Been using my Focal Elear headphone a lot more but found the cable to a bit on the heavy side when listening for longer periods.
Ordered a set of these very light and flexible, initial listening today very impressed with the sound quality of this cable a positive bargain.
Installed 4 IsoAcoustic pucks under my DAC today…to say that l‘m totally shocked how freaking good that sounds is understated… highly recommed folks- especially if you have not the best rack!
Did the same recently with some Stillpoints under my TT2, quite incredible effect. Saving up for some for my amp now…
Did you have Harbeth…, previously ?
What are the changements from them to Spendor d7, if I may?
Thank you in advance
David
Hi @Airdavid. I had the Harbeth 7ES-3s (and before that the ES-2) until just recently, yes. I still have the P3ESR in my office. Harbeth just has a lovely sound, so it’s difficult to get entirely away from them. The Spendors? Well, given the former models’ sonic signature I never really had any desire for the brand (though they do many things well) until the recent offerings, namely the D7 and D9 series. I’ve really only been a ProAc and Harbeth fan—two names that really couldn’t be any different. I felt I needed a more exciting sound. The Harbeths can do most things right, but can be a bit too laid back. When I began searching for new speakers, I narrowed it down to the Spendors and a couple of ribbon ProAcs. I was buying on faith, as where I live it’s impossible to demo either brand. I already know the ProAc sound quite well, so I knew I’d like the D20R or D30R, but I read likely every review and forum post regarding the Spendors and it sounded like it’s what I was after in a speaker. All accolades aside insofar as their timing and resolution are concerned, what really drew me into them was how people were describing the bass; it’s what could be considered the final decision-maker for me, as ProAcs (at least the ones I’ve owned in the past) had a tendency to sound a bit wooly, and at their worst boomy if you couldn’t find a way to tame it. I read nowhere where the D7 or D9 suffered from this (and this is coming from a myriad of different rooms and setups fora-wide). They seemed quite easy to place in a room without difficulty. How true this came to be. I had dual subs and DSP working for me with the Harbeths and there hasn’t been a moment since acquiring the Spendors where I’ve thought ‘I wish I had those subs back’. I don’t know how Spendor pulled this off with such a diminuitive size cabinet and drivers, but they did. Basslines and notes just stop on a dime and dig deep when they need to. I’ve measured their useable output in my room and there’s very little difference between the setups. Sure, the subs went a tad lower, but the standalone Spendors measured better. When I did as best I could with side-by-side track comparisons with material I’m quite familiar with, bass-wise, output-wise, I had a difficult time justifying keeping the SVS subs; the Spendors are really that good. Midrange has that special Spendor magic, just like Harbeths do, so I didn’t miss out on anything there in the least. The treble, I admit, was initially strident on certain material and quite lit-up overall (a bit pushed forward comparative to the rest of the frequency range), but I knew this going in. I’d say for me this trait is nearly completely absent now if not diminished to the point where I detect a remarkable overall balance to the sound after 300 or so hours. I ran the British electronica station on the Naim app 24/7 for the first couple of weeks in addition to my usual listening and now they just sing. They have a wonderful expressiveness and holography that draws you in time after time from each listening session. They simply don’t fatigue. My Harbeths, unfortunately, did. Not always, but they did. I think one reaches this level and expenditure on a speaker there are so many to choose from; and in all cases I’d recommend demoing as would anybody because these speakers all do different things. The key is to find out what you desire in a speaker and really know what that is, then go from there to seek out a pair that accomplishes just that (or as close as possible, since no one speaker does it all…at least I’m pretty confident in saying that). The Spendors are as close to any speaker I’ve either heard or owned to ticking all of the boxes for me. Most in my experience have compromised this or that but did most of what I wanted with my ancillary gear at the time. This time, however, feels quite set apart from any of those other times. Spendor hit it out of the park with the ‘D’ series, IMO. My only regret is that I couldn’t afford the D9 
.
I hope this helps some. If you don’t know the Harbeth sound then I doubt any of this will be helpful as there’s no reference to draw from. If you do or own them and are thinking of changing over, thus the question, then I can tell you with confidence that you won’t miss the Harbeths. I just cannot see how one could. Cheers!
Yeeeeeeee-Haaaaaaaw!
Congratulations jsawyer09. Let us know how it sounds with your ND5XS2.
Thanks, @marcusman! I am really excited about this DAC. I just had to try a Chord DAC with Naim…I just had to.
So while we’re on the subject, do you or anyone have any recommendations about settings? I know I’ll likely go with and stay with the Incisive Neutral filter, but for RMS voltage output what is recommended? In my case, combined 89dB speaker sensitivity and a SuperNait 2? I figured 2v is safe, but read so many conflicting things due to everyone’s different situations.
Oh, and I plan on supplying it a LPSU (likely an extra UpTone UltraCap LPS-1.2 I have). Right now it’s bedding-in with the SMPS wall-wart.
I don’t but I’m sure someone will share their settings soon. I came close to trying a Chord DAC but found a nDAC second hand for a really good price.
I tried hard to find a used nDAC but it’s rare as hens’ teeth to find one so I gave up. Thanks!
Yes they are hard to find in North America. I got extremely lucky and it was a local sale. I should have played the lottery that day as well. lol
Nice! Yes, they are and yes, you should’ve.
Just before the Christmas break I purchased from Cymbiosis an Atacama RS Celebration 6 tier Hi Fi rack in pristine condition.
The downside is that they couldn’t send it to me due to the unit never came with it’s original boxes. Now with this national lockdown I’m unable to travel to collect plus Cymbiosis is closed due to the regulations.
I guess it’ll be Easter before I will be able to travel to collect !
Regards,
Martin
Liked the post. Disliked the situation.
Heresy I know…We just bought a Samsung HW T-550 ‘Sound-bar & Sub’ for telly duties. The screen and hifi are at 90deg and incompatible in terms of room configuration.
I’ve never bothered about the sq from tv but lately lots of broadcasts seem a bit muddled and difficult to decipher. This results in us turning the tv up, which is silly as our hearing is fine.
Anyway, the tv does now sound a lot better at sensible volume.
It was a ‘Which’ best buy and as we have a Samsung TV the bluetooth was picked up and works seamlessly.
G
Thanks @frenchrooster. With the SN2 having an active pre volume control, I’d think 1v or 2v but would like to just set it and forget it. Right now it is on 2v and the dial position seems about the same as before even introducing the Chord: 9:00 is loud(er) but not painfully so. Just want to ensure I’m doing it right without adding distortion or the potential for clipping. Many say 3v adds ‘weight’ and sounds fuller. Of course, this is all dependent on active/passive preamp stages and speaker sensitivity, so who knows?
Sorry to derail the thread. I should post this in the Qutest, Hugo TT, Mscalar thread, maybe?
You can post, maybe, in the End of my teter thread, because this subject is or was very recently treated.
wow, thank you very much for the extensive and detailed response.
As you may have seen from my profile, I own a pair of Harbeth C-7es3s (before the Harbeth Monitor 30 and even before the ProAc Studio 100), so my curiosity was in understanding the reasons for your drastic change from a couple of harbeth “bookshelves” to a couple of floorstanders … I love the harbeths for how they are and for what they give as they are, personally I would never add subs, at least I would have thought of switching to a bigger model or, just like you did, switch to floorstanders.
I’m glad you found your “way” 
David
