I heard a pair of Spendor D9's at the RMAF two years ago with a friend of mine and they drove us out of the room within 2 minutes. We felt they were too bright. However, it could have been the amp driving them. That perhaps had a lot to do with this, as we had heard great things about Spendor.
Spendor D9.2 vs. Harbeth super hl5 plus xd + REL Stentor III vs. Spendor Classic 100?
I am thinking of purchasing one of the following:
1). Harbeth SHL5 plus XD + REL Stentor III Reference Subwoofer due to lack of bass and low octave in bass.
2). Spendor Classic 100 - The bass is a bit noticeable and aggressive.
3). Spendor D9.2.
My living room where the system will stand is: 5.5 meters x 8 meters, a standard ceiling of 2.7 meters and the entire construction is a 20 cm block. From the living room comes a 25 meters kitchen. The speakers I choose can stand up to about 1 meter from the front wall.
Anyone who has heard of at least 2 of them or a previous generation and can have an opinion on a comparison between them?
Thank you very much for your help.
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What OP said he/she wants: I prefer precise and high resolution speakers that have control low bass-smooth midrange-detailed treble, with internal imagery and attacks, high-pitched sound and instrument simulation. ------ To me OP’s desired sonic traits align better with Spendor D series than classic Spendor or Harbeth. If anything that description of preference points away from classic Spendor or Harbeth, based on my experience. Just sayin’. YMMV ----- |
for those who may not know the history of spendor, there are few key points, in short form, that are worth noting: - the hughes family spencer dorothy and son derek owned and ran the company from inception in 1969 to 2000... they developed all sp series speakers, descendants of the bc-1, one of the initial bbc speaker commissions - derek was technical director after dad spencer died too young - in 2000 the company was sold to philip swift (who founded uk audiolab electronics), swift invested in the company and developed the modern a and d series speakers, to his sonic tastes, which, if you recall audiolab’s sound, was more upfront and lively -- he did this while smartly maintaining and incrementally improving the classic series (the original line) with modernized materials for drivers etc etc - swift is a good businessperson, expanded cabinet and driver manufacturing, serving other makers... - the surviving son derek hughes is no longer affilliated with spendor the company, has worked for years as independent contractor/consultant and was most recently involved the with the lovely stirling broadcoast bbc ls3/6 - basically an up-market spendor sp1/2 with modernized drivers for better power handling and slightly greater resolution understanding this helps understand why today’s spendor has their classic and modern (a/d) lines, and why there is such a divergence of sound signature and presentation here is a useful article for those that are interested ... https://www.spendoraudio.com/wp-content/uploads/Hi_Fi_Choice_Insider_feature.pdf |
I listened D9 and D7 on Montreal Show. I remember D9 was driven by Chord amplifier and Chord Blu2/Dave CD source. The sound was very bright, scratchy and unnatural. It was modern sound that is exactly opposite to typical Harbeth/Spendor sound that I like. If you like a real Spendor sound get SP100 or HL5. If you like Focal or B&W sound you can consider D9. |
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