Harbeth Love and your experiences

@ jjss49 - I own a pair of Spendor S100"s.  I've always felt the Harbeth/Spendor story to be unique because they've historically made a few speakers that seem to be "siblings".  I've always imagined the Harbeth 40 series to be a kind of Spendor SP100's on steroids!  I've owned my spkrs since 1990(!) and often thought about the Harbeths as an obvious upgrade.  I'd love to hear yr impressions of your Spendor's vs. yr Harbeth's!

chazro -

with spendors (esp. s100/sp100) there is a lovely deep rolling bass that is wonderful on one hand, but with some music with ’snap’ the woofer response seems somewhat slow to me... despite these being not inefficient speakers, i find for a more lively, quick bass response you actually need quite a good, powerful amp that has strong damping factor to grip the woofers well to make spendors sound more dynamic ... this is also true of the big harbeth 40’s and its giant woofer cones.... with spendors, to me, the real timeless magic of the speaker is that they invite you listen to the music as an integral, artistic whole... revel in the beauty of the tones voices etc etc, of the whole picture... their imaging is less precise and tonality is more forgiving, they are never aggressive in a way that reminds you that this is a hi fi ... on the other hand when you try to really listen INTO the music, i feel the spendors lack some high end detail and bass drive (as mentioned above). harbeths are a notch better in this regard as their tweeters are more modern and more alive, and the proacs are better still, in that they use smaller woofers that are quicker to move, and sweeter/sharper tweeters that give more resolution into the music without losing the beauty of the whole ... all three classic brit speaker brands do fundamental justice and truth to the midrange, and for that alone, they will never do out of style...  hope this helps

LOVE my Spendor SP1/2Es (seamless driver integration makes them sound like a point source) and don't need to hear anything else. 

I haven't seen any Spendor 1/2Es for sale on Audiogon for a long time. That should tell you something.

Howdy!

I own the Monitor 40.2's and the (35th Anniversary) Compact 7 ES3's. I have auditioned ALL of the Harbeth speakers over the last 10 years with all types of gear. All of them are superb, and each has its own best application. The fun part is discovering the types of systems and genres of music with which they most excel. 

The Monitor 40.2 is by far the most beautiful, natural, and accurate speaker I have ever heard. It truly is a reference monitor as many reviewers have described, and I feel privileged to own a pair. It's a speaker I can listen to for hours and never feel fatigued. I can't say enough good things about them.

The Compact 7 is, in my humble opinion, the best all-around two-way speaker you can get. As I understand, it is Harbeth's top seller. If this is indeed true, I'm wouldn't be surprised. I run them with McIntosh solid state and ARC tube gear, and they always sound fantastic. They are not as detailed or forward as Harbeth Monitors (40.2, 30.1, and P3ESR), but they are warmer and more flexible than everything but the 40.2's. To me, they are the perfect speaker for a small- to medium-sized room, with or without a sub. I occasionally run a REL S2 with them, depending on the type of music I play.

Bottom line is, you cannot go wrong with Harbeth. If you can fit the 40.2's in your budget, you should get them. If not, I would go with the Compact 7, as I feel it offers the best sound for the money. 

Happy Listening!