Spendor A2. Good Things Really Do Come In Small Packages.

If your listening room is limiting your speaker choices and a floorstanding speaker seems to be out of the question, then Spendor may just have the ideal speaker for you. 

The A2, is a perfectly formed yet supremely compact floorstanding speaker that takes up less space than many bookshelf speakers!

Priced at £1675 a pair, the A2 offers a real alternative to the plethora of quality stand mounted speakers available at this price point. With lovely clean, straight lines, a super compact footprint and a range of real wood veneer finishes, that include a traditional Black Ash, a Dark Walnut or a Natural Oak, the A2 not only looks good, it also sounds superb; but more on that in a moment. Standing a little over 2.5 feet tall the Spendor A2 is just 15cm wide and only 25cm deep, diminutive to say the least and as they are so compact this speaker is incredibly easy to integrate into your listening room.

By coincidence, our demonstration pair arrived a matter of days before we received our new Naim Supernait 3, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to run these two in together. Consequently we have been enjoying this peppy combination for the past two weeks, coupled with the Naim ND5 XS streamer as our primary source.

While the A2’s clearly are compact, it is clear from the first few notes of any song you select, the sound they produce is anything but small. As we have established with both the Spendor A4's and A7's, the drive-units integrate seamlessly and the A2's paint a big-audio-picture. While the soundstage produced is of the wide-screen variety, the A2’s compact dimensions mean that the low frequency drive unit isn’t very large;. in fact, it is the same drive unit that is specified for the A1 bookshelf speaker, measuring 150mm or 5.9 inch's. It stands to reason then that a driver of this size won't push that much air, particularly given the A2's cabinet size, but the beauty of such a small speaker is it requires less space around it to perform well, and most importantly, less space behind it. Using the rear wall to reinforce the bass output ensures that the A2 doesn't leave you feeling short-changed in any way, shape or form. When critically listening I played a range of Burial tracks, Sbtrkt's Pharaohs and even James Blake's, Limit to your Love, all of which were deliberately selected to get a sense of the depth of bass these little speakers can produce. And honestly, the results were outstanding. While it’s fair to say that the low frequencies aren't necessarily earth-shattering, what the A2's do deliver is a taut, tuneful and nuanced bassline with a sense of realism, nothing is overblown here but distinguishing between a bass guitar or electronic bassline is an easy task; no muddling, nothing is indistinct. Still, if you like your bass to go just a little deeper, a suitable subwoofer will fill in the missing elements below the 36hz the speakers are capable of delivering;  and of course, if your room is a little larger the Spendor A4 and A7 are ready, willing and able for a small increase in price!

Obviously the system we have been running them with is far from an entry level pairing, but we have often found the other Spendor's in the range exhibit an unfussy nature, tending to work well with any brand of electronics we choose. So we thought we might match them with Rotel’s new amplifier, the A11. Priced at £450, it delivers 50 watts of class A/B power, into an 8 ohms load, which is more than sufficient current to control the reasonably sensitive A2's and to cut a long story short, they pair beautifully, with the baby Spendor's delivering a lovely, rounded and mature sound despite the mismatch in the respective prices point of these two products.

We think the Spendor A2's are a superb speaker, definitely worthy of an audition. If you happen to be passing by, there a strong chance they will be playing in the background or alternatively, please contact the Swindon team and we will be happy to arrange a proper demonstration for you. Call Andy or Andrew at Audio T Swindon on 01793 538222, or just pop in and we would be very pleased to set them up for you.

Spendor loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T :- Cardiff, Cheltenham, Portsmouth, Swindon

Naim Hi-Fi products are available from all branches of Audio T