2. speakers
  3. 164704-13055

Spendor D9.2 vs. Harbeth super hl5 plus xd + REL Stentor III vs. Spendor Classic 100?

I am thinking of purchasing one of the following:

1). Harbeth SHL5 plus XD + REL Stentor III Reference Subwoofer due to lack of bass and low octave in bass.

2). Spendor Classic 100 - The bass is a bit noticeable and aggressive. 

3). Spendor D9.2.

My living room where the system will stand is: 5.5 meters x 8 meters, a standard ceiling of 2.7 meters and the entire construction is a 20 cm block. From the living room comes a 25 meters kitchen. The speakers I choose can stand up to about 1 meter from the front wall.

Anyone who has heard of at least 2 of them or a previous generation and can have an opinion on a comparison between them?

Thank you very much for your help.


128x128tomer_tsin
Ag insider logo xs@2x
toug27
8 posts
 
Hello,
I didn't have the chance to hear the Spendor 100, but I owned the Spendor 9.2 and I now have the Harbeth Super HL5+ XD,
The Spendor 9.2 speakers have great qualities, among them: spacial presentation, dynamics, efficiency, speed, and they provide deep bass, and solid imaging as well.
I didn't like their tonal caracter though, to me they sounded somewhat thin and dry across the board more so in the mid bass area,
I now own the Harbeth and to me they are better on the tonal and timber side of things, they are less efficient but it isn't a serious issue for me, I run/ran both pairs with a  Melco/Aqua streamer and DAC respectively and Luxman CF-6 and MA-600 separated preamp and amp.  
I use them in a secondary system and for the money they are a tough act to follow, they took 300 hours of break in to lead to their full potential,
 


  
tomer_tsin's avatar
tomer_tsin OP
67 posts
 
Hello everyone,

Let me thank you all, your advice is very helpful, even though I have received diverse and conflicting opinions from each other - that's fine.

I listened neatly twice to the new model for the Harbeth SHL5plus XD, twice for the outgoing model Harbeth Super HL5 plus 40th Anniversary and several times for the Spendor D9.2. I did not listen neatly to the harbeth M40.3 xd (new) and the Spendor Classic 100.

Today I listened to the Spandor 9.2 and its twitter sounds a bit slightly sandy-grained to me, if a little more energy than desired, so... the speakers right now are the Spandor Classic 100.

I spoke and received a warm recommendation on PIEGA 711 What do you think?
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
@tomer_tsin,
I’m glad you were able to get some direct listening of the Spendor 9.2. I really believe that the Spendor Classic speakers will match quite well with your current system and your musical taste.
Charles
helomech
1,687 posts
 
The new Spendor tweeters take quite a while to break-in, after which, the grain will be gone.

The new A-series is more neutral in balance. Try to have a listen to the A7 if possible.
mambacfa
75 posts
 
Good sound doesn’t change over time; products do. Ignore the hype from people selling merchandise, especially regarding speakers. The REL Stentor III remains a titan in the world of “sub-bass speakers.” Take what you hear from the “newer is always better” crowd with dual left and right grains of salt. 
More to discover