In an ideal world I would go to Singapore or back to the UK and listen to them…
I’m not keen at the moment…! I’d rather try and make my own here lol
You’re buying on a punt. We understand it’s not ideal but neither are circumstances. Lots of people here use Spendor, PMC, B&W, ATC, Harbeth, ProAc and a hundred others.
If you have you’re heart set on the Spendors that’s fine. You’ll have to pull the trigger eventually. And a wrong purchase will not trigger the hifi apocalypse. And you might as easily love the Spendors and make them your end game speaker.
Not sure where that rating comes from, or on what it is based? As the example I quoted, 77% of 13 speakers that I auditioned in one audition I would not have been able to live with, they sounded so bad to me. And all 13 had received rave reviews in hifi press, and most were manufacturers’ top of the range. To put in perspective, whilst the retail price index calculator I used tells me that the speakers I bought cost around £2500 in today’s money value, the nearest equivalent in production today to the speakers I bought is the PMC Twentyfive.26, making the current comparative price bracket about £5-6k.
I find your arm comparison rather disturbing as although it is true that one can adapt to almost anything given no choice, you presumably would not choose to loose your arm unless there was absolutely no other option - yet with buying hifi there may be another option, e.g if you were to wait for easing of travel restrictions, quite likely within a few months. Alternatively if you are that desperate, how about buying secondhand through eBay or whatever, when the monetary risk is lower, and less lost if you decide you have to move them on?
At the end of the day of course it is your money, and your risk. And hopefully if you do buy the Spendors, or decide on another, you will love them to bits and mock us for our cautionary advice (at which point no-one will mind)!
Going with your gut is as good as anything when you cannot demo something. In fact, when buying on a punt, it’s not a crime to just go with alternative criteria.
I put my PMCs into storage while we do a stint in a rental flat and confess to buying speakers to use for the next 2 years on a punt. Criteria: reputation (not the same as reviews), size, whether they work close to a rear wall, and quite frankly looks (gorgeous). They arrive from the US in a few weeks and I’m not ashamed of how I chose them. Options were limited.
Maybe you should alos consider where you will be using the speakers in your room… the B&W 707 has it’s port at the rear, hence limiting the distance to the rear wall, where as the PMC speaker (I am assuming twenty5 24i or above) has it’s port in the front… and I believe tends to be a bt more forgiving with regard to positioning to the rear wall (not that either speaker likes being placed near a rear wall or side walls either…
I have listened the PMC speaker and the previous model of the B&W and to my ears I thought that the PMC speakers sounded better - in particular the bass seemed to have more slam and depth… (both were driven by non-Naim amps however)…
But at the end of the day both speakers are good speakers, but have a different take on how they project the music… I would suggest that you really cant make a wrong choice here… and since you cant actully listen to both speakers go for the one you like the look off -
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Ok, but you clearly misunderstand transmission line loading! It does the very opposite of boom the bass, instead keeping the bass well controlled while going deep. Anyway, best of luck with your choice.
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Just listened to Twenty5 24i speakers today. The soundstage was excellent but they were bordering on too bright. They have less than 50 hrs on them though.
My Twenty 24 speakers utilise a Rel S3 sub which given all the talk about tweaking a system with cables, switches, etc makes by far the biggest difference in my system and is far more effective than even the laminair bass (standalone) in the new speakers.
I am probably going to make a jump to 25.26i speakers which will still be connected to my sub.
Also 15-20% price increase on new PMC as of next week FYI.
Yes you are certainly wrong about the transmission line.Iit is phenomenal on PMC’s who have perfected it!
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Yes, entirely wrong 
I have a pair of twenty5 23’s and the bass is what I love most about them!
Indeed. My 25.23s filled a large room with huge controlled bass. Couldn’t imagine using a sub.
Spendor D7.2 have arrived and I’m very happy with them.
Thanks to everyone for their input.
One day hopefully I’ll get a chance to listen to some of the PMC and B&W models mentioned in the thread and see if I can hear a difference myself…!
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For me a pmc lover … I like what the line does for midrange … its very explicit…well monitor like … B&W are quite different in presentation…I tried my little PMC 20.21 against 805.D3s and I was very surprised in my room preferred the pmc the 805s had superb treble… but the resolution and focus in my room … the pmc was better…maybe with a different room it would be a different story…
Also the 805s loves loads volume…they just soak it up…so they for me had to play really loud to get into their stride…pmc 21s like volume but the 805s were way more hungry…its a small speaker that wants a big room if that makes sense…
They take forever to shine. Mine took at least two weeks. Congrats!
I have Dynaudio Special 40’s with a REL S/510 in a large-ish room. They didn’t really open up with the SN2 + HCDR… Dynaudio’s need some real grunt to get going. That doesn’t mean loud though. If your room is small and speakers need to be close to rear wall try to get a sealed box or front ported speakers. A lot of folks here are loving ProAc’s. Easy to drive and place and sound wonderful.
They sounded great out of the box to me in honesty (that’s not saying much btw) but a few odd tracks seemed a little odd bass wise so I re-positioned them a couple of inches further from the wall which sorted it out. They have a much better stereo image than most speakers I’ve heard before I can say that much quite easily. I’m very happy with them anyway and was pleased with the service and packaging from Spendor. They didn’t need to help me export them either but they did so hats off to them for that also.
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