Spendor D7 vs. Harbeth Super HL5+

Hello, I own the shl5+ for about 4 years now. I can't compare with the spendors but I can say that at first I wasn't happy with the sound they produced at my place. I found out that they are extremely sensible when it comes to the stands you put them on. I tried several, none of them worked for me. Now I made a pair of stands myself and they sound wonderful. Fast, realistic, tight base, detailed, engaging sound. Don't give up on shl5+!
Best results with a Mcintosh 6850.
I have 30.1 with skylan stands, a billion lightyears away from the. Shl5+. 
Sorry for my bad ENGLISH!

Well of course it will always come down to your own taste.

But I owned the Harbeth SuperHL5plus and I auditioned twice the Spendor D7.

I loved the Harbeths, so tonally believable, rich, incredible with voices etc. But I ended up going another direction and sold them. I’d still love to own a pair though, in a second system. (I use Thiel 2.7 speakers and Joseph Audio Perspective speakers for my main system).

I also own some old Spendors s3/5s that I adore for their organic quality especially with vocals. I thought I should try one of the newer Spendorsto see how they’d updated the sound, hoping they kept at least some of the Spendor midrange magic character.

My experience was that I found the Spendor D7s one of the least appealing speakers I auditioned (and I auditioned many!). They sounded very competent through most of the audio band, well designed.But for one thing I heard nothing like the Spendor sound in the midrange.It was just another modern, clean sounding (and anti-septic) speaker that didn’t distinguish itself in any particular way. (Unlike the Harbeths that just stop me in my tracks whenever I hear them at a store)..

The other thing was the highs were somewhat bright, steely and hard. (Yes they were broken in). I kept trying to turn up the Spendors to enjoy some life and dynamics in the sound (not even that loud) but I was continually having to turn them down due to the hard and piercing high frequencies. I later found out many people had similar impressions of the Spendor D series speakers. They were one of the easier ones to mark off my list.

Again, they sounded really good in most ways. Just nothing at all distinctive or amazing or seductive, and the edge pushed me away.

So, that’s one more bit of data for you from someone who’s heard both speakers.
(BTW, the Harbeths are not rolled off or just soft either. They are very open and lively. It’s one reason why some fans of older Spendor classic speakers find the Harbeth sound a bit "too" lively for their tastes. But I think it’s a canny balance that helps their realism - but not "bright" to my ears).

I recently auditioned Spendor D7s, D9s, the new JBLs, Harbeth, Graham Chartwell, Audio Physic, and B&W. Landed up getting the D9s. 
While these were breaking in I noticed some unwanted brightness on the high end. Tried different sources and amps before getting a Pass Labs XA30.8 and could not be happier...

Certainly everyone has their own preferences; one person's bright can be another person's neutral, etc...

My previous speakers were S series Magicos (beryllium tweeter) before purchasing the Spendors, and to my ears that tweeter provides another whole level of detail and speed compared to the LPZ tweeter used by the D series (let alone the Harbeth).   Things like snare drum and certain percussion with the Magicos was the most lifelike sound I've experienced at home. I was amazed after going to a some live events and then listening at home how realistic certain things sounded to me.

The main driving factor for moving on from the Magicos was poor or bright recordings could become too fatiguing over long listening sessions. Great recordings sounded awesome, but not everything I listen to is well recorded...

The first speakers I listened to after the Magicos were the Harbeth HL5+ and 40.2. The beautiful midrange and non-fatiguing listening was great. I can see why folks like them. That being said, I definitely noticed details and speed I was used to hearing in my favorite recordings that were not present or at least not to the degree I was looking for.   The 40.2 could energize a room and I liked it but it is too big for my room.

The Harbeth dealer mentioned to me he knew a music producer who used both Harbeth and Magico based on what he was recording...

For me I found the D series a nice comprise between the two brands and for type of sound I was looking for. Not counting tone and detail between Harbeth and the other brands I listened to (which all offer slim towers), the other thing I noticed was I didn't think the side to side and back to front imaging with the wider Harbeth boxes was as pronounced.   I can confirm the D9's disappear almost as well as my Magicos did in my smallish room, which is pretty impressive for a pretty large speaker.

To be fair as well, I've not heard the D7 and although the Spendor dealer said they sound like the D9 but with less bass, I've heard others say the D9 sounds different because it has a dedicated midrange driver that doesn't share any bass duties.