Spendor, Harbeth...why so hot ?

I would like to add a final comment to this thread. I don't sell Harbeth speakers, nor do I have buddies who do. (Official disclaimer [:)]) It takes weeks to get them as each pair is meticulously crafted, and patience is not often a virtue of audiophiles. I don't care if you love them or hate them. (Liar!) Different strides: different rides.

I, and other Harbeth users, have really found something we love with what these speakers do, (and don't do.) We can concentrate on other parts of our systems, or we can relax and enjoy the music. We also know that there are plenty of other people who would be finding their pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow with what is offered in the Harbeth stable. (And for some others, Spendors rule.) So please excuse me (us) if we are obnoxious, we are a bit drunk with enthusiasm.

If anyone has become curious, you should explore the "Harbeth user's site" which is linked at harbeth.com. You can read input from a few BBC sound engineers, Robert Green (of TAS,) and other audiophiles about a wide range of topics, (including, occasionally, Harbeth speakers!)

Enjoy the music,

Charlie

Hello Paulwp, I enjoyed your post to the fellow who thinks Harbeths and Spendors are “small monitors – just pretty good for the money”. Well said.

The last time I checked HIFI Choice magazine the price of the Spendor SP 1/2 was about 1650 pounds – I couldn’t find the current price on the web. The current price of the Harbeth HL 7es is 1299 pounds, it competes with the Spendor SP 2/3 with a price of 1295 pounds (these are current prices off the web per pair).

My point here is that these speakers are very well known in the critical European marketplace and their prices really do correspond rather closely to their performance level.

You’ve made an excellent choice – the HL 7es is an outstanding speaker. I could certainly be very satisfied with it if I had a smaller room, but in my fairly large room I prefer my SP 1/2’s.

Costrosk, you’re not paying attention to this thread – read Paulwp’s and my post again.

You said that you auditioned small Spendor monitors – I assume S3/5’s or S1’s.

I own Spendor SP 1/2’s. The truly great speakers (and yes THRILLING) in the Harbeth and Spendor lines are the Harbeth HL 7es and Monitor 40 and the Spendor SP 1/2, SP 100, SP 9/1, and perhaps the new Spendor FL 9 and FL 10, but I’ll reserve judgement on these last two because I haven’t heard them yet.

I think the smaller Spendors are superb, the best at what they do. I think when you cross over into the Harbeth range that use the "radial" midrange/woofer (Compact 7, Monitor 30, Monitor 40), you move onto the next level of BBC technology. My own experience, which began with a love affair with SP 1/2's, has been with the Monitor 40's, where for the first time I've come to realize that a properly designed speaker doesn't need the dollop of sweetness that you get with the Spendor's polypropeline drivers. The Harbeths' output is slightly sloped from bottom to top (which Robert Greene argues persuasively is correct) and that in combination with the absolutley transparent radial driver, results in something that is simultaneously realistic and beautiful. The beauty feels absolutely real and changes from cd to cd, so you know you're not getting a euphonic additive, all of which tend to homogenize.

I have not heard the Compact 7's, which are clearly a better "value" than the Monitor 40's. And now that a new North American distributer is in place, they are beginning to move into the market in this hemisphre. Do not overlook these speakers, or this line.

Jmfb:

I will defer to your far more extensive knowledge of the Spendor line - but I was auditioning the Spendor 2/3, which Paul specifically mentioned as having "the most natural sounding midranges among box speakers". Perhaps I was errant in describing them as "small", but ...to me, they seemed small (possibly due to a recent encounter with the likes of the Pipedreams behemoth system, who knows?)

As to "paying attention to the thread", I remind you that the thread was not initially about any specific model of speaker, it was about Spendor and Harbeth in general, not specific models in the lines. I think it unfair to say that because one model or another in a product line performs superbly, anyone who doesn't care for that product line must be "people enamored of HI-FI who haven’t heard much live acoustic music." Especially since that remark was premised on the stellar performers in the line.

It's probably equally unfair of me to smear the whole line with my one audition experience, but I did point out that that was the extent of things - "We swapped them out for the comparable ProAcs and that pretty much put an end to it.." Still, you and Paul are persuasive, and I'll give the 1/2s a listen next chance I get.

chas