Spendor A2

A Floorstander Drawn for Smaller Rooms

Spendor designed the A2 as a miniature tower for rooms where a conventional floorstander would dominate, and for homes where stands and bookshelves are not wanted. The Spendor A2 was the smallest of the floorstanding models in the first A-Line, placed between the A1 standmount and the larger A4. Audio Lounge holds the remaining unused first-generation stock, finished in Satin White or Black Oak, and every pair arrives with magnetic grilles and spikes whose height can be set to suit the floor.

A narrow front and a shallow depth let the pair slip in beside a television, a sideboard or a window seat, asking for barely more floor than two standmounts would. What comes from that small footprint is clear, spirited and quietly charming: the playful, finely balanced character Spendor set out to give the A2, with enough warmth to keep a long evening of music relaxed.

A 15cm Cone Made by Spendor

Bass and midrange in the Spendor A2 come from a single 15cm cone of EP77, the polymer Spendor formulated for the A-Line, fitted to a drive unit Spendor builds in-house. A custom surround and suspension keep the cone stable as the room warms and the volume climbs, so quiet passages hold on to fine detail and loud ones keep their shape. Voices sound natural and unforced, and acoustic instruments keep the grain that makes each one recognisable.

Higher in the baffle, Spendor fits a polyamide dome whose generous surround lets the tweeter reach lower than a dome of that size normally can, while keeping the air and extension a small diaphragm brings. The dome is profiled to spread treble evenly, so the balance heard from a side chair stays close to the balance heard dead centre.

The result is a rich, warm sound that shuffles along with glee.

Tuneful Bass in a Compact Room

Reflex loading extends the low-frequency reach of the slim cabinet, and Spendor voiced the A2 to keep bass tuneful and well defined when the pair stands close to a rear wall or inside a small room, which is exactly where a miniature floorstander tends to live. Bass lines keep their pitch and pace without blooming, and a kick drum lands with a clean edge.

Spendor’s advice for setting up starts with roughly two or three metres between the cabinets and a similar distance to the seat, then shifts the pair forward or back until the bass sounds natural, and turns both inwards until the stereo image locks into place. A new pair benefits from several days of running in before the final position is fixed.

A Cabinet Braced to Stay Silent

Loading heavy panels with damping stores energy and releases that energy late, smearing the timing of the music. Spendor takes another route in the Spendor A2: asymmetric bracing inside the cabinet, plus tiny constrained dampers of lightweight polymer placed where vibration gathers, converting stray energy into a trace of inaudible heat. The enclosure stays quiet, notes start and stop cleanly, and rhythms carry real momentum.

Four machined steel discs are fixed into the base of the cabinet structure, so the plinth and the spikes cannot rock or flex and blur fine detail. Level the spikes on an uneven floor and the slender tower stands firm, sending vibration down to the floorboards instead of feeding the music.

Pairs Matched to a Broadcast Reference

Between tweeter and cone sits a phase-linear crossover built with precision-wound, high-linearity inductors and audio-grade capacitors, wired internally with silver-plated pure copper. Before the two cabinets are paired, Spendor measures every crossover and drive unit against broadcast reference standards, a discipline inherited from the founder’s years at the BBC. The reward is a steady stereo picture, a singer anchored between the towers and a band spread wide beyond either cabinet, and the A2 shares with every A-Line model the engineering Spendor first refined for three earlier models, the SA1, A6R and D7.

An Easy Match for Modest Amplifiers

Spendor designed the A2 as a gentle load that coaxes a fine performance from modest electronics. A well-built integrated amplifier of moderate power is all the Spendor A2 needs, which leaves more of a budget for the source, a turntable or the music itself. That modest appetite also suits a compact streaming amplifier in a living room where a tall stack of components would feel out of place.

Satin White, Black Oak and One Open Box Pair

Spendor built the first-generation A2 in four veneers and finishes, and the unused pairs Audio Lounge still holds are Satin White and Black Oak. Satin White almost disappears against pale walls, while Black Oak, veneered in real wood, gives warmth and depth to a darker scheme. Each tower stands on a plinth of satin black, and magnetic grilles and adjustable spikes are part of the set. These are pairs of the original design that have never been used, and the specification table states the provenance as previous generation. A single Satin White pair sold as open box is listed separately.

From the Spendor A2 to the A2.2

In 2025 Spendor followed the A2 with the A2.2, which keeps the dimensions, weight, finishes, 15cm EP77 cone and polyamide dome tweeter, and changes the interior: a constrained layer of Sorbothane between drive unit and enclosure, refined port tuning, restructured bracing and freer airflow inside the cabinet. Spendor now builds the Spendor A2.2 as the model in production, while the Spendor A2 keeps the voicing of the original A-Line.

For more scale without leaving the first generation, the Spendor A4 offers a larger cone in a taller, deeper cabinet, and every other tower Audio Lounge carries is gathered among the floorstanding speakers on this site.

About Spendor

Spendor was founded in the late 1960s by Spencer and Dorothy Hughes, whose first names, cut to a syllable each, became the company name. Spencer came from the sound engineering department of the BBC; the BC1, his first design, served broadcasters and studios worldwide as a reference monitor. More than fifty years later, Spendor still designs and engineers every model in Britain, assembling each in South Yorkshire, making both the drive units and the cabinets in-house, which few loudspeaker companies still do. Spendor reckons a new design takes a year to develop and each loudspeaker six days to build, with time set aside for matching, staining and finishing every pair by hand. The full Spendor collection can be heard by appointment in the Wigmore Street showroom of Audio Lounge.