Spendor vs. Von Schweikert?

Grakesh, glad it works for you !
"Sweet sounding mid-range" I just don't get how someone can like a coloured speaker over a neutral one. Doesn't it get old very quickly? Also with suropy/sweet sound how can you listen to rock or pop or anything with Bass or strings? It seems to me that a speaker that kills the leading edge of a brass instrument or an eleectic guitar to attain an unnatural smoothness or sweetness would lose its appeal very quickly ! I listened to the Spendors with an all Mac setup and they were playing some smooth jazz and other light sounds. Sounded good especially with vocals but seamed to me in general, they are a niche speaker for specific music only. In fact this dealer would not even let me and my brother-in-law play our own music that we brought along, we brought some rock but also milder stuff like Dire Straits, Pink Floyd and some pop music – Dave Mathews,. That was immediately a big red flag for us. A speaker designed for a specific type of music reproduction, IMO is not a very good design. I guess, to each his own… but not for me. I’ll take VS, Dynaudios or any number of neutral designs over that kind of sound any day.

Good listening

Great thread. This is exactly the information I was looking for because both the VR4JR and Spendor S8e is on my speaker buy list in march when I get my tax returns.
Tough decisions. I don't think there is a Spendor dealer in Arizona and the only VR dealer has a room thats 10'x'10. Sounds horrible.

I'm also considering Quad 22L, Vandersteen 3a signatures and some crazy off the wall speakers called Zu Druid MK4's
and Intuitive Design Summit PSL624.
Im not considering a Merlin because I don't have nice tube amps. Sure would like some views and comments on those speakers how they compare to Spendors.

Wow, htis is a great thread. People giving honest opinions of their perception of hte gear in question (and people seem to agree on what that sound is), yet disagreeing civilly about their differences in percieved value of those traits. This is what it's all about!!

Thx for the responses! I'm reading this with much interest. One thing though, as far as the Spendor's only sounding good with "softer" music, I couldn't disagree more. My favorite types of music are Latin Jazz, Latin dance music, Fusion, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Bluegrass and some Classical. In other words, any and all types of music sound fantastic through my Spendor's!

It is exactly the nature of the VR4JR sound that gets old and quick. The BBC sound has a slight dip in the upper midrange which relaxes the presentation and a completely uncoloured midband that makes them so listenable over the long haul. Ever wonder why there are so many Von Schweikert's on the A'gon for sale and so few Harbeth/Spendors? People "date" speakers like the VR4JR's and then move on to the next "best" thing. People marry the Harbeth/Spendors and rarely get divorced.