Spendor A4.2 (2025–)
This one is a rarity for the Archive: a brand-new model rather than a vintage relic. The Spendor A4.2 debuted at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show in February 2025 as part of the A-Line Mark 2 series, a full refresh of Spendor’s popular A-Line range. It’s a slim, compact two-way rear-ported floorstander, designed and manufactured in the UK, and it directly refines the earlier A4 — a model that won *What Hi-Fi?*’s Best Floorstander Award in its price category for four consecutive years (2019–2022). That’s a tough act to follow, and Spendor’s answer was a comprehensive driver and crossover update rather than a cabinet redesign.
The most significant change is the new 27mm soft-dome wide-surround tweeter, replacing the 22mm unit in the original A4. The larger dome features an extended rear chamber, allowing it to operate with lower distortion across a wider frequency range. That driver change enabled a substantially lower crossover point — 2kHz versus the original’s 3.7kHz — which shifts more of the vocal range to the tweeter and improves phase coherence through the critical midrange. The crossover itself uses precision-wound, high-linearity tapped inductors, avoiding the distortion that attenuating resistors can introduce. The 180mm EP77 polymer cone mid/bass driver is carried over from Spendor’s D-Line series, mounted in a cast magnesium alloy chassis.
The cabinet is a slim 6.5-inch-wide asymmetric braced enclosure, with non-parallel internal bracing and Spendor’s Dynamic Damping technology — a constrained-layer approach that converts resonance energy into heat at key interface points rather than letting the cabinet store and re-radiate it as delayed sound. Reflex loading extends the in-room response to 36Hz. Each A4.2 is calibrated and matched to broadcast reference standard at Spendor’s UK facility before shipping. The speaker sits on a satin-black plinth with height-adjustable spike feet, and a magnetic grille is included. Standard finishes are Black Oak, Walnut, Oak, and Satin White, with a single pair of recessed precision binding posts on the rear.
The A4.2 retailed at $4,998.00 per pair in the US. Reception has been warm: it took a Diapason d’Or from *Diapason* magazine in France for 2025, and Steve Guttenberg of The Audiophiliac called it a “big time overachiever.” hifi.blog echoed that sentiment, describing the A4.2 as a speaker that isn’t about spectacle but about balance, poise, and the rare ability to make music feel complete, inviting and convincing over long listening sessions.
Known Specifications
- Type: 2-way rear-ported floorstanding loudspeaker
- HF driver: 27mm soft-dome wide-surround polyamide dome
- Mid/bass driver: 180mm (7″) EP77 polymer cone, cast magnesium alloy chassis
- Crossover: 2kHz
- Frequency response: 36Hz–27kHz (typical in-room)
- Sensitivity: 85dB (1W/1m)
- Nominal impedance: 6.75 ohms (min 5.4 ohms)
- Amplifier power: 25–150 watts (125 watts unclipped programme)
- Dimensions (H×W×D): 861 × 165 × 284mm (33.9″ × 6.5″ × 11.2″)
- Weight: 14.5kg (32 lbs) per speaker
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