Spendor A6 vs Harbeth Compact 7ES-3

You should also audition the ATC 11s. Just won a shoot-out against these speakers in a respected June Issue of the UK mag What Hi Fi?. A great source for all things English.

Although I have not listened to Spendors, the Harbeths are very revealing speakers. If you want all the excitement, PRAT and dynamics, match the Harbeth with LFD and you would be in seventh heaven.

I have had Harbeth 7es3 speakers in my system for about 8 months, and I just sold them.  I do find them very detailed, and the bass is excellent; but, ultimately, I found them boring.  And, with any kind of rock-and-roll at higher volumes (and I mean not even close to head-banger spls), cabinet resonance becomes an issue, and the highs become relentless.  I used them with a Lavardin IT, which is supposed to be a 'match made in heaven'.

How did you like them at moderate levels, with less complex music. Jazz, singer-songwriter, pop....? That's a nice setup you had, so I'm sure it excelled very well in some areas. I have a pair of P3's I bought in August, that I will soon be setting up. I may go with the Croft, when funds allow. This will be a second system, just to chill and not fire up a ton of tubes (-:

The c7es3 is a perfect jazz and classical speaker. . A little research would lead you to never buy them if your preference was rock and roll at higher volumes. If you like, vocals, jazz, Led Zeppelin and Steely Dan at reasonable volume levels, they're some of the best you can get. Obviously the rest of the chain matters and my least favorite was a class a/b amp and my favorite is a 30 watt class A amp. Harbeth's like tubes as well, but the class A is pure magic.