Spendor D7 vs. Harbeth Super HL5+

Well of course it will always come down to your own taste.

But I owned the Harbeth SuperHL5plus and I auditioned twice the Spendor D7.

I loved the Harbeths, so tonally believable, rich, incredible with voices etc. But I ended up going another direction and sold them. I’d still love to own a pair though, in a second system. (I use Thiel 2.7 speakers and Joseph Audio Perspective speakers for my main system).

I also own some old Spendors s3/5s that I adore for their organic quality especially with vocals. I thought I should try one of the newer Spendorsto see how they’d updated the sound, hoping they kept at least some of the Spendor midrange magic character.

My experience was that I found the Spendor D7s one of the least appealing speakers I auditioned (and I auditioned many!). They sounded very competent through most of the audio band, well designed.But for one thing I heard nothing like the Spendor sound in the midrange.It was just another modern, clean sounding (and anti-septic) speaker that didn’t distinguish itself in any particular way. (Unlike the Harbeths that just stop me in my tracks whenever I hear them at a store)..

The other thing was the highs were somewhat bright, steely and hard. (Yes they were broken in). I kept trying to turn up the Spendors to enjoy some life and dynamics in the sound (not even that loud) but I was continually having to turn them down due to the hard and piercing high frequencies. I later found out many people had similar impressions of the Spendor D series speakers. They were one of the easier ones to mark off my list.

Again, they sounded really good in most ways. Just nothing at all distinctive or amazing or seductive, and the edge pushed me away.

So, that’s one more bit of data for you from someone who’s heard both speakers.
(BTW, the Harbeths are not rolled off or just soft either. They are very open and lively. It’s one reason why some fans of older Spendor classic speakers find the Harbeth sound a bit "too" lively for their tastes. But I think it’s a canny balance that helps their realism - but not "bright" to my ears).

I have sympathy for those who own the D series telling us they are not off putting or bright.


After all: I own Thiel speakers ;-)


But I can guarantee that no one listening to the Thiel 3.7 or 2.7s in my system would be putt off by "brightness."  They've converted more than one Thiel skeptic.


So I can see the Spendor D series being tamed, or working in some systems.


Still, in both encounters with the D7 they had that same hard, steely, off-putting character in the treble,  and when I heard the A series they also had a similar off-putting character in the highs.  But, horses for courses...

fsonicsmith


How interesting that you bought the Spendors!   That's a real change from the Devore sound!


I like owning more than one speaker to have more than one flavour of sound available.


As for Thiels: when Thiel introduced the 3.7 flagship speaker, with the completely re-designed flat midrange etc, they finally nailed the sound.Open and alive but no brightness emphasis, smooth as silk, and still the most coherent sound I've heard from a dynamic speaker. 



My 2.7s, with my CJ amps, produce a sound that is almost dead in between a Devore O speaker and a Spendor (or similarly more precise/neutral speaker).   The Thiels produce super precise, dense imaging, huge deep wide soundstaging, but without the hard mechanically squeezed sound of some speakers.  They manage a balance of being precise, yet full and lush.


Admittedly I still wonder sometimes how the O/96s would have sounded in my room as I really liked those speakers too.   But then as you know I bought Joseph Perspectives, and those have been wonderful in their own way too.

Some on the Naim forum liked the Kudos Titan 707 speakers more than the Spendor

I've auditioned the Kudos Titan 505 stand mount and 606 floor stander.They are lively sounding speakers.  But if I'm going lively, I prefer the Kudos sound to the Spendors.