Spendor Classic 2/3

Drawn Into the Music

The Spendor Classic 2/3 is the largest two-way stand-mount loudspeaker in Spendor’s Classic range, built around a 22cm Spendor bass drive unit and tuned to pull you into the music with a pure, unfatiguing sound. Spendor describes a balance that joins punch and weight to real subtlety, with exceptional openness and dynamic contrast, and with the warmth and charm Spendor regards as the hallmark of every Classic model.

Audio Lounge offers the Classic 2/3 as matched pairs in Cherry or Walnut real-wood veneer, and a pair can be heard at the Wigmore Street showroom on enquiry.

One Generous Cone From Voice to Bass

Everything below the treble rests on a single 22cm cone, and Spendor designs and manufactures that drive unit in-house. The cone is a polymer reinforced with polyamide fibre, mounted on a rigid cast magnesium alloy chassis and driven by a high-efficiency motor system, and Spendor perfects each drive unit for one specific design.

The reward is a room-filling sound from a cabinet that still sits on a stand. Voices come through pure and unforced, instruments keep their colour and texture, and the music moves with precision and dynamic expression. Bass arrives with punch and real weight, yet the sound stays relaxed enough for a long evening of records to pass without fatigue.

Push harder and the Classic 2/3s retain their composure and refuse to harden.

A Wide-Surround Dome for the Treble

Above the cone sits a small polyamide dome tweeter whose wide surround shapes the whole treble. That surround lets the diaphragm reach far into the treble while behaving, lower down, like a larger one, so the response stays stable and low in distortion across a very wide range. A diaphragm profile unique to Spendor then spreads a smooth, extended treble over a wide listening area.

The result is treble that never calls attention to itself. Strings keep their sheen, cymbals shimmer without edge, and the sound holds together whether the chair is central or set off to one side, which suits a living room rather than a single favoured seat.

A Crossover Tuned for Coherence

Where the cone hands over to the tweeter, the crossover network decides whether two drive units sound like one voice. Spendor’s phase-linear networks use precision-wound, high-linearity tapped inductors, which avoid distortion and allow very fine tuning of frequency and phase response, together with high-linearity audio-grade capacitors and silver-plated pure copper for the internal cable, insulated with a halogen-free dielectric.

Spendor calibrates and pairs every crossover and drive unit to stringent broadcast reference standards, so the two cabinets of a pair match closely. A singer holds a fixed place between the pair, and even at low volume the sound remains clear and transparent.

A Quiet Cabinet in Real-Wood Veneer

A good cabinet adds nothing to the music. Spendor gives the Classic 2/3 an enhanced cabinet structure with elastomer panel damping, so the enclosure stays quiet and the music, rather than the box, fills the room, while a single reflex port extends the bass.

The cabinets are handmade in Spendor’s own workshops and dressed in real-wood veneer, Cherry or Walnut, with a magnetic grille supplied. Spendor’s timeless styling lets the pair settle into a room as easily as into a system.

Raised to the Right Height

Spendor designs the Classic 2/3 to sit on a dedicated stand and builds one for the purpose. The Spendor Classic 2/3 Stand, sold separately, lifts each cabinet to the height Spendor specifies for the best balance when seated, and Spendor recommends the pairing for best results.

Four slim pillars of solid alloy, tied together by two independently machined hubs, form an open frame that stays rigid, light and free of resonance, with direct metal-to-metal contact at every joint. The stands come in satin black with finely machined stainless steel top supports and, like the loudspeakers themselves, are made in the UK.

Three Decades of the 2/3

The Spendor Classic 2/3 continues a line that Spendor has refined since the 1990s. The 2/3 name first appeared on the Spendor SP2/3 in 1994; the SP2/3E, SP2/3R and SP2/3R2 followed, and in 2017 the Classic 2/3 took over from the SP2/3R2, built around Spendor’s newer generation of drive units.

The aim has stayed constant through every revision: music delivered with the captivating warmth and charm of Spendor’s original loudspeakers of the 1970s, with five decades of refinement towards that goal behind the Classic range.

The Spendor Classic 2/3 and the Classic Range

Two neighbours frame the Spendor Classic 2/3 in Spendor’s Classic range. The Spendor Classic 3/1 is a more compact two-way, versatile in smaller rooms, while the Spendor Classic 1/2 adds a dedicated midrange unit to become a larger three-way. Between those two, the 2/3 carries the biggest bass unit of the Classic two-ways in a cabinet that still sits comfortably on a stand.

Standmount designs from every brand in the shop share one home, the bookshelf and standmount speakers collection.

About Spendor

Spendor’s story starts in the late 1960s, when Spencer and Dorothy Hughes joined the first syllables of their names and founded the company. Spencer had been a sound engineer at the BBC before designing the BC1, which was soon on duty in broadcast studios and recording rooms across the globe. Over five decades the Classic models have become a reference for many audiophiles, musicians and professional sound engineers. Under managing director Philip Swift, Spendor keeps design, engineering and building in the UK, with assembly in South Yorkshire and drive units and cabinets produced in-house, something few loudspeaker companies still attempt. Pairs can be auditioned at Audio Lounge’s Wigmore Street showroom in London, and the full Spendor line-up is listed online.