Spendor vs. Von Schweikert?

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.

Arkio,

Spendors are very good speakers. I never said they will not work well with any other type of music. I just said spendors work very well with the type of music I played. I did not mention this earlier. I did play Pop & Jazz and it sounds darn good as well. I am not an audiophile. I play my audition discs and expect the speakers to put me in musical world. Spedors did that darn well and so did DynAudio Contour S1.4, Totems and Sonus Faber. But Von Schweikert failed to put me in the musical world.

Again I am not an audiophile. Von Schweikert may be producing the music precisely...I am not sure. What I know is, it did not emotionally involve me in the musical world. What is the point in accurate musical re-creation when the listener can not be emotionally involved in the music he is listenng to. Again, this is very personal opinion and can change from individual to individual

Grakesh