Spendor D9.2 vs. Harbeth super hl5 plus xd + REL Stentor III vs. Spendor Classic 100?

for those who may not know the history of spendor, there are few key points, in short form, that are worth noting:

- the hughes family spencer dorothy and son derek owned and ran the company from inception in 1969 to 2000... they developed all sp series speakers, descendants of the bc-1, one of the initial bbc speaker commissions - derek was technical director after dad spencer died too young

- in 2000 the company was sold to philip swift (who founded uk audiolab electronics), swift invested in the company and developed the modern a and d series speakers, to his sonic tastes, which, if you recall audiolab’s sound, was more upfront and lively -- he did this while smartly maintaining and incrementally improving the classic series (the original line) with modernized materials for drivers etc etc - swift is a good businessperson, expanded cabinet and driver manufacturing, serving other makers...

- the surviving son derek hughes is no longer affilliated with spendor the company, has worked for years as independent contractor/consultant and was most recently involved the with the lovely stirling broadcoast bbc ls3/6 - basically an up-market spendor sp1/2 with modernized drivers for better power handling and slightly greater resolution

understanding this helps understand why today’s spendor has their classic and modern (a/d) lines, and why there is such a divergence of sound signature and presentation

here is a useful article for those that are interested ... https://www.spendoraudio.com/wp-content/uploads/Hi_Fi_Choice_Insider_feature.pdf

The newest A series sounds more similar to the older Classic series than it does the D series.

Hello,
I have the Harbeth super hl5+, I still have several other speakers but this one stands out. But it took me 5 years to get the most out of it.
First you need a lightweight open stand and tomake the story short
I finally bought the Vertex aq pico blocks to put on top of the speakers..
Hallelujah, now I have a speaker so accurate, realistic and so well balanced from top to bottom. You will not need a sub! My records never sounded better, but your cd player is a really nice component too.
Happy listenings!
Greetings from Europe.

Hello,
I didn't have the chance to hear the Spendor 100, but I owned the Spendor 9.2 and I now have the Harbeth Super HL5+ XD,
The Spendor 9.2 speakers have great qualities, among them: spacial presentation, dynamics, efficiency, speed, and they provide deep bass, and solid imaging as well.
I didn't like their tonal caracter though, to me they sounded somewhat thin and dry across the board more so in the mid bass area,
I now own the Harbeth and to me they are better on the tonal and timber side of things, they are less efficient but it isn't a serious issue for me, I run/ran both pairs with a  Melco/Aqua streamer and DAC respectively and Luxman CF-6 and MA-600 separated preamp and amp.  
I use them in a secondary system and for the money they are a tough act to follow, they took 300 hours of break in to lead to their full potential,
 


  

Hello everyone,

Let me thank you all, your advice is very helpful, even though I have received diverse and conflicting opinions from each other - that's fine.

I listened neatly twice to the new model for the Harbeth SHL5plus XD, twice for the outgoing model Harbeth Super HL5 plus 40th Anniversary and several times for the Spendor D9.2. I did not listen neatly to the harbeth M40.3 xd (new) and the Spendor Classic 100.

Today I listened to the Spandor 9.2 and its twitter sounds a bit slightly sandy-grained to me, if a little more energy than desired, so... the speakers right now are the Spandor Classic 100.

I spoke and received a warm recommendation on PIEGA 711 What do you think?

@tomer_tsin,
I’m glad you were able to get some direct listening of the Spendor 9.2. I really believe that the Spendor Classic speakers will match quite well with your current system and your musical taste.
Charles