There are second chances in my simple life : Spica TC50 speaker

Have you ever thought that you'd have to make choices in the past, well a luxury choices that is. And all a sudden there you are, after say more than 10 good years being confronted again with the second chance right in front of you, dejavu all over again :).

Mine happened long time ago when I was still a near graduation student in the Netherlands. I started looking for a pair of serious loudspeaker to take home and live with it..just like a wife isn't ? except it comes in pair :).

At that time I was considering an unusual speaker, Magnepan SMGa and another pair which I have listened at my well funded friend apartment, Spica TC50 driven by high-endish gears such as Goldmund turn table with Van den Hul Grasshopper cartridge, Aitos tube MC Pre-pre and Aitos tube power. Really an experience not to forget to hear the sound.

Finally I married to the Maggie SMGa, took her back to my country home after graduation. Why SMGa? they are more expensive than the Spica, more than 3 times. The reason was that Maggie in combination with my system at that time, second hands Counterpoint tube pre & hybrid power amp sounds quite good, maybe scoring a decent 6 points out of 10 points of my friends gears.

Fast forward to present time, I started doing DIY audio thing and with several 'hardcore' audio friends planned a visit to a place known as electronic ghetto in Jakarta, a Bronx kind of place with many unexpected audio jewels if you're lucky.


And how lucky was I indeed. In one of the shop I saw a familiar sight...a TC50 Spica..to be honest I'm bit disappointed to see both grills full of holes and one of them are totally broken into 3 pieces. Hmm..lets see the speaker driver then..looks unfamiliar though, especially the woofer, not the same as my friends. Need to gather more info on the net after asking the price, quite pricey for jewel from the past. Got home and started browsing.

Here is a link on the net.  Yup exactly, the Spica's have stood bravely the cruel tests of the time. With many fanatics. A proof that the TC50 is a legendary loudspeaker. Woofers and tweeters are no longer in production, the designer John Bau just don't want to continue his creation, etc. etc...

To cut the story short, the next day I went back and got myself one of my 'youth' mistakes home to correct, a pair of legendary TC50-Spica, here is the pic. the date was 12th April 2009, just maybe after 10 years, nope, more than 18 years later, can you believe it?

Talk about second chance? I will give this Spica a real second chance..it needed too.., one speaker sounds not as loud as the other, the grill have to be made anew..hmmm..sounds yummy for a tweaker like me..so the story will continue for sure..thanks for reading