Rocketride
pfm Member
I prefer Spendor than Harbeth too.
Spendor Classics sound lovely.
Spendor Classics sound lovely.
On amp power, how big is big? Harbeth have always championed low powered amps for their speakers, with an ideal 25W amp recommended for the SHL5 in their spec page. Though I can understand some of the comments can't be taken too seriously especially with their remark that amplifiers do not make a difference with their speakers (all competent amps sound the same with the Harbeth, or it's the other way round, Harbeth speakers sound the same with all competent amps).
I used the SP 1/2R in the same system with the Monitor 30.1 for about 9 months (with Naim amps) and eventually kept the Spendor because I found it more lively and involving. I also felt its midrange had the edge over the Harbeth, even though the latter's was very good.
The Harbeths I found good for a short listen but ultimately a bit too boring over an extended period.
However, I have not heard the SHL5+.
I used the SP 1/2R in the same system with the Monitor 30.1
I also heard both the Harbeths and Spendors in the same room with Naim amps and slightly preferred the Sp1/2r. I dont know why the Classic Spendors seem to be forgotten these days.
No, you're misunderstanding; he didn't compare the Spendors with the SHL5 Plus.
I documented my response to the SHL5s in detail a few years ago. I loved them in various dealers rooms, but there were some serious issues in my room at home at that time, so I didn't buy them. This may have had a lot to do with my system at the time too, so all very relative to circumstances. What is clear though is that the SHL5 has a relatively pear shaped response, with an ample and pleasing upper bass/lower mid. It has a lovely baritone emphasis which gives richness in particular to male vocals (and I would imagine cellos, hence the emphatic but unbalanced preference of one poster above).
In my current room (in a different house) I have owned or heard C7ES3, C7ES2, M30, M30.1, P3ESR, HL5, and HL5Plus.
One of the things that I'd love to see graphs for is how the presence region response varies in these different speakers. It is clear to me that the C7s and P3s are more pronounced in this region, which gives them an immediate appeal and ability to escape the box. The M30.1 are contrasting in this respect and are very slighly recessed in that region, but not too much; less than the BBC monitors of old. I don't know how the SHL5 are voiced in that region; I'd like to know. I imagine a tiny bit recessed in comparison to the SHL5Plus.
When you go from a speaker that is relatively recessed in the presence region to a more neutral one they can (in the short term) seem a little brighter. But 'bright' should be put into perspective here. To use this term to describe the SHL5 Plus is really very far from the truth. Anyone who finds this should go and listen to some more obviously 'hi-fi show' speakers like Raidhos. Then you'll get your ears pierced.
I find the 5Plus a very unassuming speaker that plays all forms of music well. The neturality is particularly suited to all forms of classical music, but I've not found a genre it doesn't play well. I don't find it additive, in the sense that it gives extra lushness to a voice, but it is relatively forgiving. If you compare it to the best Geithain monitors, for example, it is not nearly as revealing, but it is somwhat more forgiving. The good thing is that it is forgiving without putting a rose-tinted prism on the sound. This is the achievement of Harbeths, I think, and I think they provide a good middle ground between a domestic and a monitor type speaker.
To put this achievement in to persepective I heard some of Paul Coupe's RFC Tannoys at the weekend. These created an effortless richness and dynamics that most modern speakers I've heard can barely dream of. Quite exraordinary. But they don't stop me enjoying the SHL5 Plus, or indeed my other main speakers, the Vaughan Cabernet One.
Harbeths still seem to me an exceptionally good alternative for listeners who do not have room for classic electrostatic speakers and/or cannot put up with their limitations.
Oh, and one more thing. SHL5 Plus sound just fine with a 50W integrated like a Sonneteer Alabaster, or a 50W hybrid like a Croft 25/7, so all this talk of them needing loads of power is ludicrous. Alan Shaw is absurdly wrong when he pushes the 'amps don't make a difference' line, but he is right when he argues that you can get great results from modest amplifiers.
Ah, sorry, I thought you were referring to Singslinger's comparison. Yes, the SP1s price is unusually high.