Amplifier Recommendation for Spendor D9.2 Speakers


Currently driving them with a McIntosh MC275 VI and wondering especially if solid state might do a better job.  Can anyone share their satisfying amplifier experiences with Spendor D9.2's?  What works best for you and why?  I listen to a wide variety of music so hard to pinpoint where I'd like to concentrate in that regard.  Open to mono and stereo amps up to $12K total, and open to pre-owned.  

alphonsodamato

SPENDOR - EXPOSURE -VAN DEN HUL

Ive seen this particular combination featured at a couple of audio expos. The following article also mirrored this setup.

curiously I asked the exhibitor why the VDH cables, when the majority were using either NORDOST Valhalla or CARDAS Clear. His take was that it was their bespoke and strongly preferred system synergy cable loom choice they found to best perform with the bespoke sonic signatures of the EXPOSURE amp and SPENDOR speakers paired together.

FWIW ,,, …. sounded fine to me,…

 

 

 

if your room is large your mac may not be enough to energize the spendors. if your room is medium sized you can tube roll the small signal tubes and greatly improve the amps transparency and refinement.

amp choice also depends on your preamp.

my spendor d7.2 like your 9.2s thrive on tube amps and also class A solid state.

The rogue audio m 180 dark mono blocks have a smooth, powerful and neutral tube sound that merges well with the Spendors.

I currently have a Pass Labs Class A xa30.8 and it does very well too but not as refined as the Rogue Tube amps.

Previously owned the Spendor D9 speakers.  Started with a Ayre VX-5/20 power amp (SS 175 watts/channel) with a VAC tube preamp and then a Gryphon Diablo 300.   I have also listened to them with a DSA 100 watt pure class A amp.  They preform well will solid state and performed well with all the amps over 100 watts.  The speakers can be very precise in the tweeter section and tubes might smooth that a little, but the mids and bass do like some power for their best performance.

of course what @soix says is key and @hilde45's comment is spot on, the speakers are not hard to drive, many many amps will work well from a power output perspective

my personal view is that the spendor d series offers a lively fairly detail oriented sound, so i would err on the side of smooth, very high quality solid state gear (for better bass control) - think pass, hegel, classe, accuphase, ayre and so on

other option is to use stronger tube amps to get a more natural beauty to the music produced by the spendor towers, like better audio research, c-j, bat, vac, the like

better mcintosh could do well too, they have both ss and tube amps obviously, they impart a warmth and richness to the sound at some expense of ultimate resolution