Talented, Enthusiastic And Friendly

FOR Agile, articulate and expressive sound; compact

AGAINST Nothing of note

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Looking for a good pair of compact premium floor standers? Spendor’s new A4s could be exactly what you’re after. They’re beautifully engineered, smartly finished and sound great. At just over 80cm tall they’re also unlikely to dominate, even in smaller rooms.

Two-way design

While it may be tempting to think of these speakers as a development of the company’s well-established A5 model, they are quite different – even if the general styling and cabinet dimensions suggest otherwise. These are a two-way design, rather than the 2.5-way of the A5 – the change marked with a move from two 15cm drivers to a single 18cm mid/bass unit.

The low frequencies are tuned by a rear-firing reflex port on the new model; the older one had a sealed cabinet. High frequencies are delivered by Spendor’s favoured 22mm wide-surround tweeter, which is claimed to produce a wider frequency range and lower distortion than traditional dome designs, but this time with a protective grille in place.

The change in drive unit configuration doesn’t alter the underlying specifications too much. Claimed sensitivity is similar at 86dB/W/m (just a single dB down from the A5) and nominal impedance remains at 8ohms. Any good price-compatible amplifier will be happy driving these.