spica tc-60

[tc-60guy]

Howdy! This is my first post on this fourm so please forgive me for any breaches of fourm ettiquite I may inadvertantly commit. my question is, are there any Spica tc-60 fans out there in cyberland?I've had these lovely speakers for many years and they continue to amaze me with their knack for drawing me into the music. If anyone has ever hot rodded these speakers I'd love to hear from you!

[inertial]

Hi,

I remember little Spica very well. Simply delicious!
Unfortunately too much people have claimed about "inaudible phase response" (MAYBE without have listened Spica)....
IMHO these little monsters was a real stroke of genius.
Great John Bau!

Cheers,
Inertial

[radical]

There's a low traffic yahoo group for spica owners/users

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/britststr/messages

[tc-60guy]

Thanks inertal, I don't know about that phase thingie you mention but I can tell you they are very sweet if a bit polite in the treble, a pain in the fundament to set up and they image like the Dickens! I'm thinking of adding a ribbon tweeter to take care of the rolloff abouve 10kh

[inertial]

Hi tc-60guy,
If I can, I suggest you to not add any sort of supertweeter........
If possible, adjust the listen triangle more little, to say 6 feet
maximum. Again, if you have possibility, try different cables or
electronics.

cheers,
Inertial

[tc-60guy]

Thanks radical, I tried that site a while ago. I think the last post was in 2004. I've seen more action at Madme Tausauds but thanks anyway!

[tc-60guy]

hello again Inertia, In the eight or so years I've had the Spicas, I've tried every positioning option you could shake a stick at. Right now they are about 3 feet from the far end of my smallish studio apartment. I live in NY you know! They are mounted on 24in. Parts express heavy duty stands aprox. 8 feet apart and about 12 feet from my couch,angled towards my ears and tilted 3 degrees down giving the tweeters a clear shot. My electronics are nothing earth shaking, Adcom gfa5500 amp,Parasound pre, an arthritic old Denon t-table with a grado cart and a modded Teac cd player.The imaging I'm getting is spooky good! It's wide ,deep,and coherant. You should hear what it does with Johnny Cash Unearthed!Yet,Yet!!!..............The ireducable fact is that the smooth,velvety,lusiously sweet Vifa tweeter rolls off at about 6db per octave above 10kh and no amount of cableing or electronic switching can change it. To compensate for this I use......(que omonous music!) Gasp!, tone controls. There I said it!My name is Bob and I'm a toneaholic! A ribbon super tweet would allow me to switch that crap off and have a cleaner signal going to my speakers.............Thanks again!

[BHD]

One of the best systems I've ever heard was a pair of TC-60's powered by a Quicksilver GLA. They were in a relatively small room, didn't have the bottom octave or much in the highs, but they completely disappeared when the music was playing. Wall to wall sound, pinpoint imaging and soooo musical. Many times I've thought about getting this combination on the used market and forgetting about audio gear forever.

I've also thought about getting a couple of Marchand electronic crossover boards and actively bi-amping using a pair of GLA's, removing the passive crossover altogether.

Someday, maybe I will.

[inertial]

Hi Bob,
IMHO I think 12 feet is too much far.
Again, if I well remember, owners manual are precise about
the height of your ear respect TC-60 : approx. in line with the upper border of the woofer ( excuse me, not sure 100%).
If not ,you loose step response- caratheristcs .
Perdone my poor english, if you have time, try a near field setup and,
probabily you will not need of treble control........

Cheers,
Inertial

P.S.: I like Johnny Cash!
P.P.S.: TC = time choerent

[noah katz]

"I've also thought about getting a couple of Marchand electronic crossover boards and actively bi-amping using a pair of GLA's, removing the passive crossover altogether."

IMO you'd risk losing the Spica magic (I had TC50's and loved them), which was in large part from John Bau's unusual XO designs.