Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Spica TC-50 Speakers by strangebrewpr

Model:	TC-50
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$450
Description:	2 way monitors
Manufacturer URL:	Spica

Review by strangebrewpr on June 06, 2013 at 14:27:09
IP Address: 70.45.251.49 Add Your Review
for the TC-50

Maybe some of you might be thinking , why review a speaker that hasn't been in production for more then 10 years . There are several reasons . The spica TC-50 was the fisrt speaker totally design using a computer . It wasn't a matter of tweaking here and there after auditoning . If something didn't sound right it was back to the computer to see why .

John Bau , a musician turn to audiophile , the designer , started of with the sc-50 which he originally design to take with him when he was on recording sessions for monitoring . When people heard it they would ask if he could build one for them . After 40 built speakers he got the idea to start his own speaker brand .
Afterward he found out if he wanted to start in the business he would have to display his product at the coming audio show , if not , forget about everything . Long story short , he got more then 40 dealers .

I'm not going to keep on writing about John Bau and his company but get to the TC-50 . The speaker was kind of weird for it's time as it looked like a square that was sawed in halves on it's side . It's front baffle was slanted at more or less a 45 degree angle both divers shooting not directly at the person but rather at 45 degree angle so basically what you were hearing was off axis sound . Tweeter was a 1 inch dome cloth type and the woofer a 6 1/2 inch audax polydax driver . The cabinet was 1 inch affair with front baffle 1 1/2 inch .
Bau said that the speaker was design to be heard with your ears between the tweeter and woofer in a isoceles triangle configuration on 24 inch stands . It was a infinite baffle affair or in other terminology acoustic suspension , 4 ohms single wire type . Front baffle had a thick blanket of absorbing material that with it 's grille on made the front baffle invisible to any primary refections .

The crossover was a simple first order 6db for the high frequencies and a bessel 24 db for the bass . Lobing between drivers wasn't a issue because of it's 45 degrees . Almost forgot , Bau recommends the vertical axis of the speaker pointing directly at the listening position . If you heard the speaker on the tweeter axis it would sound shrill and bright .

One of the interesting things on it's design was that it's phase was basically flat from 200 to 5000 hertz so that tones and overtones were kept intact . At the time having a speaker with these specs at this price , 450 dollars and totally computer design would have been nothing if they didn't sound good . So how did they sound ? Before using hyperbole let me just say that stereophile said that they considered them one of top 100 products of. all time .
When correctly placed they would engulf you with music .

One of the most important caracteristics , if not the most important one , tone in the midrange was spot on , except for the extreme frequencies . They would go down to about 48 hertz and had a gentle roll off from 14 k hertz upwards .The soundstaging they produced was wide , deep with excellent specificity and focus if the electronics used were capable of producing this information on the recording .

One of the best system I have heard in my life had a mission cdp directly connected to a pair of counterpoints otl type sa-4 amps using randall research speaker cable to a pair of tc-50's . Their transient response was superb , so much that with good electronics and good recording they sounded like electrostats . Spacing between the performers because of it's excellent focus was very good .You could literally see the performer which were not flat as some speakers with good imaging produced but rather images had roundness and substance . Microdynamics were excellent with very good low level detail . Macro dynamics were very good up to the speakers top ceiling which constrained a bit because of it's design . Another speaker that comes to mind that sounded like this were the dalquist DQ-10 , another time and phase align design.

Tones with their overtones were kept intact coming from the same point in space , not disjointed like some . Bass that they did have was fast and damped with little overhang . So in conclusion what we had with the spica was a overachiver , so well design to leave intact in time the music engraved in those pits or groves . They were or rather are so good as to be competitive with whats out on the market even now . Sometimes I wonder how a tc50 would sound with modern drivers we have today which are much better then what you had 25 years ago .

Almost forgot , the woofers were classified on their upper resonance peak and each individual crossover matched to the particular driver in order that each speaker sounded alike . In other words each woofer was measure for their upper resonance peak which was different from one woofer to another one , the crossover was tweaked in order to compensate for this peak . When ordering a woofer you would have to give them a code number onthe back of each speaker inorder to give you the proper spec'ed woofer .Now how is that for a 450 dollar speaker .

Product Weakness:	Frequency extremes rolled off , dificult to set up .
Product Strengths:	Imaging , focus , soundstaging , tone and overall musicality .

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: counterpoint NP-100 , MCCORMACK DNA125
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Audible Ilusion 3A with gold phono stage
Sources (CDP/Turntable): project expresion II with ortofon salsa moving coil
Speakers: magnepan 1.6 , spica TC-50 with updated crossover
Cables/Interconnects: JPS LABS all over with their power cables
Music Used (Genre/Selections): ecleptic
Room Size (LxWxH): 27 x 14 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: none
Time Period/Length of Audition: many years
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): van evens
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	counterpoint NP-100 , MCCORMACK DNA125
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Audible Ilusion 3A with gold phono stage
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	project expresion II with ortofon salsa moving coil
Speakers:	magnepan 1.6 , spica TC-50 with updated crossover
Cables/Interconnects:	JPS LABS all over with their power cables
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	ecleptic
Room Size (LxWxH):	27 x 14 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	none
Time Period/Length of Audition:	many years
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	van evens
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner