Anyone with experience with Spendor D9's?

I haven't heard the D9s but spent a little time with the D7s.  Smooth and very natural sound.  I was pleasantly surprised and seemed extremely neutral to me. 

Need to be paired with a neutral to slightly forward amp to meet my taste.   Personally much prefer these to the Kef Reference line or the B&W 804s.  With Naim gear they sounded dark where Naim would pair well with Kef Reference, 804s or even the Focal Kanta No 2 and Sopra No 2.  If your amplification is warmer I would lean toward Focal in that price range assuming you can tolerate how they look.  

Harbeth is a different animal.  Excellent speaker but you have to like Harbeth's sound.  I like it, don't love it.  Never heard a ProAc

The D9s are very different than the more traditional “Spendor” sound you may be expecting, especially as you want to compare them to other British “usual suspects”. In the D7 and D9 Spendor was looking more to a neutral to slightly detailed presentation in contrast to their more traditional warm reputation.  The bass and treble extension are excellent as is the detail in those areas. Midrange has always been a Spendor strength and continues but in a neutral way.  In their price ranges I think you should compare and consider KEF Reference, lower end Wilson, Magico A3, Audio Physic, and Focal.  These were all auditioned prior to my purchase of the D9.

@verdantaudio

thanks scott

@drrsutliff

yes, well aware... i still have spendor sp1/2’s among several others... and know that the old sound is in their 'classic' series, as it is called now... other series are definitely ’modernized’ in their sound profile

just wondering if the shift in sound palette has gone as far as upper focals, kefs, proacs etc etc which are definitely more lively and more overtly ’hifi’ in presentation

@jjss49 I would say the sound palette has moved slightly in that direction and they have an increased ability to reveal upstream issues compared to my experience with the classic Spendors.  The D9s perform as a very neutral and slightly sweet transducer if supplied by high quality power and signal.