Spendor A6 vs Harbeth Compact 7ES-3

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.

Melville, it is unfortunate that the C7ES3 isn’t working for you. FWIW the Harbeth is a slightly warm and dark sounding speaker hence a more upbeat and dynamic amp would be more suitable if one is looking for more excitement in the music. If I am not mistaken, Jeff Day had compared the Lavardin IT and Leben CS600 with the Harbeth 40.1 on Positive Feedback and consistently found the IT to sound slightly warm, soft and dark next to the Leben. Perhaps the smooth sounding Lavardin IT may be the reason it sounded boring when matched to the C7ES3. I do not have experience with the Lavardin but have tried at least half a dozen amps on the SHL5s and there are some amps that can really bring the Harbeth to life. The Harbeth can sound a bit lacklustre and boring with smooth sounding amps.

Other possible factors that may contribute to the dull presentation of the Harbeth are speaker placement, speaker stands, source equipment and the listening room. If the Harbeth still sounds boring after all these issues are addressed, the speaker is probably not the one for you.

There's that "music specific" thing again…ahem...classical and jazz can be as kick butt and dynamic as ANY music anywhere, and it's only loudness (controllable) ability that differs among speakers, and that has more to do with amp choice. A great sounding system can play anything well…or it's not so great.