Harbeth 30.1, 30.2, XD

@vdotman very interesting, indeed. Derek Hughes (now mostly with Graham) and Terry Miles have very different approaches to updating the BBC sound (as does Alan Shaw). Top end Spendor classic speakers are probably excellent too (I haven't heard them either). Always down to personal tastes of course. Erik at Gig harbor audio was of the opinion that Hughes is more of a purist, and he seemed to prefer his designs overall. 

I've heard the Spendor Classic 100.  For me, it was streets better than the D7 that I also heard that same afternoon.  It was just pipped by the 40.2.

Vu of Deja Vu (Wash DC) says the earlier incarnations of the '100 were better.

I previously owned the SP 2/3R2 Spendors and found them quite special. Their tonality is more presence centric than the new Classic, which tends to favor clarity and detail over a warmer midrange. It’s not that the newer version is bright. Quite the contrary. It simply takes a more even handed approach, and as a consequence requires a bit more careful matching with the rest of the system. I’m driving mine with a Bel Canto E1X integrated amp with excellent results. One thing certainly hasn’t changed and it is just how big these speakers play. They can easily fill all but the largest of rooms.

If you go to terry miles’ LinkedIn profile (which I can’t seem to access right now on my iPad but viewed recently), he lists all the spendor designs he was responsible for.  Previously, Derek Hughes was the designer, i believe.  So, by cross checking his page with your model, you can tell which one designed it. 

In correspondence with Harbeth I am understanding that the 40th Anniversary brought bigger changes to the 40 and SHL5 series and smaller changes to the series below. For the XD line the 40th Anniversary were continued with no real changes in the upper 2 models but brought the smaller speakers up to the same level. They simply couldn’t keep renaming the speaker after the 40th Anniversary to the 41st etc so they brought out a .3 or XD. The only change in the 2 biggest speakers is the loss of the bi-wire capability from the SHL5+ to just two WBT posts. I have the bi-wire-able 40th Anniversary so no need to upgrade within the same line since they have the radial2 drivers, better crossover and the WBT posts.