Spendor S8e vs Spendor A7 vs Spendor SP1/2 vs Harbeth SHL5

I can help with two of the four -- I owned a pair of Spendor S8e speakers that I sold to move on to a pair of SP1/2Es. Rather than retype a bunch of stuff I've already written, see my review here: https://www.audioasylum.com/reviews/Speakers/Spendor/1-2E/speakers/27/274196.html

I owned that Spendor about 15 years ago. I now own the Harbeth SHL5 Plus. The Spendors were nice but not in the same class as the Harbeths. If you want to do a fair comparison the Spendor classic 1/2 would be more realistic. Both are 3 way stand mounts.

BTW, I have owned many Spendors and Harbeths and the 5 is my end game!

I've also heard the Harbeth's at a dealer's showroom, but in my case I preferred the Spendors. While Harbeth speakers and the classic Spendor line are both closely related to the BBC thin-wall design, they are slightly different. As you can see here, some prefer one and others prefer the opposite. The OP is the only one who can decide which camp he's in.

As someone who has owned SP 1/2E's (and a pair of original SP 1/2s) since 2011 as well as SP 2/3s since 1999, I have thousands and thousands of hours of Spendor experience. Compared to the S8e, which I also lived with, the Classic line is smoother, more natural, less fatiguing, and simply sounded more like living instruments in my room... no contest. Imo, the 1/2 is just phenomenally good. I drive mine with Quicksilver Mono 120s and AI M3B preamp.