Spendor, Harbeth...why so hot ?

I've heard the smaller Spendors and they definitely weren't my cuppa. Whatever the technical terms, to me they just sounded "small" and generally, disappointing. We swapped them out for the comparable ProAcs and that pretty much put an end to it, for me. Regrettably, I've not seen nor heard the Harbeths, but the comments above seem to be pretty much the universal opinion on them - I don't think I've ever seen anyone say a bad thing about them.

chas

Jmfb:

I auditioned Spendors using both Krell and ARC gear. I can't recall precisely which models, as I was auditioning the speakers and not the gear. I do remember the ARC gear retailed somewhere around 15k, not including the CJ transport and DAC used as sources or other wires, etc. And the audition was at a dealer who really wanted to sell me the Spendors (hence, when I disliked them on the Krell, he set them up on the ARC stuff). Unless you think ARC is insufficient to the task of driving Spendors, I think this was a pretty reasonable test drive. Musically, we listened to Pachelbel's Canon, Liz Story (solo piano), Joan Armatrading, B.B. King, Dwight Yoakum, and some bluegrass from a sampler disc. All cds I know real well, and a fairly broad range of sound. But since this is what I listen to, a speaker that does one thing well isn't for me. The Spendors were anything but "thrilling".

Now you fess up - do you own Spendors? What gear do you recommend we use to get the thrill? Your post makes me suspect you of being enamored of your own choices and therefore unable to conceive that others might hear things somewhat differently. And while I by and large believe "you get what you pay for", I also firmly believe there are bargains out there where you can get more than what you bargained for. Point being, price ain't what makes the sound, and more expensive doesn't necessarily denote more better (Can you say "Bose"?)

chas

Jmfb:

I will defer to your far more extensive knowledge of the Spendor line - but I was auditioning the Spendor 2/3, which Paul specifically mentioned as having "the most natural sounding midranges among box speakers". Perhaps I was errant in describing them as "small", but ...to me, they seemed small (possibly due to a recent encounter with the likes of the Pipedreams behemoth system, who knows?)

As to "paying attention to the thread", I remind you that the thread was not initially about any specific model of speaker, it was about Spendor and Harbeth in general, not specific models in the lines. I think it unfair to say that because one model or another in a product line performs superbly, anyone who doesn't care for that product line must be "people enamored of HI-FI who haven’t heard much live acoustic music." Especially since that remark was premised on the stellar performers in the line.

It's probably equally unfair of me to smear the whole line with my one audition experience, but I did point out that that was the extent of things - "We swapped them out for the comparable ProAcs and that pretty much put an end to it.." Still, you and Paul are persuasive, and I'll give the 1/2s a listen next chance I get.

chas