Differences between Harbeth, Spendor, Graham, etc. ?

I don’t know that you can simply compare brands, as my experiences with three different Harbeth models (I owned all of them) would imply there can be considerable variations within a given brand:

• Harbeth Super HL5: fast, clean, but thin sounding... thin bass and mids
• Harbeth 40.1: warm, dark, full bodied and organic
• Harbeth 40.2 Anniversary: neutral, linear and balanced

Of the above three, only the 40.1’s were satisfying to the point that I’d consider owning them again, if I were in the market for a British monitor... but I’d like to hear the classic Splendor SP100 and SP 1/2E, as well as the Graham’s.

@pdreher 

Thanks for that useful clarification.

"Warm, dark, full-bodied and organic" is my preferred direction, although I lack the cash and room for something of the 40.1's dimensions.

If you are patient, you can find Spendor SP100's for < $3,000 and SP1/2e's for < $2,000.  Hifishark.com is a good site to keep tabs of used listings.  The Spendor's would look great in your beautiful craftsmen home... and both are efficient and tube friendly.

This dealer sells those 3 brands. Give him a call and I’m sure he will give you the lowdown on all 3. BTW, I have owned every Harbeth model minus the M40 (too big for my room). I am now using the HL5 and would never call them thin sounding. As a matter of fact I like the HL5 better than any other Harbeth or Spendor that I have owned!

A review!

I think the main differences can be attributed to their names:

1. Harbeth - named after the brother/sister (Harry and Beth) who first designed and built their bookshelf speakers in their uncle's lonely Wessex manor house. 
2. Graham - named after founder Paul's love of gravy and ham (GRAvy and HAM) breakfasts in his Devon area farmhouse as a kid. 
3. Spendor - named after the husband and wife founders (Spencer and Dorothy) who started operations up on the north midlands. Also the birthplace of Def Leppard. 

One of these is true, btw. 

@pdreher 

Thanks for the suggestion.

@yogiboy 

Are you driving them with tubes or SS?

I'm aware of G. Rubin -- thanks.

Tubes!

@yogiboy

... as I suspected. I’d prefer to stick with SS.

@simao

Unfortunately, I’m ignorant of the respective sonic attributes of ham and gravy. . .I can only assume gravy is "wetter"while ham accentuates the playful, humorous aspects...

@pdreher

I’m familiar with hi fi shark. Thanks for your suggestions.

I have the Spendor classic 4/5’s. Wouldn’t necessarily say they are inherently warm in character, but they do throw a surprising amount of bass with power behind them which could be part of that “warm” assessment. Can sound far bigger than their size would suggest and seem to respond well to higher wattage without a flinch. They’re also very true to source, detailed and revealing. Very insightful. They’re also very easy to integrate with a sub. Need to be pointing at you. Lastly, I’ve found they can sound better not so far into the room but will still throw a wide and deep stage with only 2-3 feet behind them. 

Robert Greene and Paul Seydor have reviewed many of the various BBC incarnations over the years and they include some comparisons between the revisions in the same lineup and similar models across brands. I own a pair of Grahams and found them to have greater clarity than their Harbeth counterpart with no downside. I haven’t heard any Spendors in a long time.

Interesting to read these answers -- which to mean anything, must presume decent room acoustics. In a room with bad acoustics, none of the differences listed here amount to anything. Might as well ask about the different tastes of pork, beef, and chicken when they're all covered in ketchup.

I know nothing about these speakers but I know your home is gorgeous!

Apologies to the OP if this post takes the thread astray, but I am in a similar situation.  Currently have Spendor SP3/5r2 in a small room,  running them with a modded Gan1.   I will be setting up a slightly larger room tthis summer and want to stay with the British sound.  Thinking perhaps of Harbeth 30.something or C7es3.  At Axpona one room was using some Spendor Classics (I don't remember which).  That was a sweet sound.  Unfortunately the Spendor Classics are quite pricey in comparison to the Harbeths. 

By the way,  the OP may want to give a listen to some of the Gan amps with these speakers.  In my limited experience (Gan1 and Spendor SP3/5r2) I would describe the sound as effortless, non-fatiguing detail.  Insightful, perhaps understated, but very pleasing.  It draws one in such that I am reluctant to end a listening session.  I haven't tested this, but I suspect that the nature of the Gan amps is to enhance the sound signature of such speakers.  Just my 2 cents.  Best of luck.

"as I suspected. I’d prefer to stick with SS."

@stuartk FYI: Alan Shaw the owner and designer of Harbeth uses Hegel solid state at many of the HIFI shows. BTW, my friend runs solid state with his Harbeth M30s. Good luck with your search!

@hilde45 

FWIT, I've had sound in my room that's run the gamut from euphonically warm with mushy bass to "skeletal" (or however one describes the opposite of "well fleshed out") with well defined bass and piercing highs. 

@riccitone 

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Spendor 4/5's. Good to know. What size is your room? 

@paullb 

Thanks for your comments. 

@campoly 

Thanks! 

@treepmeyer 

I have a Hegel H390 and Hegel shows with Harbeth, as @yogiboyaccurately states. 

@yogiboy 

Thanks!

@hilde45 

I meant FWIW, not FWIT...

I have simultaneously owned the Spendor SP2/3R2 and the Harbeth M30.2 Anniversary for about a year. My amplifier at the time was the Audio Analogue Maestro Anniversary integrated. My take (both speakers used without grills as I found the grills to obscure some detail):

- Spendor: bigger sounding with deeper bass (as expected, given the box and midbass driver size difference), silkier and comparatively more restrained highs that I found to be somewhat better integrated with the mids, and very colorful, natural, organic, textured, lovely mids but with what seems to be a bit of a (rather wide and shallow) hole in the lower mids / upper bass. Robert Greene also mentions a more restrained 200Hz area in his review of the Spendor SP1/2R2. Bass is of the round variety, better suited for reproducing the reverberant body of a double bass than the sharply delineated start / stop of the bass in something like Kraftwerk. They need to be placed well away from the walls and the bass could also be a bit weak compared to the midrange in this case. I'm using them now with an Accuphase amplifier with its loudness button engaged and I'm getting wonderful midbass to midrange body and even quite enough low bass. The midrange is the star of the show, anyway. All in all, wonderful for acoustic music.

- Harbeth: a very refined tweeter, a bit more detailed than the Spendors', but cymbals have less body and midrange centered instruments have a bit of an overemphasis on overtones, I think, making for a less rich gamut of colors. It's a less saturated midrange, like looking at a picture that is a bit more black - white - silverly, comparatively speaking. Robert Plant's voice is too recessed on Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" for example, making the whole piece less musically convincing - I suppose the "BBC dip" is more pronounced in the Harbeths' case?! Texture is a bit more emphasized, which is really nice for strings, especially in the upper bass which is a bit stronger than the rest of the frequencies, making the bass and mids better integrated than in the Spendors' case - especially nice when listening to cello music. Midrange and bass seem drier, though, and harder in a way, as if the midbass driver is made from a harder material than the better self-damping polypropylene of the Spendors (which I suppose it is). Also, the sound is smaller and the bass rolls off quite high, around 60-70 Hz I think, if listened t away from the walls. A more "sober" sound than the more extrovert, joyful Spendors. I sold them and kept the Spendors.

@donquichotte

Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a detailed, clear comparison.

BTW, I wasn’t aware of the BBC dip. What is that -- equal parts stout, kippers and Stilton? :o)

@stuartk 

You're welcome! The extensive research conducted by the BBC engineers in the 70"s, iirc, concluded, among other things, that a perfectly flat frequency response isn't actually very desirable,, i.e. it sound bad. They stated that a good sounding speaker should have a dip somewhere around 2kHz (1.5 - 3kHz?) and this knowledge was incorporated in the design of the BBC monitors of that era - the ancestors of the modern Harbeth, Spendor Classic, Graham, Stirling etc. speakers.

and Falcon.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the Falcon and Roger home pages. 

I was trying to find information about their speakers. I emailed them. 3 or 4 times, no response. I gave up, finally, there is no pricelist for their speakers, other than one off prices for a specific model. 

I find it irresponsible to publish contact information and ignore all requests. It reeks of terrible management. (It doesn't mean they can't have wonderful speakers,) 

Harbeth has an OK homepage, with the attitude of "we don't need a great web site, everyone knows our speakers are great.

Spendor has a 21 century web site and maybe a bit duller product line but I would trust them the most.

I had Harbeth Super HL5's for a few years with an MSB S200 power amp. Great for classical, jazz, and more acoustic music, but I found them very lacking in punch for the rock music that I listen to...

I used to own Spendor SP 1/2Es and have listened to several Harbeth models. I haven't heard the Grahams.

I prefer the Spendors -- the midrange and 3-D qualities are absolutely magic. The biggest drawback is the extremely small sweet spot -- you're pretty much locked into a precisely placed seat to get the best sound. A lesser drawback is there isn't as much deep bass as many other speakers offer,  However, I could easily live with either the Spendors or Harbeths. (I have Ohm 1000s in my main system these days which have an enormous sweet spot, but still have a pair of Spendor 4/5s in a second system -- the 4/5 is their current incarnation of the classic BBC LS 3/5a.)

@larsman What did you land on for rock speakers?

I agree with you and would not even recommend the 40.3 XDs that I own now if rock / hard rock is your primary genre, even with big SS horsepower. I don’t think that was Alan Shaw’s intent. As a matter of fact, they were designed to be satisfying at relatively low SPL’s, starting around 70dB to mitigate hearing loss / tinnitus, and I think he did very well achieving those design goals. But who wants to listen to ACDC, Boston (especially Foreplay/Longtime) or the Who at 70dB???

On the other hand, if your music tastes are varied, and you want to fill a room (even a big room) with some nice off-axis sounds as well as enjoy sitting in the sweet spot, Harbeth’s are pretty good all-rounders and definitely not fatiguing...but there are many other fine choices out there.

@macg19 - Indeed, it was my bad getting those to begin with for my taste in music; that is not what they were designed for; amazing I lasted with them as long as I did. But I replaced those with Fritz Carrera BE's, which are amazing rockin' speakers with great bass for the size of them, which is much smaller than the Harbeths. Then I got KLH Model 5's, which were the largest of them all, and finally ended up with Marten Parker Duos almost a year ago now; I'm keepin' those for awhile! I live in an apartment so I don't blast my music anyway, and I've already got hearing loss and tinnitus! 🤣 

@larsman thanks for sharing your speaker journey. Ditto on the hearing loss and tinnitus. For me it’s been over 30 years. I got too close to a massive bank of JBLs at an outdoor rave in London. Midrange loss which is why I chose Harbeth.

Tinnitus is all too common as many of us age. I'm in my 70s and the problem started over 20 years ago. I've got a constant 9 KHz squeal both left and right. Ran that down by using a signal generator and a set of headphones and adjusted the frequency until it matched the tone in my head.  The ENT doctor I went to years ago said each hair in the cochlea is connected to its own brain cell. When the hair is damaged, the brain cell ends up bored so makes its own sound.  I attribute my tinnitus to the fact I worked my way through college as a concert soundman.  It was great pay and tons of fun, but everything has its price!

Thanks for all the additional comments. When the time is right, it would probably make sense to take my Hegel down to Gene Rubin and compare the three brands, despite my general distrust of showroom demos. 

Good plan. Better than flipping a coin or just listening to the ag clowns (myself included). 😉 

Interesting term "punchy" bass...I have been to a lot of live venues and never heard what I would term "punchy" bass. I have heard it from amplifiers. 

@sounds_real_audio

OK. Lazy use of language on my part.

Didn’t seem to inhibit @donquichotte from providing exactly the sort of detailed comparison I was hoping for. 

Spendor Classics are generally warmer than Harbeth IME. Stirling Broadcast LS3/6s and SB-88s mostly split the difference between the other two (assuming like for like model/size comparisons).

It’s also been my experience that Spendors can handle substantially more power and SPL before they begin to strain, again, when comparing similarly sized models.

Some of the current Grahams and Stirlings, and earlier Spendors (90s) were designed by Derek Hughes. His designs tend to sound better than those of Alan Shaw IMO. 

@helomech 

Noted!  Thanks for offering your impressions. 

Have been a fan and user of British speakers since late 60’s.  Unique Sonics that have always appealed to me.

i own Spendor ls3/5a, SP1, and Harbeth SLH5 plus, as well as 40.3 (endgame) for me.

Not sure I could group them by brand.  Each is unique, and totally wonderful.  Currently listening to SP1 at my summer home.  Had them since the 80’s.

Harbeth and classic Spendor, can be listened to for hours on end with no fatigue.  They just sound better and better with each session.  Is one brand better?  Again it really depends on the model.  But you can’t go wrong with any of them.

Each combines musicality with just enough detail for my aging ears.  Have never heard any brand that moves me more than these two.

The SLH5’s, are close to my SP1, and love them both.  Could live with either.  I’ll probably sell my SLH5 one day since the 40’s replaced them.

My suggestion would be to narrow down to 2 or 3 and audition before you buy…….

Try the Harbeth 30.1s. Wonderful sounding large 2-ways.

People rushed to the get the 30.2s, the the 30.2 XDs, but IMHO, the 30.1s are the keepers. Slightly warm & distinctly musical.

@yashu ​​@desktopguy :

Of those you've heard, which have the the most fleshed-out mids? 

I ask because for me, well fleshed-out upper bass/lower mids are critical for my emotional engagement.  

Hard to answer that. I only heard 2 Harbeths: one was the 40.2 (at an audio show in a fairly large room). I loved the sound of it, but you can’t fit that one.

My 30.1s are being used in a nearfield audio situation, which absolutely shouldn’t work, but does. They sound lovely. The mids and upper bass sound wonderful to me. None of that thin/parched/straining to sound good thing here.

Head-to-head I might think the 40.2s have a bit more meat in the mids/upper bass, but that’s because they’re quite a bit larger and are 3-way, not 2-way.

BTW, I pair my 30.1s with a sub, which some will tell you doesn’t work, but for me it works very well. A good sub (mine is JLAudio e110) will only enhance the entire bass range & lower midrange of any speakers, including this one. But I should note that I use a quality external/electronic crossover to match the sub to speakers (Marchand Audio XM66 with variable crossover points and 24 dB/octave slopes), which no doubt figures into the good sound I get with this combination.

FWIW, another pair of British speakers that please me to no end are the vintage KEF 102.3s. These are approximately the same size as the 30.1s and have the same driver compliment (8" woofer + 1" fabric dome tweeter). But the 103.2s are sealed/acoustic suspension, which makes the upper bass in particular sound even a big tighter and more dynamic.

@desktopguy 

How far are you sitting from the 30.1's... or is the answer already provided by the "desk-top" portion of your moniker?  

Just 3-4 ft away. Neither pair of speaker should sound good in this configuration, but both sound wonderful to me.

In all honesty, though, I’m definitely not hearing the soundstage/imaging either pair of speaker can do. I’d need to get at least 5-7 ft away from them--and also get them 3-4 ft away from the back wall, to hear all that their capable of.

But even in the nearfield configuration, I can get a very good picture of speakers’ tonal characteristics, dynamics, and so on.

I think the 30.1s have a truly lovely sound. I listen to a lot of classical music and jazz, and they are ideal for that. If all I listened to was rock, dance music, etc, the 30.1s probably wouldn’t be my first choice, those they still sound damned good when I (very occasionally) crank them up.

@desktopguy 

I think the 30.1s have a truly lovely sound. I listen to a lot of classical music and jazz, and they are ideal for that. 

About 3/4 of my listening is to acoustic Jazz and other acoustic genres.  I think the 30.1's would be worth checking out. Thanks. 

All of these brands make nice sounding speakers and one would have to hear specific models to make the right choice. There are also other similar lines of speakers that deserve consideration.  For example, for the extremely small monitors, the Falcon LS3/5A model and ProAc Tablette 10s should also be on the audition list.  There are other models in the ProAc lineup that should also be liked by the crowd looking at this type of speaker. 

A local dealer carries Graham, ProAc and use to carry Harbeth.  By far, the line most people shopping for speakers were interested in was Harbeth.  But, those interested in hearing more than just the Harbeth that they were primarily interested in often ended up switching to Audio Note speakers.  There were very few who came in to look at Audio Note that switched to Harbeth, but quite a few that switched from Harbeth to Audio Note.  Those that owned Audio Note or who were interested in Audio Note that went with something else most often ended up with custom built horn speakers that the dealership also makes/sells.

@larryi

Interesting. As it happens, we have an A. Note dealer in Sacramento. My attempts to find prices for A. Note speakers have been unsuccessful, however, which has inclined me to discount them as a possibility. 

This dealer only sells tube electronics, so, the Harbeths were not run with the recommended high-powered solid state amps.  Still, Harbeth acquitted itself quite well.  I particularly liked the 30.2 model for its lively, yet not lean or harsh sound.  The HL5+ model was also nice, but, it was a bit more sensitive to placement and electronic choice and could sound not as pleasant as the 30.2 when its more demanding needs were not met.  The 40.3 was particularly demanding of the right amplifier, and while it is a nice speaker, at its price it was a bit disappointing--it was too dynamically polite for my taste.  

I don't know the model numbers, but the Graham that is about the size of the Harbeth 30.2 is a nice sounding speaker.  It does not have the slight tendency to have a sharp edge or sibilance in the upper midrange that the Harbeth has, but, it sounded a bit drier than the Harbeth, so tradeoffs are involved.  For a standmount in that size range, the ProAc D2 is also a decent alternative.  

But, if I had to place a speaker near the corner of the room, my choice would be an Audio Note AN-J or AN-E.  They might be a bit expensive, but, they are extremely muscal sounding speakers that sound great with the lower powered tube amps that I favor.

@larryi

It does not have the slight tendency to have a sharp edge or sibilance in the upper midrange that the Harbeth has, but, it sounded a bit drier than the Harbeth, so tradeoffs are involved.

I only just resolved a sibilance issue that plagued my system for well over a year so I’m particularly wary of introducing anything new into the system that might reawaken that particular sonic demon.

At the same time, "dry" is not an adjective that I tend to regard positively. Perhaps Spendor is a better direction for me to pursue than Harbeth or Graham. RE: amplification, I have no plans to replace my Hegel H390.

Are all Audio Note speakers designed for low wattage tube amps? ? ? 

I suppose that tendency for sibilance in the upper mids is another way of describing what I heard in the 30.2’s (and also in some 40.2’s I’ve heard in a friend’s system). But sibilance is too hard a word, I think. A shade of sibilance, No such thing in the Classic series Spendors I’ve heard ( 3/5 - those before the R2 series I think - , SP 2/3R2, Classic 100) at all, though.

Interesting that Graham is drier than Harbeth. Not my cup of tea, then (most probably).

@donquichotte 

I suppose that tendency for sibilance in the upper mids is another way of describing what I heard in the 30.2’s 

Thanks for your input. I'm inclined to try Spendor Classics first. 

@larryi and @donquichotte

I have the HARBETH 30.2XD’s too. There is not one iota of sibilants or”edge” or insert your own like adjectives whatever,…. in my speakers nor in my system as a whole .Frankly it is a ultra silky smooth audio performance that is clear and unambiguous. My “A” system is posted on AGON fwiw.

@larryi

I don’t doubt that your system experiences some sibilants , but that sibilant is your bespoke wart likely introduced by some link in your bespoke system ,

It is flatly dead wrong to engender the same adverse experience to the HARBETH brand and speaker model as a whole Full stop.

 but that is your bespoke wart likely introduced by some link in yiurvsystem

???? 

I hear that slight edge with some very good and smooth tube amplification.  It is NOT in the least a disqualifying property; I like very much most of the Harbeth line.  I don’t know of any speaker that is perfect in every way, so I mentioned what I heard as a mild weak point.  It may be a matter of a tradeoff—if that slight peak is tamed, something might be lost in terms of sense of speed and dynamics, for example; I don’t really know.  For conventional box speakers, Harbeths, Spendors, Grahams, ProAc, and Audio Notes are among my favorites.  

Stuartk,

The Audio Note line is quite efficient, but not like horns or other very efficient speakers.  But, they are also easy to drive which makes them suitable for use with most low-powered tube amps.  My local dealer frequently uses a 6 warr/channel Audio Note amp on the AN-E speakers.  For the smaller models, he most often uses cheaper tube amps that put out 20-40 watts.  The Audio Note speakers also tend to be quite full and satisfying at low volume levels so less power is needed.  Because they are meant to be placed near the back wall, and in the corner (i.e., near the side walls as well), they do not deliver a great sense of depth to the stereo image, but the do image well side-to-side and can deliver good center fill.  Audio Note speakers may not sound extremely detailed and “fast” but they are musically satisfying, lively and engaging when coupled to my favorite kind of amps (low-powered tube amps).

@akg_ca +1

I've owned many different model Harbeths.  A sibilance problem is  a source problem not a speaker problem!