Differences between Harbeth, Spendor, Graham, etc. ?

@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.

Tinnitus is all too common as many of us age. I'm in my 70s and the problem started over 20 years ago. I've got a constant 9 KHz squeal both left and right. Ran that down by using a signal generator and a set of headphones and adjusted the frequency until it matched the tone in my head.  The ENT doctor I went to years ago said each hair in the cochlea is connected to its own brain cell. When the hair is damaged, the brain cell ends up bored so makes its own sound.  I attribute my tinnitus to the fact I worked my way through college as a concert soundman.  It was great pay and tons of fun, but everything has its price!

Thanks for all the additional comments. When the time is right, it would probably make sense to take my Hegel down to Gene Rubin and compare the three brands, despite my general distrust of showroom demos. 

Good plan. Better than flipping a coin or just listening to the ag clowns (myself included). 😉 

Interesting term "punchy" bass...I have been to a lot of live venues and never heard what I would term "punchy" bass. I have heard it from amplifiers.