Loudspeakers

Although it has a large cabinet, the 200Ti uses closed box bass loading, which reduces sensitivity and/or bass extension compared to reflex loading, so Spendor's claimed 89dB sensitivity is impressive. We weren't able to verify that figure, though, our measured pink noise figure being 1.6dB shy of it at 87.4dB. But there is an upside to this: as we've come to expect from Spendor, the 200Ti avoids presenting a challenging load to its amplifier and is thus easier to drive than many competitors. Although our measured minimum impedance modulus of 5.1ohm suggests that a 6ohm nominal impedance would be more appropriate than Spendor's specified 8ohm, this is a relatively high figure these days and it's accompanied by well-controlled impedance phase angles. As a result the minimum EPDR (equivalent peak dissipation resistance) is a relatively benign 2.4ohm at a high 920Hz, where 1.7ohm is more typical.

Forward frequency responses, measured on the tweeter axis with the grilles removed [Graph 1, below] show an essentially flat trend, without a presence band dip, and the irregularities sufficiently small to limit the response errors to ±2.5dB and ±2.3dB – excellent figures for a three-way passive speaker. Pair matching over the same 300Hz-20kHz frequency range is first class too at ±0.8dB. Diffraction-corrected nearfield LF measurements showed the bass extension to be 43Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz), with mild peaking (about 2dB) at 70Hz suggesting that the bass alignment may be slightly underdamped. The cumulative spectral decay waterfall [Graph 2, below] evinces some low-treble resonances, the strongest associated with the response peak at 6kHz. KH