Compact, elegant, and great sounding towers
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The big brothers of Spendor’s A-Line, these A7 are superb floorstanders that sound great, look great, are compact enough to fit into most homes and are elegant in their simplicity. Build quality is of a high standard, with crisp edges and a choice of impeccably smart wood veneer finishes.
The A7 are two-way speakers. Each speaker has an 18cm mid/bass driver and a 22mm tweeter with a wide surround, which help disperse the sound even further. The main difference is, of course, cabinet size. The A7 head Spendor’s A-Line range (they’re about 7cm taller than the A4 floorstanders, and 2kg heavier), but their relatively slim and compact dimensions mean they will fit neatly into most homes.
Position them correctly, around 20-30cm away from a wall or corners, and you’ll reap the rewards. The Spendors have rear-firing slot-shaped reflex ports to reduce noise and distortion, and to give better grip on bass than a conventional tube-shaped port can generally manage.
Don’t push them up against a wall or you’ll lose a lot of that open character. We’d also toe the speakers in slightly towards the listening position to get that gorgeous stereo imaging and solid focus for vocals.
Grander scale
We’re fully expecting the A7 to sound like the A4, but bigger. And that’s exactly what the A7 are – but with even greater insight and dynamics accompanying the grander scale. Detail levels are fantastic, with each instrumental strand and vocal quirk laid bare. The sound is terrifically clean and organised, but where other Spendors have tended to prioritise refinement, these A7 also pack in bags of punch to keep things sounding lively.
Vocals are a particular highlight. We play Liability by Lorde and the emotive vocals sound gorgeous – focused, tangible and intimate. It’s a wonderful performance, and one that inspires us to search for more vocal-heavy tracks to see just how talented these A7 are. They time with pinpoint accuracy and are immensely transparent too, highlighting any differences in recording qualities.
Such qualities could easily nudge the Spendors over into ‘clinical-sounding’ territory, but instead they’re full of expressive melodies and undulating dynamics. From sparse, mournful Ólafur Arnalds compositions to the chirpy hip-hop of Salt-N-Pepa, the A7 mas
