Have your say & ask the experts

Spendor S3E

Reviewed by WHF and gaining 4 stars as a £950 product. (Post March 2009 price-rise)

What if they cost £599 (brand new) from a reputable UK dealer with a full 1 year UK warranty and 5 years parts cover?

I would say that is a very good deal and if they are equal (or almost) to speakers costing £950 they are bound to be worth 5 stars as price is one of the considerations of reviews.

Thinking of Partington Trophy stands at £150(ish)

Well reviewed stands and not as hideous as the Dreadnoughts!

 

This wouldnt happen to be a shop in Brighton perhaps, saw that deal today.

I'd give them 6 because 6 is the new 5, 5 is sooo yesterday.

I would absolutely say that they deserve five stars at that price. I've heard some comment that they even prefer their balance to the SA1. Just because they're a couple of years old doesn't make them poor performers and new products seem to just sound different.

igglebert:

I would absolutely say that they deserve five stars at that price. I've heard some comment that they even prefer their balance to the SA1. Just because they're a couple of years old doesn't make them poor performers and new products seem to just sound different.

Absolutely - also look at it this way. It doesn't really matter if a product has zero stars, if you love it then to you it's 5 stars.

Interesting thread, chebs.

Well, the WHF star ratings definately include price.  In general, as price increases, quality increases.  Therefore, the more expensive an item is, the tougher it is to get 5 stars since the competition is of higher quality.  So most, if  not all, 4 star rated products will be 5 star rated as the purchase price decreases.

With all that said, if you can demo a product, the WHF rating should be meaningless.  WHF ratings should just be used to create your short list prior to demos.

jaxwired:

Well, the WHF star ratings definately include price.  In general, as price increases, quality increases.  Therefore, the more expensive an item is, the tougher it is to get 5 stars since the competition is of higher quality.  So most, if  not all, 4 star rated products will be 5 star rated as the purchase price decreases.

With all that said, if you can demo a product, the WHF rating should be meaningless.  WHF ratings should just be used to create your short list prior to demos.

Depends on the category. If you look at turntables, there's only one price band which runs from £175 up to many thousands, so they're all theoretically competing against each other, yet there are few models that don't get 5 stars. This means that the budget Pro-ject is as good as an LP12, and I, for one, simply don't believe that.

The other problem is that WHF likes a certain sort of sound at the moment, which I don't, and I've found some of their 3 and 4 star products suit my tastes more than the so-called class leaders.

The WHF rating system is both contradictory and flawed, as I've flagged before. I certainly wouldn't rely on their ratings alone to create a shortlist, there are many other sources of reviews out there. Anyway, in the end it doesn't matter whether WHF gives one or five stars, it's all down to personal taste.

HI,

I got mine in light beech for 410 quid, so bought the super dreadnoughts.  I got to admit, they are great speakers, and will satisfy you loads at the lesser price.

 

Go buy them, as they look the part and sound great too.

 

Phil

Wondered the same thing when I was considering my Spendor purchase...I would think these would be as good if not better other 600 quid speakers, so worth a listen. There was a thread recently of someone who took advantage of these discount prices and was happy if i remember correctly.

I agree with Tarquinh that the WHF system is purely a guide and represents what the WHF people like - which seems in the amplifier department to err towards clean, lean, fast, forward sounding products.

They do a great job, but personally there is a lot you may overlook by using their reviews only. For instance you may well prefer a warmer or full bodied sound that can easily be overlooked.

If it were me starting out i would demo 3 or 4 systems that are quite different in presentation to see what kind of sound i prefer first. Take WHF 5 star only and you will probably only compare fairly similar sounding systems.

Also on main topic WHF reviews definately are price affected so if the product is still a fairly recent development such as those Spendors and you get it a lot cheaper then it will probably gain a star on the way. I used this approach to set up my system getting my Arcams for under £700 each and if i compare to what you can get now for that price i still rate mine an easy 5 star in that price range.

I got my Spendor S3e in walnut for £600 few months ago.  They definitely worth the money as others said - both the look and sound.  I got them paired up with Cyrus 6vs2 and I like the clean and detailed treble, realistic mid-range and reasonable tight and accurate bass.

Tarquinh:

Depends on the category. If you look at turntables, there's only one price band which runs from £175 up to many thousands, so they're all theoretically competing against each other, yet there are few models that don't get 5 stars. This means that the budget Pro-ject is as good as an LP12, and I, for one, simply don't believe that.

Erm, that's not how it works. Just because there's only one category in the Buyer's Guide, it doesn't mean that a 5 star £175 Pro-ject turntable is as good as a £1,995 LP12. It simply means the Pro-ject Genie 2 is one of the best turntables available for around £200 and the £1,995 LP12 is one of the best turntables at around the £2,000 price - they're not competing against each other because that's a ridiculous comparision to make.

 

Thank you, professorhat, I was just about to post the same reply! Given that there are (relatively) few turntables in the Buying Guide, there isn't a huge amount of space in which to break it up into more price bands.

Of course we're not saying that a budget Pro-ject is as good as an LP12. WHF?SV has always reviewed on a sound/vision-per-pound basis, taking price and value into account and comparing products to their price rivals.