Differences between Harbeth, Spendor, Graham, etc. ?

I had Harbeth Super HL5's for a few years with an MSB S200 power amp. Great for classical, jazz, and more acoustic music, but I found them very lacking in punch for the rock music that I listen to...

I used to own Spendor SP 1/2Es and have listened to several Harbeth models. I haven't heard the Grahams.

I prefer the Spendors -- the midrange and 3-D qualities are absolutely magic. The biggest drawback is the extremely small sweet spot -- you're pretty much locked into a precisely placed seat to get the best sound. A lesser drawback is there isn't as much deep bass as many other speakers offer,  However, I could easily live with either the Spendors or Harbeths. (I have Ohm 1000s in my main system these days which have an enormous sweet spot, but still have a pair of Spendor 4/5s in a second system -- the 4/5 is their current incarnation of the classic BBC LS 3/5a.)

@larsman What did you land on for rock speakers?

I agree with you and would not even recommend the 40.3 XDs that I own now if rock / hard rock is your primary genre, even with big SS horsepower. I don’t think that was Alan Shaw’s intent. As a matter of fact, they were designed to be satisfying at relatively low SPL’s, starting around 70dB to mitigate hearing loss / tinnitus, and I think he did very well achieving those design goals. But who wants to listen to ACDC, Boston (especially Foreplay/Longtime) or the Who at 70dB???

On the other hand, if your music tastes are varied, and you want to fill a room (even a big room) with some nice off-axis sounds as well as enjoy sitting in the sweet spot, Harbeth’s are pretty good all-rounders and definitely not fatiguing...but there are many other fine choices out there.

@macg19 - Indeed, it was my bad getting those to begin with for my taste in music; that is not what they were designed for; amazing I lasted with them as long as I did. But I replaced those with Fritz Carrera BE's, which are amazing rockin' speakers with great bass for the size of them, which is much smaller than the Harbeths. Then I got KLH Model 5's, which were the largest of them all, and finally ended up with Marten Parker Duos almost a year ago now; I'm keepin' those for awhile! I live in an apartment so I don't blast my music anyway, and I've already got hearing loss and tinnitus! 🤣 

@larsman thanks for sharing your speaker journey. Ditto on the hearing loss and tinnitus. For me it’s been over 30 years. I got too close to a massive bank of JBLs at an outdoor rave in London. Midrange loss which is why I chose Harbeth.