top of a pair of Klipsch La Scala's that they share the room with(along with several other speakers...yes, I'm an addict) and voila!, they still sound fantastic! In fact, they produce a wider soundstage to my ears. Also, I'm currently driving them with a $60 Ayima A07 3255 chip amp, and the sound is as good, if not better, then how they sound with my various McIntosh tube amps(including the same 240 as another poster spoke of). Now I am using a McIntosh MX-110z pre in front of it, so maybe that has something to do with it, but the A07 is really a giant killer that I highly recommend. I will receive a Quad 303 later this week and am looking forward to pairing it with the BC-1 for a classic British combo.
I'm glad you have shared this! I also found that some speakers really benefit from placing them on top of other speakers. The same happened to my Ryan 610, placing them on the floor stander Aurum Cantus made them sound as if they were floor standers themselves, very mature sound with astonishing bass (for their size), it really overdid the much bigger Aurum Cactus below. However, when I placed them on a stand and took the Aurums out of the room, the bass extension has collapsed, and they were again bookshelf-sounding speakers...
Thank you for sharing.
Yup, Celestion speakers are great for guitars. I’ve always used them after trying many others, but I prefer the 25W “greenbacks” in a 4x12” configuration at 16R. Either those or 15W “Alinco Blue” speakers, especially in a VOX AC-30 or 15. Both break up just right when driven enough, which is of course as good thing for electric guitar tube amps, but can also produce a beautiful “clean” sounds.
Celestion Greenbacks!!!! I was eyeing them for soooo long, wanted them so much to build audio speakers around them. We are so much kindred spirits, they are definitively also my favorite guitar drivers, so much so I can imagine a wonderful audio loudspeaker around them.
And the VOXes are my second favorite guitar speakers!!! :))))
@@realworldaudio Hahaha 🤣 No f’ing way! That’s uncanny that our listening rooms are basically set up the same, and now to find out our favorite guitar speakers are the same too!!!? Plus, we both used to lay under pianos while listening to them, both have 2 cats our lives revolve around, and I’m sure there’s more. Definitely kindred spirits! 😂 Wow….
Yeah, I’d love to hear greenbacks used in an audio speaker. They’ve got a beautiful tonality, especially in the midrange, their highs are airy without sounding harsh, and the lows are just right. A very balanced sounding speaker 🔊😊🎶🐱💜🐱
I used to own BC1s, they were designed as live cabinets with a little damping from thin bituminous panels. They worked well with my old Quad 11, 15 Watt amps. In retrospect that system was the one that gave me the most satisfaction. My "audiophile" upgrade path took me toward more clarity but less pleasure. I also acquired a pair of B&W DM4s which have a similar driver line up. I think they were a copy of the BC1s. However they use chipboard cabinets and it really makes a difference and they do lack the liveliness of the BC1s to my ears. As regards the hf peak, the tweeter crosses over to the super tweeter at 13kHz, so maybe you could drop the peak without losing out higher up as the super tweeter takes over above that frequency.
Hi Janos, you made an interesting remark regarding terminology and the meaning of it. So you need to understand the context. I remember growing up that the term "dry" was a positive term and it would be used for base. It was the opposite of booming and woolly and implied speed. Despite these pitfalls I much prefer to hear someone describing the sound then to listen to a recording of it (on my laptop speakers). a Bit unrelated, a while ago I was streaming TH-cam trough my speakers and I was surprised by the amount of static and background noises (both in high and low frequencies) I was hearing, to the point that I was getting edgy (this was all content creator related, I am not blaming YT). So I am sticking with my laptop or low res BT speakers for YT content :)
Hi Janos,
I'm in the process (slow going because of time restraint 😅) of trying to improve my bose 901 series 2.
The goal is to make a larger "live" cabinet for better bass response with less equalisation needed. I was also searching for a way to improve the high frequency response as it needs a lot of equalisation as well. I found some information about changing the original dust cap on the drivers for phase plugs.
Today I made my first phase plug out of brass on the lathe. Removed the dusr cap and placed the phase plug. It seens to provide something like an octave of extra hf response (from an unequalised response to 5khz to over 10 khz). This is in accordance with the info I found.
But are there any drawbacks on using a phase plug instead of the original dust cap? I will have to make 17 more if I proceed the way I'm going 😅 so it better be worth it 😂
Fantastic!!!
I do not have anything to go against the phase plug! It is one every way an improvement to the dustcap. Go ahead with the rest of the 17! ; ) 👏
Cool, when you are finished, could you send a picture to Janos so he can share it?
@@hugobloemers4425
Sure 👍... Might take some time though because of limited time 😅
The ditton 66 is a better speaker are celestion
Thank you Hoobs for the recommendation! I have not heard about it before, will look it up;