I owned a pair of 1/2Es for several years and also auditioned several Harbeths at length. Between Spendor Classic and Harbeth I have a slight preference for Spendor; I just find them a bit more natural sounding. That said, I could easily live with either (Full disclosure, I have a set of Ohms these days.)
Compare/Contrast Spendor Classic vs. Harbeth speakers
I'm in the market to replace a 20+ year old pair of ProAc Response 1.5 floorstanders. I intend to go with monitors due to not wanting to deal with the weight/s of floorstanding speakers these days.
I have auditioned at a dealer the Dynaudio Contour 20i and Heritage Specials. Good sounding speakers: dynamic, good soundstage and imaging, and detailed. I could certainly live with the Dynaudios, but I'm keeping my options open right now.
Next up was Harbeth 30.2XD and Harbeth C7ES3 XD. The Harbeths have the midrange magic in spades, slightly less dynamic, and imaged well. The 30.2s ran out of bottom end what seemed like the 55-60Hz range. I want a bit more meat on the bones in the lower frequencies, at least down to 40-ish Hz with the mix of music I routinely listen to. The dealer did not have the SHL5 speakers available for demo, but may be too large for my 10x16 (speakers on long wall) space.
I am interested in hearing from members that have owned both Harbeth and Spendor Classic speakers. Unfortunately, the nearest Spendor dealer is over 3 hours away. I'm interested in the 2/3, 3/1, maybe 1/2 which might be large for my space. The speakers would be 2 to 2-1/2' from front wall, listening chair 7-8' from speakers against opposite wall. The room is treated, but not overly damped.
Any feedback from members that have owned both speaker brands would be appreciated. Thank you.
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agree w @twoleftears the current gen spendor classics are voiced with more treble energy than their equivalent harbeth counterparts when i listen to my spendor sp100r2’s (precursor to the classic 100 designation, but same speaker) i need to use cabling etc to manage its slight treble edge if there are zero tubes in the chain, whereas there is no such concern with the harbeth mon 40.3 xd... but the mon 40 also presents music with a slightly ’fatter’ more full bodied midrange even dialed in to my satisfaction, i find the spendors a little faster, more open sounding, compared to a warmer fuller presentation for the harbeth - a fine difference, a small gradation, but it's there |
Thank you to everyone that contributed excellent feedback, which is all of you. In the end, I decided to go with the Dynaudio Contour 20i. With 70+ percent of my music listening being classic rock and blues, I opted for speakers that are more dynamic. The new esotar tweeter is no slouch, and jazz and voices sounded quite nice. |
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