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RE: Well, one sounds more like itself than it does like the other

I know you as a long-time Harbeth lover or at least admirer and I understand that, having lived with 7's, 30's, and 40's myself for quite a while and visited with P3's. And it is interesting to know that you also like Spendors. When I had both SP 1/2's here alongside the Harbeths, I found their differences significant. I had trouble imagining that one could be equally fond of both.

I thought the Spendors strove for an overtly appealing midrange and got that extremely well. I felt their bass was essentially absent, which surprised me given the size of the enclosure and that they were three-way speakers. The Spendors were instantly recognizable on subsequent hearings, sounding, as you say, like themselves. They had a sonic personality, which I have too often called 'charming,' though it is.'

I felt the Harbeths, especially the 30's and 40's were far more transparent, far less conspicuously appealing. I found them by a considerable margin the more objective speakers. But they too sound like themselves in the way that speakers which strive as mightily as they do for neutrality do. They ultimately sounded a bit pedagogical, academic. I often felt they were trying to make an academic point, arguing urgently for the importance of neutrality, somewhat at the expense of other things that came to matter to me more.

There was no need for me to criticize Spendors and Harbeths here to such an extent but I felt I had to be a bit specific about how I hear their differences to make my point. I have enjoyed both from time to time for what they do. And as we know, nobody does everything.



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