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New speaker help. Proac-Spendor-Harbeth-Devore-PMC

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!

I'm looking to purchase some new bookshelf size speakers. I want to get some newer ones and try to improve upon my 8 year old Proac 2000 Signatures I have now.

I am looking for anyones help in this matter as I have not had the chance to audition many of these models. I tend to like the British style of sound and I have narrowed down my choices to 10 different pairs. :)

Of these models I have only had the chance to listen to the Spendor SP3/1R2. My choices are bit limited where I live. I loved the Spendors and have been leaning towards buying them. But at $2550 dollars a pair I know there are many other good choices out there. I don't really want to exceed $3500 dollars or so in my new purchase.

I really like my current Proacs and I was thinking of staying in the same family for a sound I like and that I am familiar with. I only would assume that speakers have improved slightly in the last 10 years and the newer models are a bit better over my 2000's.

The other 3 choices I have not listened to ever. The Harbeths, Devores, and PMCs. But I have read so many good things about these and think that I might like them as well.

The Devores use soft dome tweeters and from what I read are smooth and clear sounding. Maybe good value too considering they are made in Brooklyn vs England like the others.

I have to say that I am not really big fan of metal dome tweeters so I do worry a little about the Harbeths and the PMCs. I find metal domes to always be a bit too bright and sharp for my taste. But many have said that the Harbeths do a great job in this manner with smooth highs.

The PMC's are a little more of unknown and a gamble at this point for me. Great reviews though.

I will use my new speakers with tubes. I have a Granite Audio 30 watt tube amp at the moment. So they will need to be somewhat efficient. I may purchase a slightly more powerful amp in the near future. But no more than around 50 tube watts.

I have narrowed down my choices between mini and regular size bookshelf speakers. Either size will work fine in my smallish sized listening room. I understand the brands bigger brothers will have slightly more bass and higher SPL output but they will also cost me more money as well. So I will have to take that into consideration if the sound quality differences is worth it or not.

These are the speakers that I have narrowed down. Has anyone listened to any of these or had the chance to compare any of the following to each other?

1. Spendor SA1 or Spendor SP3/1R2

2. Proac D1 or D2

3. Harbeth P3ESR or 7ES-3

4. Devore Gibbon 3 or 3XL

5. PMC DB1i or TB2i

Thanks to anyone with any thoughts on any of these models and/or comparisons. It will help me greatly in my search.

Tom
mezzanine
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
I would go with the Spendor SP-1s or SP-1/2Es. I have both and haven't heard a speaker that size I would rather have. I use to be a Spendor dealer but of the 6 pairs I now have I bought 3 used. See REGONAUDIO review. I also have a pair of Mini Utopias but overall I would go with Spendor. Spendors are fairly efficient and an easy load so tubes are fine, buy used , you will get a lot more speaker for the money, I have bought a lot of them used and never had problems.
manny55's avatar
manny55
21 posts
 
Wow, great list of speakers.Any of them would be a good choice.The Devore sound great with tubes.They are not bookshelf speakers but floor standing.I personally love spendor speakers .They have what I consider one of the most important characteristic a speaker should have,excelent tonal quality.To me , no matter how good a speaker might be in certain areas, if a guitar does not sound like a guitar it just doesn't do it for me.On another note,your proac speakers are by themself excelent.I use to have proac studio 1 speakers and they were fantastic reproducers.I personally don't think speakers have advance all that much .There are speakers long gone that would give modern speakers a challenge.Dalquist dq-10 , Spica TC-50 ,TC-60 and angelus models ,Celestion SL6,SL 600 and many others.Hope this was helpful.God bless.
a_e_watkins
106 posts
 
Hi Manny

With this list of speakers, you cannot make a bad decision. I personally own the Harbeth's. Like you I was orginally leaning towards the Spendor's, but then I got to hearing a lot of good reports about the Harbeth's and I gave them a listen, and fell in love.

Like you, I too was concerned about the the metalic tweeter, but this is really not a concern, as this tweeter turned out to one of the smoothest, sweetest sounding high ends I have heard.

The 'radial' driver material is not an advertising gimick! This thing is absolutely fabulous. Very similar to the Spendor, in a lot of ways, but with more inter detail and clarity. However, as previously stated, there is not a bad choice on your list, and the final decision is what you are happy with.

Good luck, and great listening.

Regards,
AEW
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