Speaker smaller than Spendor S100,

[DavidEdwinAston]

Forgive me, this started as an integrate subs with electrostatic loudspeaker thread, and then, when I belatedly checked the physical size of esp's, I realized I simply didn't have the space for a pair.
So now, it is smaller than 70cm height, 37cm width, and 43cm depth. They will have to sit on top of my bodged up original S100 stands, the base being 37cms from the floor. Each sub is half under each speaker.
The height and depth aren't so crucial. The width is. every centimetre gained, is a clearer view of the telly, and perhaps more importantly, a reduction of the tomb like effect, the current set up has on my beloved, as she sits between the speakers!
As I type, she has point blank refused to tell me if I can actually fund anything! However planning and researching is fun.
Spendor 1/2's could be perfect. Possibly Elysian 2's The mighty Reference 1, and now Willem has very sensibly suggested Harbeth.
I know I have to make my own decision eventually. Any comments would be very welcome. I am UK based. Revel is available, perhaps some other excellent Brands less so.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Ascend Acoustics products appear to be very promising also. Presumably not available in the UK sadly.

 

[Blumlein 88]

What is the budget? Also what amplifier at what power do you have available to use?

And would you consider powered speakers?

Basically anything up to 8 inch woofers and maybe a few designs with 10 inch woofers will meet your width requirement. You could possibly go with floor standers in that width and ditch the speaker stands or is that something you don't want to do?

 

[DSJR]

Spendors of a certain age have main driver surround hardening issues. SP1mk1 is fine, but not SP1/2 in original form. The SP2/3 was another bad un and all the otherwise thick, fruity bass disappears (pretty dire in fully working or non working form to me, but the far easterners loved the lush ripe tones). The 'revision' models were fine also but cost cutting started, driver sharing from a parts bin rather than properly optimised drivers for the particular speaker design and so on and the measurem,ent facilities there fell far behind what others can now do.

If you want a quality 'traditionally styled' speaker with similar heritage, but superior design and not as large, may I suggest the Harbeth SHL5+ model onwards (the XD is a refinement not a transformation)? Yes I know it's not a state of the art Klippel-fest as pft recommended here, but it's pretty darned neutral on axis, reproduces music so very nicely without edge, boom, etching the mids or highs artificially and it generally just disappears from the music as the best Spendors of old used to do. At the very least, I hope you can get to hear some before looking at a modern tower type with multiple drivers and bling trimmings...

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

No more than the £7500 the Kef Reference 1 would cost. The Quad Platinums are 180 watts. I wouldn't consider powered speakers. Thanks for your comments Blumlein.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Thank you DSJR. Another vote for Harbeth. Do you assume the new Classic 1/2 might have the problems you outlined?

 

[DSJR]

Thank you DSJR. Another vote for Harbeth. Do you assume the new Classic 1/2 might have the problems you outlined?

Knowing what info's come out since Spendor's long standing and seemingly long suffering designer/tech (pre and post Derek Hughes) all but fled to Harbeth (and was stunned at the facilities he saw there in comparison apparently) and seeing how Spendor prices went up so much after the re-financing by a banker? eight-ten years or so back, I personally wouldn't touch them with a barge pole now!

If you compare the likes of the SHL5+ with say, a KEF R1, I'd be very interested to hear how you get on after the slightly warmer balance of the venerable S100 (SP100 wasn't as good measurably and for reasons explained in a Spendor user group I belong to). The eyes have it that the KEF's will 'sound' cold and uninviting despite dispersion patterns and so on. I wonder...

 

[Blumlein 88]

Well I know this is a common suggestion on ASR, but you could get the F208 Revels or maybe F206Be for a slimmer speaker. I have some F208s and they are very good, they are floor standers. Looks pretty nice without drawing attention to themselves and 180 watts is plenty for them. The F208s are only 30.5 cm wide with a tapering profile to the rear which isn't terribly deep. I don't know about Revel pricing in your location. I also have some Soundlab ESLs and owned Quad ESL 63s for 12 years. I find the F208s quite enjoyable.

I've only heard smaller Harbeth's of recent vintage. So cannot make a comparison to the larger Harbeths.

As for whether or not floor standers, I find slim floor standers much neater looking than smaller speakers on stands. But that is all a personal preference.

 

[Willem]

How large is the room?

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

How large is the room?

About 15*24. I normally listen with the other recliner pulled a foot or more towards the camera. Any floor stander would have to impede the telly view even more.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Knowing what info's come out since Spendor's long standing and seemingly long suffering designer/tech (pre and post Derek Hughes) all but fled to Harbeth (and was stunned at the facilities he saw there in comparison apparently) and seeing how Spendor prices went up so much after the re-financing by a banker? eight-ten years or so back, I personally wouldn't touch them with a barge pole now!

If you compare the likes of the SHL5+ with say, a KEF R1, I'd be very interested to hear how you get on after the slightly warmer balance of the venerable S100 (SP100 wasn't as good measurably and for reasons explained in a Spendor user group I belong to). The eyes have it that the KEF's will 'sound' cold and uninviting despite dispersion patterns and so on. I wonder...

Interesting comments on Spendor, and a potentially "cold", reference 1!
I think the Harbeth 30 would be cheaper than a 1/2. Spendor do continue to be well reviewed.
Is there not something off-putting about Alan Shaw of Harbeth?

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Not any more. He's dead. Jim

Oops. Possibly controversial in his lifetime?

 

[Recluse-Animator]

http://www.spacoustics.co.uk/Home.html

https://wilmslowaudio.co.uk/

https://robsonacoustics.co.uk/

https://www.wharfedale.co.uk/linton-heritage/

 

[al2002]

Not any more. He's dead.

Are you sure about this? I’ve not seen this reported in the audio press.

 

[Willem]

Alan Shaw is not dead. I think Harbeth are very fine speakers although some here do not like them.
Contributors in the US should realize that some popular US brands are not available in the UK or EU, or only at elevated prices. The same is true in the other direction.
The first decison to make would be whether to go for largish main speakers, or opt for a smaller size with two or even more additional smallish subwoofers. The latter option may fit better in your medium sized room.

 

[JSmith]

Alan Shaw is not dead.

Indeed... not sure where that idea came from. He did this video 4 months ago;

JSmith

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I am so pleased with the Lazarus turn of events, in this thread. However, I will ask, does he propound views contrary to the ethos of this site? So, I'm not going to watch his videos. Far too busy mithering about my peculiar speaker problem!

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Recluse,
Some nice speaker links for me to look at. Thank you.
Looking at sweetchaos passive speaker link.
Bizarrely, A hugely risky punt on the March Audio speakers is appealing. Ascend Acoustics have also responded rapidly, which is positive !

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Willem
I had hoped the picture I added, showed the two subs. They would be "integrated" into any new purchase. Either professionally or by a bodge job of my own.

 

[Willem]

Alan Shaw is a proponent of science based design as in the BBC research tradition, and owns a lot of serious measurement gear, i.a. from Klippel. He is also pretty impatient with snake oil. This does not mean that his design principles and priorities are necessarily the same as those adhered to by some here.
More recently he has significantly expanded the design and engineering team to work on e.g. materials science for cone material, and dsp technologies for active speakers.