Anyone with experience with Spendor D9's?

I haven't heard the D9s but spent a little time with the D7s.  Smooth and very natural sound.  I was pleasantly surprised and seemed extremely neutral to me. 

Need to be paired with a neutral to slightly forward amp to meet my taste.   Personally much prefer these to the Kef Reference line or the B&W 804s.  With Naim gear they sounded dark where Naim would pair well with Kef Reference, 804s or even the Focal Kanta No 2 and Sopra No 2.  If your amplification is warmer I would lean toward Focal in that price range assuming you can tolerate how they look.  

Harbeth is a different animal.  Excellent speaker but you have to like Harbeth's sound.  I like it, don't love it.  Never heard a ProAc

The D9s are very different than the more traditional “Spendor” sound you may be expecting, especially as you want to compare them to other British “usual suspects”. In the D7 and D9 Spendor was looking more to a neutral to slightly detailed presentation in contrast to their more traditional warm reputation.  The bass and treble extension are excellent as is the detail in those areas. Midrange has always been a Spendor strength and continues but in a neutral way.  In their price ranges I think you should compare and consider KEF Reference, lower end Wilson, Magico A3, Audio Physic, and Focal.  These were all auditioned prior to my purchase of the D9.

@verdantaudio

thanks scott

@drrsutliff

yes, well aware... i still have spendor sp1/2’s among several others... and know that the old sound is in their 'classic' series, as it is called now... other series are definitely ’modernized’ in their sound profile

just wondering if the shift in sound palette has gone as far as upper focals, kefs, proacs etc etc which are definitely more lively and more overtly ’hifi’ in presentation

@jjss49 I would say the sound palette has moved slightly in that direction and they have an increased ability to reveal upstream issues compared to my experience with the classic Spendors.  The D9s perform as a very neutral and slightly sweet transducer if supplied by high quality power and signal. 

I have heard the originals, which I thought could be argued to be a little bright, at least in that system. They are a step back from the clinical/"hifi" when compared to Paradigm, the KEF reference line or the Sopra line in my opinion. They could stand to be more coherent but are great speakers with a lot of competition. I think Ryan and Apertura are good alternatives. 

I've owned D9s for a few years and am very happy with them.

My previous speakers were Magico S1s, and I decided to try a bunch of UK speakers and tried the typical list:  Harbeth SHL5+, 40.2, B&W 804D3, KEF Reference.

One of the dealers mentioned I should also try the D9s and I personally thought they stood out of that crowd for what I was looking for.

I really like their midrange and bass/dynamics, and their high frequencies to me were more resolving and fun compared to the Harbeth, without being too detailed like what I was finding with my Magico Beryllium tweeters.

Unlike the previous poster, I actually think coherency is one of their strong suites.   I think they are pretty nicely balanced.   I agree with the comments that neutral to slightly sweet/warm upstream components likely work best generally, as I don't find they add any warmth.   I'm running them with a Pass X250.8 and an R2R NOS DAC and I don't find them too detailed or forward at all.

There is another similar thread to this one you might be interested in... https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/any-spendor-d9-owners-out-there

Cheers

thank you dafoe

very helpful

just wondering if the shift in sound palette has gone as far as upper focals, kefs, proacs etc etc which are definitely more lively and more overtly ’hifi’ in presentation

@jjss49 ,I think the Spendor "D" series are completely different than their older series. These are the more modern sounding. I would not necessarily term them as "hifi" presentation, but more "lively". I have spent 30+ minutes auditioning the D7 and was amazed by their sound. Similarly I had auditioned the ProAc D30RS. In the end I went with the ProAc D48R. If the same comparison can be made between D7 and D9, these might "scale large", as I found out the difference between the D30 and D48. Mind you though that the D9 need at least a medium sized room. Your room should be fine.

@milpai

funny you mention proacs, i have d30r's as one set i alternate -- 48’s overloaded my room

Yes @jjss49 , I commented on your system page and you never responded :-)
I have treated all the four corners of my room with bass traps. How far from the walls, were the D48Rs when they were in your room? I am surprised that they overloaded your room, because your room is bigger than mine and I do not have any issues with them. In fact I love them and am mesmerized by their clarity, scale and depth. These speakers disappear in my room. If you had issues with the D48Rs, I suspect (unfortunately) that you would have the same issues with the D9. Hope that you can work out with placement with the D9 if you get them. Good luck.

thanks milpai - sorry i didn’t look at the comments in my system page... the photos are hopelessly outdated but i try to keep some of the components somewhat current

d48r’s were in their usual positions for floorstanders, 30-36 in from both walls

i felt the 48’s boomed a little bit.... i was running the audio research ref 110 at that time... 8x kt120’s have a lil mid bass bloom.. i am pretty sensitive to that... felt the 30’s had less that and also gave the mids and highs a little better focus and imaging with its single mid/bass driver

I own D9s (in limited ebony finish) after auditioning for months. 
System (after trial and error): Linn Akurate DS (waiting for Katalyst DAC upgrade) > Pass Labs XP-20 preamp > Pass Labs XA30.8 amp > Spendor D9s. Interconnects are Transparent balanced XLR and speaker cables are custom made Linn K200.

Room is large open plan wood cabin. Sound is fantastic...

@jjss49 ,
Would definitely love to see the new pics.
I have read in a speaker setup guide somewhere (don't recollect where exactly) that the distance of a speaker from front wall and side wall should never be the same. Other posters can correct me. But try to have different distances from front and side walls.

@photomax,
That's a awesome finish. I have seen that on the D7 and they looked gorgeous, as much as they sounded nice! Open rooms always sound fantastic. Enjoy!