|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
104.58.182.221
In Reply to: RE: Craigslist - Spica TC50 posted by Ross on October 03, 2015 at 12:19:53
Spica TC50 Early Impressions
I picked up a pr of TC50 speakers for $200 and finally had a chance to install and listen to them. They replaced my usual speakers- Triangle Titus 202, in the same location (essentially free space) and on the same stands. Everything else remained as stated in my profile.
I did some research and quickly realized that the speakers have specific placement requirements. Away from walls (almost free space), and distance between the speakers should be slightly less than the distance to the listener's head. They also respond to toe in and the listener's ears should be level with the midpoint between woofer and tweeter. On my stands and in situ, there is 6ft between the speaker centers, and 80 inches from the front edge of each speaker to my ears. Each speaker was toed in such that the front baffles directly faced me and I could not see any of the cabinet sides. Speakers were several feet away from all walls- essentially free space.
Cannonball Adderly- Something Else. Japanese King reissue
Steely Dan- Katie Lied. MoFi reissue
Brian Wilson- That Lucky Old Son. New Capital pressing
Sonics were remarkably consistent with the 3 records.
Bass was better than the Triangles, with greater extension and definition.
Upper Bass, Lower Mids were exceptional. Natural weight, heft, definition and decay (though attenuated for deep bass).
Midrange was clear, but sounded recessed
Treble extension was much less than what I am used to
Overall clarity was a bit muffled- like I was listening from farther away.
Soundstage width did not extend beyond the speaker boxes
Soundstage depth was greater, but also seemed to be from a greater distance to me (see above comment).
Louder group sounds and massed choruses seemed to meld into one sound rather than retaining the character of individual voices or musicians playing in harmony.
Pianos, tubular bells, vibes sounded very realistic. Note harmonics, and bass fundamentals hung in space with a natural decay trail.
Individual voices sounded realistic.
Initial summary is that there are some very good qualities, but they sound veiled or recessed, with transient response that is inferior to the Triangles.
I used 40 watt tube monoblocks and vinyl. I noted that original specs and in period reviews specified a need for a high current amp that is stable into 4 ohms. Reviews noted a treble response that begins to roll off at about 8khz. I did note slight changes in frequency balance when moving my head up and down. But for the most part my head and ears were kept in line with the med point between the woofers and tweeters- as directed.
I did hear some good, but also much that can use improvement. These speakers may respond better to high current solid state amplification, and digital sources. Luckily I can supply both to find out. Stay tuned.
Follow Ups:
You should hook it up to a solid state amp with some power just to see what happens. It should handle the 4 ohms better than the tube amps.
You are probably right on that. However, I did hear them in the 80's hooked up to a Conrad Johnson MV45 (4 ohm tap) and they sounded quite nice. I think they are a fairly benign 4 ohms, so if you have a 4 ohm tap, it should be OK. Of course many vintage tub amps do not have a 4 ohm tap.
Dave
Their LF response, while very limited, can be surprisingly satisfying with a good s/s amp. I run mine with tubes, but not full range. If running them without a sub, I would be strongly tempted to pair them with a s/s.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
Have you tried them without the sub? The sealed cabinet along with the lower damping of a tube amp sounded very good to my ears. (Although I am going pretty far back. I haven't heard them since the 80's.
Dave
Sure, and I liked them, but the bottom end wasn't great with my old Manley amps, which have pretty high output impedance. (The TC50's vary from 4 ohms to 12 ohms below 100Hz.)
With a s/s amp, the bottom was actually quite good, but I wanted to keep the Manleys because the mids were so great. Then one day I found a powered ASI sub fairly cheap so I bought it to see if it would do anything good. It surprised me, as I didn't expect a fast-sounding sub with a single down-firing driver, but it is. So I got ASI's programmable EQ to even out the low-frequency room response, and that's where I am.
It also helped that I use a VTL Deluxe preamp, with two sets of outputs - high impedance unbuffered outputs, and separate low-impedance buffered outputs. With this, a series cap with high-Z outputs gives a 6 dB/octave high pass, which I set for 80 Hz. This is upstream of the Manleys and Spicas, easing their work quite a bit. (The low-Z outputs feed the ASI subwoofer amp.)
One advantage of handing the lows off to a sub is that it seems to relax the sound of the Spicas, especially on louder passages.
And yes, with almost any s/s or modern tube amp, the TC50's by themselves can be very satisfying.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
I use a subwoofer with my Spendor BC-1's and my Yamaha C-2ax preamp has to sets off buffered outputs. They are very useful with a subwoofer. A speaker has to have very good base not to benefit from a good subwoofer. I don't use a series cap. Maybe I should. I do want to give a tube amp a try. I was thinking of triode wired PP 6550/KT88, but I would need some extra cash for that!
Dave
I run the Manleys in triode, almost always with minimum feedback. The EH KT-90s don't have the magic of the great TungSol 6550s, or the Ei KT-90s for that matter, but it's still quite satisfying.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
Given prices these days, I will be sticking with modern tubes also.
Dave
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: