Spendor A4

A floor-stander that disappeared into the music rather than announcing itself - until the foam grilles turned to dust.

Overview

The Spendor A4 generates more confusion than consensus the deeper you dig. Ask three owners what it is and you get three answers: a three-way floor-stander, a 2.5-way design, a sealed box or a reflex cabinet. As with much of Spendor's output from this period, it depends on who you ask and when they bought it. What's consistent is that the A4 was a serious, full-size loudspeaker from a company that built its reputation on BBC-derived neutrality. It has become something of a sleeper on the used market, partly because nobody can agree on what it is. HiFI-Stereo in 1978 used the Spendor as a reference point for comparisons, with many speakers sounding "extremely colored" next to it (HiFI-Stereo, 1978, p.149). The HiFI-Stereo review of the period also called the Spendor "a steal" at its price (HiFI-Stereo, June 1978, p.23). Studio Sound also mentioned new Spendor powered monitors in its July 2000 issue (Studio Sound, July 2000, p.72).

The A4's identity is tangled up in Spendor's naming conventions of the era. According to The Listening Post UK, it sits "in the middle of the current Spendor range," below the A6, and it is positioned as a replacement for the A4R. At least one forum voice insists the A4 was actually the precursor to the A4R, not its successor. That dispute has never been cleanly resolved. The Stereophile review by Ken Micallef makes clear that the A4 was a floor-standing loudspeaker in the classic British mold: unflashy, internally damped, and voiced for musical coherence rather than demo-room theatrics.

Design and Configuration

The documentation disagrees with itself here. Stereophile's review describes the A4 as "a sealed-box, three-way design" - a 3-way floor-standing configuration with everything laid out in a vertical array. The Listening Post UK, by contrast, lists the A4 as a "2.5 way" loudspeaker. Maybe Spendor made different iterations of the A4 under the same name. Maybe the two sources describe the same speaker with different technical vocabularies. It remains an open question. Treat both descriptions as valid depending on the source, and verify what you're buying before committing.

On the driver complement, the sources finally agree. According to the Stereophile review, the A4 combines a 200 mm (8 in) bass driver with a 180 mm (7 in) midrange and a 22 mm (0.9 in) tweeter. Those are substantial drivers for a floor-stander. The 8-inch bass unit in particular suggests the A4 was designed to move real air rather than fake it with port tuning. The review notes that resonance damping is internal, consistent with Spendor's BBC-derived philosophy of killing cabinet coloration at the source rather than tuning around it. Later examples of the A4 reportedly used Kimber internal wiring, though this appears to be a running change rather than a defining feature of the model.

The sealed-box versus reflex question matters when you're matching a speaker to an amplifier. Stereophile explicitly describes the A4 as a sealed-box design, which would suggest a controlled, slightly rolled-off low end that rewards careful placement. Other sources describe the A4 as reflex-loaded, which would imply a punchier, more extended bass response. There is no definitive manufacturer statement to settle it. Prospective buyers should assume the A4 behaves like a sealed-box speaker - tighter bass, less room interaction, more amplifier-dependent - and be pleasantly surprised if their pair turns out to be ported.

Sound and Performance

Stereophile's Ken Micallef praised the A4's ability to create a smooth, unbroken presentation, describing its sound as "big, full-bodied and atmospheric." That lines up with the forum consensus that the A4s have "a wonderful midrange and an amazingly coherent top end," as one AudioKarma owner put it. The midrange is where Spendor has always lived, and the A4's dedicated 180 mm midrange driver, rather than a shared bass-mid unit, gives it an advantage in vocal clarity and instrumental separation.

The A4 has its critics too. The same Stereophile review noted "a slight loss of low-level detail" and observed that "the A4 is not a stand-out performer at low volumes." Its bass, Micallef added, "can sound a bit soft at times." One AudioKarma owner who later moved to the A4R found the A4 "a bit bland and opaque" by comparison. These are trade-offs of a speaker designed for naturalness over excitement. They matter if you're considering a pair for late-night listening at low volume. Give the A4 a decent amplifier and a reasonable listening level, and it disappears into the music. Starve it of power or volume, and it goes shy.

Collectibility and Maintenance

The used market for the A4 is affordable by vintage hi-fi standards. Listings have appeared at approximately £390 per pair on eBay UK and $800 per pair on US AudioMart, with the latter described as being in "light cherry" finish. Those are asking prices rather than confirmed sales, and the A4 has never commanded the kind of collector premium that attaches to the BC1 or the LS3/5A. That makes it a serious floor-standing speaker from a respected British manufacturer at budget-book shelf money.

The catch, as with so many speakers of this vintage, is foam rot. The A4's grille foam is notorious for degradation and breaking down, as multiple owners on AudioKarma and AudioAsylum have reported. One AudioAsylum owner described the grille foam as "notorious for degradation and breaking down, so that needs replacing." Replacement grille foam is routinely available from third-party vendors, and the job is straightforward for anyone comfortable with basic DIY. It's a Saturday-afternoon job, not a deal-breaker.

Tweeter failure is less common but more serious. One Hifi-Wigwam member reported buying a used pair with a faulty tweeter that had to be replaced, and noted that Spendor's UK service department was able to supply a replacement part. That suggests Spendor maintains some level of parts support for the A4 even now. The tweeter fragility appears to be an occasional issue rather than a systemic one.

For owners, the maintenance is manageable: replace the foam grilles, keep an eye on the tweeters, and pair the A4 with an amplifier that can give it a bit of drive. The sealed-box design means placement is less finicky than with ported speakers, though the A4 still benefits from being pulled slightly into the room to let the rear-wave energy dissipate naturally.

Related Models

• Spendor 1/2
• Spendor 2/3
• Spendor 3/5
• Spendor 4/5
• Spendor A1.2
• Braun AUDIO-1 (1965)
• Braun AUDIO-250 (1965)
• Magnavox Component Systems (1972)
• Acoustic Research AR (1967-1976)
• Acoustic Research 11