why doesn't everyone own a pair of spica's???

"the tc-60's coupled with a good sub apparently can compete with almost anything playing anything on the market today"....

Unfortunately that is quite a bit if an overstatement!

Spica was at the leading edge in affordable high end audio 20 years ago, but there has been quite a few advances in driver materials, measurement techniques and overall understanding of crossover design since that time.

Spicas are very coherent, with a very natural sounding midrange as compared to many other offerings near their price point. BUT.... as far as "cost no object speaker comparatives, there are a PLETHORA of high end speakers (read more expensive)that will convy much better inner detail, have faster transients with more high frequency extension not to mention better dynamics and lower distortion too! (just to name a "few" sonic improvments over the Spicas ...read; "cost no object" can potentially buy much better sounding drivers and crossover parts!).

FYI: Here is a "short list" of monitor speakers I have experienced that I am very confident will eclipse the Spicas in virtually every sonic parameter:

- Ridge street Audio Sasson Ltd
- Merlin TSM MM
- Totem Rainmaker
- GR Research Dilucio
- Cliffhanger Bulldog

I'm sure that there are dozens more, but the above list I cited I know very well. I should also note that I owned both the TC-50's and the Angelus at one time, i.e. many years ago.

Hi Audiomax,

The point of my posting was to make others (including the original poster) aware that the Spicas cannot really "compete with almost anything on the market" as he hypothosized.

In terms of a "fair" price comparitive monitor that equals or exceeds the Spica I would probably point to GR Research's lower priced offerings. From my own experience, I am VERY confident that GR Research's $1,200 ribbon monitor will definately beat the Spica in all respects and I STRONGLY suspect that GR Research's $500+ standard cone monitors will do this also.

If you do some digging on the net (Audioasylum for example) I think you will find that GR Research is held in very high regard. I never saw so many one sided over the top positive assessments when I first found out about this speaker line. That's how I discovered GR Research initially. Since then I have auditioned their ribbon monitors and am damn impressed indeed!

From the postings on the net it seems as if everyone who has compared ANY of GR monitor's to other similar priced speakers are pretty much blown away by how much better the GR Research offerings sound in comparison.