Those very small speakers have the smoothest and most honest sound I've ever heard. Granted, the bottom end is rather short and the frequency response is very flat, so don't expect to be blown away by agressive high and deep lows. But any music that you play just sounds right.
Require a serious amplifier.
By far the best speakers I ever owned.

Speakers in general tend to distort the sonic picture rather badly and it is all most all ways a contest to see how little the speakers ruin everything, not how great they sound if you get my drift. I suppose beginners are easily impressed by ":detail" or "bass" or something else that causes their little hearts to go aflutter. The truth is a truly great speaker set up correctly will just get the heck out of the way of the music and have no personality whatsoever. It will in effect just allow the recorded product to be displayed exactly as it left the factory with no extra signature added to it. Once you hear how great recordings actually sound you won't want anything else "added" to them that makes them less believable. Believable is the coolest. It is the Absolute Sound.

When you hear such a speaker properly driven by clean, uncolored electronics the result is usually a sort of religious moment and a re-adjustment as to what great sound truly is. After hearing un-editorialized perfection you start hearing all the colorations that all the other speakers have all ways made and that you just didn't notice before. Sorry, but anything less than correct suddenly sounds sad. When you hear playback that is perfect it is simply a transparent window into the recording, along with the proper sense of scale and drama that were implicit in the design of the artists involved.

Now that I have said all that you can probably imagine I will not be raving about how wonderful these speakers are. They are not wonderfull. They have a slightly lispy tweeter and they all ways sound like a puffed up blowfish about to explode. Plus they have a fakey bass that is pumped up around 90hz or so in an attempt to imply more powerfull bass than the speaker actually posseses (the Gundy curve, in British speak).

However, and listen to me here, if you give yourself some time to properly set them up they will give you tons of information about the parts that are in the mix. Individual lines, individual instruments, vocalists and where they are in the mix---all these things will be laid bare. What they just don't seem capable of doing is assembling everything into a cohearent large seamless picture so you hear everything as a big clear finished picture. Instead you get detail and excitement, not a calm clear assessment of what is on the recording. They are like a little boxer that can punch hard as hell for his size. Then a big man comes in the room and you suddenly realize the little guy is gonna get seriously hurt if he tries to play with the big boys.

What makes the Spendor S3/5 remarkable is they are not so ruined that you couldn't use them for monitoring individual tracks in a recording and then later going to a big studio with better monitors to assemble the finished song. They do get a few things wrong and they are too little to be actually "correct" but that does not mean they are not still great in their own little way. As has been noted by other reviewers they are not raspy or cheesy and even super long recording sessions won't leave your ears bleeding. To step out of character for a minute I might even add they are a lot of "fun" to listen to. They have a slight excess of brilliance on playback somewhere around 6 to 8 thousand Hz.(part of their "lisp"). And the bass is a goof because it tries so hard, even if it is just a little too loud to be for real. It has sparkle too. A little extra sparkle that is all ways there whether or not it is on the song. And it is fun to hear that sparkle even if you have to adjust for it and not believe in it too deeply.

One more note. These little puppies have a very heavily equalized crossover inside them, one that is designed to play games with frequencies by soaking a lot of the power out of the mids and highs so as to make the bass seem more powerfull. This trickery will cost you when you try to power the resulting sponge-like hunger they offer to the partnering power amplifier. I tried 50, then 100, then 150 watts. They finally came to life using a 500 watt per channel pro sound reinforcement amplifier that is happy with low impedence loads. I keep the amp in a nearbly equipment closet so I don't have to hear the exhaust fan running, and my connections are studio balanced for long runs without signal loss. This worked out well for me. Be warned. They eat light weight amps for breakfast and sound thin and lifeless while doing it.

I have probably known a hundred different speakers that are popular big sellers as I have been in the home electronics business and studio recording business for over 40 years. Maybe two dozen that I know from experience are specifically aimed at the monitoring end of the business. I would classify these as worth the money as monitors which is high praise indeed if you have read all this poop I just wrote. Go ahead and buy them if they fill a need. Just don't ask them to be what they aren't. They are small scale wonders, not full range regular room speakers. And what they are is quite good indeed. If that's what you want.

Transparent with excellent transient response, imaging and depth. Will shortly be trying a B&W subwoofer with these gems.

I expect perfection!

Sound quality is totally satisfying. Outstanding for long duration listening of various musical genres at moderate volumes in a smaller room (I've not tried them in any other situation). Fine build quality. There are many monitors in both cheaper and more expensive categories, but the Spendors in particular seem to maintain excellent resale value. Can be placed close to wall, and easily moved about due to small size.

Not necessarily a weakness, but they are rather inefficient.

These are the SE model. I was able to audition at home these and the newer "R" model of the S3/5, and much preferred the SE. Hat's off to Lorne and Ed at Executive Stereo (Toronto) for allowing the home audition and considerable patience. I'm using them in a small room (11 ft x 12 ft) and with a 60 + 60 W/channel Bryston amp and Arcam CD72 source. The sound is just excellent. They are very easy to place, since there is no port, and present a very wide soundstage--way beyond where the speakers are placed. Their sound is extremely non-fatiguing, and yet very detailed. They create a huge ambient feeling in my room, and yet individual instruments are easily identified in their respective positions. At the same time, the speakers themselves truly disappear. Forget about the stats on their bass response--there is plenty, at least in the small room, and it is quite punchy in nature. I feel no compulsion to use a sub woofer. I tested the bass response with the Stereophile test CD, and these went way lower than expected --I could easily hear the 40 Hz signal. While the amplitude at these lower frequencies is certainly down, the drop off is very gentle. These speakers are justifiably famous for their excellent mid range--enough said.

Customer Service

While auditioning the S3/5R, I encountered a minor issue and emailed Spendor directly. I got back a very considerate response within a couple of days--very impressive!

Similar Products Used:

Monitors: Paradigm Atom and Mini MKII, PSB Alpha Mini, Totem Mite, B&W 601s2. Floor standers: PMC FB1, Totem Arro. Vintage: Large and Small Advent. Closest competitor to the Spendors among this set would be the Arro. Compared to the SE, the S3/5R have (1) a bigger mid bass boost, and (2) slightly more extended top end, but the lower treble region seemed less smooth. Overall the sound of the R was not as "big", with less ambience than the SE.

SOUND Image and tolerance for placement. No matter where I stick these speakers, they create a big clean sheet of music, where it's impossible to pin point the speaker's size or location, unless a sound is panned completely to one channel. Ambient textures. You can really hear the space of the recording, these take you into the hall or recording room very effectively. Mid range. Guitars, violins, voices, etc, all sound very "convincing". Detail. In the mid range, I can hear details in recordings that I didn't know were there, but I also can't hear certain instruments, like drums, very well.

SIZE/PLACEMENT So, here are some very compact speakers that do a lot of things right. They mate well to musical subwoofers too (I'm using a ML Dynamo, but I've read REL and Spendor's own sub, all work well here too).

COMPATIBILITY These speakers work very well with reasonably priced amplification. With an old harmon/kardon 630 (30W dual mono integrated amplifier with tuner), I get amplification that is almost as good as a big Nelson Pass designed class A solid state (Forte 1a, 50W) and in some ways better. So, going with the idea of compact, you can get great sound with a good all in one integrated amp.

ELEGANCE If you would like an invisible stereo, one that is there without taking over the room, these may be the answer.

NON-FATIGUING My ears don't get tired of these speakers.

OVERALL these are great for listening to acoustic music. Voices, strings, solo instruments, small ensemble records and still pretty good for symphonic music. I've yet to hear a better monitor in this price range.

DETAIL is somewhat lacking in the timber and mid-bass.

DYNAMICS. Drums fall apart in complex recordings, you'll hear them but you really can't listen to them very easily. While in mid range is always very sweet, cymbals, percussion, drums, mid-bass and horns are all better presented by speakers with faster dynamics.

OVERALL Look elsewhere (try Klipsch Heritage designs with a similar amplification) if you listen to rock/jazz exclusively, but if vocals are your favorite part of the music these should be considered.

Great speakers for their size. Almost any amp can power them, but 50-70W of clean power, solid state, is best. These really sing when played loud, so you can hear all the details in the recoding and the percussion will sound nice too. They are essentially a lot like the famous BBC monitor the LS3/5a, but the drivers are on the narrow side of the cabinet, and a different type of tweeter is used. Compared to the LS3/5a, although I've not put them in the same room, they sound very similar, perhaps giving up a little of the mid range sweetness for better bass and power handling.

Similar Products Used:

monitors from:
Odyssey Audio
Green Mountain Audio
and Castle

First thing I noticed was that they sound REALLY BIG, I mostly listen to Rock/POP music, tremendous bass slam for a small speaker, extremely strong centre image, and the result is a 3D SOUND TO DIE FOR. AND TONS OF LOW LEVEL DETAIL HERE specially the vocals, either solo or group, sound soooo real, you have to hear these to know what I mean. Overall sound is really well balanced, I have been using these for over a year now, and I do not think that I will get tired of these. Once you audition them, you are going to keep them for a very very long time.

The 3D effect truly great, I have never heard this kind of 3D sound from anyother speaker.

You do need a power full amp to drive these, my guess is a min. power of 70WPC clean signal should do it, if you can afford more power, it will be even better, these are about 84db sensitive.

In the past, I have always spent money on electronics only, buying pre amps, and power amps, and kept changing them after every year or so, the speaker I had for over five years were, Energy C2s, stand mounting two way, they were pretty good, but I sometimes felt there was something missing. Then I bought Totem speakers, there bottom of the line, which was not too too bad, nice warm sounding. But me, I got tired of them too in about a year or so.

See if you can understand the following: Every time I got something new, a pair of speakers or new pre or poweramp, it will change the sound a little, I will enjoy it for a while, and then I will get tired of it, and then look for something else. I am looking for something which will give you low level detail without causing listening fatigue.
Then I bought a pair of used Thiels CS2, really liked them, they are not your typical floor standers, they simply disappear leaving you with music only, but no low level detail here at all, and found them kinda bright at times. So they were out too.


Then I decided to spend about $1500.00 Cnd, just for a decent pair of stand mounting speakers, I searched the net, including this site, and then decided to go and audition Spendor S3/5 and when I did, I knew these are the speakers I have been looking for. I bought them, brought them home and connected them with my Accuphase P300 power amp, a perfect match for these speakers since the Accuphase puts out about 150WPC into 8ohms, and they sounded even better in my home then they did in the store.

Spendor, you should be proud to have the engineers who designed these speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Energy, Thiel, Totem, Mission, Paradigm, Signet and Linn Tukan.

Great all rounder

its bad when its badly driven

US$400 2ND HAND.


This review is for my pair of Spendor S3. I think it is same as the S3/5, certainly looked the same and I am certain its not the S3e.

Okay, let's get to the points, I am not gonna repeat what already been said by previous reviewers ie. the sound quality.

All I want to point out is that you have to be carefull with setting up and pairing of the S3.

My current system consisted of Acram CD72 and a pair of old British pre and power combo with 100w of power avaiable.

In pure money terms and region of the gear, they should be good match or at least ok match, but it turned out to be quite disappointed when i first hooked it up to my system , not until recently i am able to get the full benefit from this little pair of angel.

what have i done? expereinced with inter connect and speaker wire, it went from 30/100 to 90/100 now i would say (sound qualitywise with 100 being the best you could get out of the speakers)

i am not sure is this true for everyone else but my guess is the S3s are very senstive to what quality of the signal you put into it, and if you give it rubbish it gives you rubbish and therefore little change like wire changes the presentation of the signal and therefore differnent sound form the S3s.

and the interconnects and speakers wire u might ask:

ok......CD to Pre - ecosse the mastero MA2
Pre to power - Vdh the 2nd
power to speakers QED Genssis Silver Spiral single wire.


one mroe warning ,its not that more expesinve mean better, i had vdh the first from CD to pre, it sounded awaeful, but that i mean no acceptable, hey but it doens't mean the first is crap or anything, i am using it from my phono amp to pre, it sounded great ! those funny wires ..............could drive you mad.

enough said. hope my little reivew will be of help to your selection of speakers and other gears alike.

cheers mate !

Customer Service

they response to e-mail fast , that's all I am gonna to say.

Similar Products Used:

Whafedale 8.1
Harbeth HL Compact

Image. Soundstage. Depth. Natural Sound. Crazy bass for such a small speaker when used fairly - rap and metal aren't going to satisfy. Build quality. Parts quality. Finish - Rosewood and Bird's Eye Maple are to die for. Not dependent on mega dollar equipment - quality gear will give you 98% of the mega brands. Not very picky about placement. Should be at least 18" from rear wall and 4' from side walls for great performance. Binding posts - you can hang from them and they won't budge. make sure you use quality jumpers if not bi-wiring. I recommend Cardas jumpers at $4.00 each = $16.00 well spent.

Ratings: 5 for value/overall rating - For the money, I have never listened to a speaker which tantalizes the senses like this one. If I maintain a smile after 4 hours of listening, it deserves a 5!

Look elsewhere if you are into metal, rap or real hard rock. The Spendor's will do this music, but it is not their specialty. Need some good power. Some experimentation needed here. Can be used with tube amps, but need a good 20 watts or more. @ watts won't cur it! 84db sensitivity a little low, but it maintains a 6-8 ohm impedance which helps. It will expose poor equipment within the system.

The above are not real weaknesses, just limitations of a specialty speaker that is exceptionally voiced for certain types of music and only average on other types.

I don't hand out 5's very often for gear. It has to be of extraordinary merit. But, A "5" has been born. The Spendor S3/5 SE version is just downright incredible for it's price and for any price for that matter. A small unobtrusive box that look like it should be part of a mini system...that is until you power it up. WOW, image, soundstage, depth, bass that should be illegal for this size speaker. First off, the build quality is superb, the finish (mine is Rosewood) is first class. Binding posts are top notch, while only weighing in at 11 lbs. and measuring 12" high X 6.5" wide X 7" deep close your eyes and they sound 10 times larger. The highs, midrange and bass are 3d - holographic. The bass is stated at around 80hz but rolls off slowly and gives the effect of a much larger driver. I listen to Muddy Waters - Folk Singer all the time. For the first time, I heard Muddy tapping his foot during several tracks. I NEVER heard this before on any speaker...it was scary, i thought it was a tape irregularity. Female voice...to die for...I heard Diana Krall literally wet her lips during one set! Jazz groups...right there in the room with you. Classical...you can hear the wind from the conductor moving his baton. Pop music actually pretty damn good. Hard rock, metal, rap can be handled but this is not why you would buy this speaker. I don't need a sub with the Spendor's. If you choose to buy one, make sure it is of high quality because it will be showed up big time by the Spendor's. Electronics - the better they are the better the results...to a point of diminishing returns. I am using the Quad 99 pre, Quad 909 amp (140 watts) and Unison Unico cd player with great results. Cables - good quality, but don't break the bank. I tried a $100 pair of interconnects against a $500 pair and the results were not as dramatic as the electronics. The Spendor's like a little current from the amp. A good quality 50 watts would be the minimum starting point. i can listen for several hours without fatigue. I recently had JM Labs Electra's - great speakers, but after an hour, my nerves were shot...too much detail and not enough smoothness. Use good stands - 24" to 30"! Buy these and never look back.

look back!

Customer Service

So far, so good. All my questions answered and innovative feedback given on topics not covered in the manual. Q,S and D, the distributor is is very receptive to questions and providing feedback.

Similar Products Used:

JM Labs Electra, Paradigm Studio 20 V3 & 60 V3, Proac Tablette, Acoustic Energy AE 1 MKII, Dunlavy, Revel.

Image. Soundstage. Depth. Natural Sound. Crazy bass for such a small speaker when used fairly - rap and metal aren't going to satisfy. Build quality. Parts quality. Finish - Rosewood and Bird's Eye Maple are to die for. Not dependent on mega dollar equipment - quality gear will give you 98% of the mega brands. Not very picky about placement. Should be at least 18" from rear wall and 4' from side walls for great performance. Binding posts - you can hang from them and they won't budge. make sure you use quality jumpers if not bi-wiring. I recommend Cardas jumpers at $4.00 each = $16.00 well spent.

Ratings: 5 for value/overall rating - For the money, I have never listened to a speaker which tantalizes the senses like this one. If I maintain a smile after 4 hours of listening, it deserves a 5!

Look elsewhere if you are into metal, rap or real hard rock. The Spendor's will do this music, but it is not their specialty. Need some good power. Some experimentation needed here. Can be used with tube amps, but need a good 20 watts or more. @ watts won't cur it! 84db sensitivity a little low, but it maintains a 6-8 ohm impedance which helps. It will expose poor equipment within the system.

The above are not real weaknesses, just limitations of a specialty speaker that is exceptionally voiced for certain types of music and only average on other types.

I don't hand out 5's very often for gear. It has to be of extraordinary merit. But, A "5" has been born. The Spendor S3/5 SE version is just downright incredible for it's price and for any price for that matter. A small unobtrusive box that look like it should be part of a mini system...that is until you power it up. WOW, image, soundstage, depth, bass that should be illegal for this size speaker. First off, the build quality is superb, the finish (mine is Rosewood) is first class. Binding posts are top notch, while only weighing in at 11 lbs. and measuring 12" high X 6.5" wide X 7" deep close your eyes and they sound 10 times larger. The highs, midrange and bass are 3d - holographic. The bass is stated at around 80hz but rolls off slowly and gives the effect of a much larger driver. I listen to Muddy Waters - Folk Singer all the time. For the first time, I heard Muddy tapping his foot during several tracks. I NEVER heard this before on any speaker...it was scary, i thought it was a tape irregularity. Female voice...to die for...I heard Diana Krall literally wet her lips during one set! Jazz groups...right there in the room with you. Classical...you can hear the wind from the conductor moving his baton. Pop music actually pretty damn good. Hard rock, metal, rap can be handled but this is not why you would buy this speaker. I don't need a sub with the Spendor's. If you choose to buy one, make sure it is of high quality because it will be showed up big time by the Spendor's. Electronics - the better they are the better the results...to a point of diminishing returns. I am using the Quad 99 pre, Quad 909 amp (140 watts) and Unison Unico cd player with great results. Cables - good quality, but don't break the bank. I tried a $100 pair of interconnects against a $500 pair and the results were not as dramatic as the electronics. The Spendor's like a little current from the amp. A good quality 50 watts would be the minimum starting point. i can listen for several hours without fatigue. I recently had JM Labs Electra's - great speakers, but after an hour, my nerves were shot...too much detail and not enough smoothness. Use good stands - 24" to 30"! Buy these and never look back.

look back!

Customer Service

So far, so good. All my questions answered and innovative feedback given on topics not covered in the manual. Q,S and D, the distributor is is very receptive to questions and providing feedback.

Similar Products Used:

JM Labs Electra, Paradigm Studio 20 V3 & 60 V3, Proac Tablette, Acoustic Energy AE 1 MKII, Dunlavy, Revel.

natural sound

maybe too much care not to exceed power handling should be taken - if you can call it weakness!

I've listened to hundrends of speakers already seeking for naturalness. I'm a musician so i know what to expect as far as realistic sound is concerned, and i finally chose spendor sp2/3e, two years ago, exactly because they sound so natural!! But nice things usually don't last,and it seems i'm no exception as i had to move for a new much smaller appartment 2 months ago. As you understand ,finding it difficult to make the relatively large 2/3's work, i had to think of smaller speakers end eventually bought 3/5s just as a temporal solution till i move again! Well, after one month, and having owned many famous respectable speakers in the past, i believe they're something else ,surely not temporal, in fact they're magical! My experience in terms of listening to hi-fi can't stop the illusion that i'm not listening to speakers but to the real event, and i think that says everything - rather than describing the audio spectrum etc, as i feel the goal of real hi-fi is to sound real rather than just enjoyable..

Similar Products Used:

proac tablettes, atc scm 10,12,20, monitor audio pcm703 ,etc