Spendor D7 vs. Harbeth Super HL5+

@routeman21 
be careful straying from harbeth, they can get their hooks in you ! 
i went to spendor after my first harbeths, the c73s3 and eventually came back.  both my harbs took at least 250 hrs for the sound to plateau.  
before i forget-  grilles off!  too laid back with them on, especially my old c7s.  
every speaker worth owning requires (at least for me) lots of work to get the best sound and synergy in your system.  
position fine tuning including height, speaker cables (kimber 8pr sounds great with harbeths and not bank breaking) interconnects (nordost purple or blue brings transparency and air for example).  
"work them" per above and see if you aren't happy.  

I have found that all HARBETH models love great tube amps. Overall they are at their best reproducing classical, jazz and vocal recordings. I eventually ended up with PRIMA LUNA INTEGRATED "HP". But the real magic came to pass when I switched to a double quad of KT150's. The "150's" brought out a new character in my HARBETH speakers that wasn't there with any other amplifier tested, and the most interesting fact was that the HARBETH's did not loose one ounce of that superb midrange mentioned in other reviews.  Another area to look into, that I discovered, made significant improvements in the balance, tactility, presence and drive that the HARBETH / PRIMA LUNA paring produced, was going to large gauge (min. 10awg) power cables and some quality power input conditioning and well designed shielding. This improvement made as much difference in the overall reproduction of the audio spectrum, moreso that any other tweak I have every tried. Especially, soundstaging and bass slam. Have fun but for God sake don't give up on HARBETH. Eventually you will hate yourself for it. I think you would really love the 40.1's. It is a bit of an investment, however.

I heard them both 2 years ago at Hawthorne Audio, "A nice place" or so the sign says as you enter. I included the Tannoy Cheviots with the other two. All were retail of $6,500-$7,500 as I recall.

The first one I ruled out was the Harbeth. Only because the voices
sounded almost horn like. But the tone of instruments was heavenly.

The Cheviots had the smoothest sound. However were less engaging to me.
Odd since later I ended up buying a different model Tannoy.

The D7 was my overall favorite. Though now I can not recall exactly
why. Must have been the sound of the female vocals-my main preference.

Hawthorne's listening room, as many others are, features the Naim integrated streamer. About $4,500?
Your eyes are diverted to the mini screen showing the album art instead of tending to listening
carefully.  Millennial eye candy. I like to close my eyes anyway.

I now want to go back and spend more time listening to the HL5+ again.
There is something about the talking cabinets that was a new experience for me.

Some articles seem to favor the 30.2s over the HL5+s.
Any comment on that comparison?

At the end of the day both Harbeth and Spendor are great brands.  The Ideal for me however is Graham Audio; sits soundwise in between the romantic sounding Harbeth and more neutral sounding Spendor. And great bass too. Cheers Leon 

Forgot the following, have owned both the HL5 and the 30.1. The HL5 needs more space , but to me its a more engaging sound than the 30.1. perhaps the 30.2 is different. However i changed my 30.1 for a pair of Graham Audio Ls6 and cldnt be more happy. Cheers Leon