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[vivek_r]

Hello since Jai asked me to wade in to the Spendor Harbeth Graham debate, let me start off with this - which sister will you marry (see picture below of the famous Travancore sisters Source Wiki)



In terms of sound, just remember that the right sets to compare are the Spendor classic series, Harbeth P3, 30.2, 40.2 and Graham 3/5, 5/9…the 7ES3 and SHL5+ are a bit different

Between them, I would go with what the others said - the 5/9 is a bit livelier (upper treble presence) and other 2 a bit smoother.

But if you have met Padmini (one of the sisters) and like her, my suggestion is don’t think of her sisters.

 

[Analogous]

Hello since Jai asked me to wade in to the Spendor Harbeth Graham debate, let me start off with this - which sister will you marry (see picture below of the famous Travancore sisters Source Wiki)

View attachment 61473

In terms of sound, just remember that the right sets to compare are the Spendor classic series, Harbeth P3, 30.2, 40.2 and Graham 3/5, 5/9…the 7ES3 and SHL5+ are a bit different

Between them, I would go with what the others said - the 5/9 is a bit livelier (upper treble presence) and other 2 a bit smoother.

But if you have met Padmini (one of the sisters) and like her, my suggestion is don’t think of her sisters.

The problem begins when all the sisters are lovely and it’s not possible to know which one is Padmini!

 

[reignofchaos]

That's great, but I was wondering more about the "house sound", isn't that a good thing?

Not really - it gets annoying very quickly.

 

[arj]

I dont want to get sexist here... but then you will not go wrong with Any of the speakers

In the end there is no one Perfect speaker but many good speakers which can work for you/setup/room and as long as you get a good speaker you are in a really good space. Looking for the perfect speaker can be aspirational although chances of reaching of low probability since there will always be a better one.

 

[vivek_r]

The problem begins when all the sisters are lovely and it’s not possible to know which one is Padmini!

What I meant was that the original poster had listened to the Harbeth.

I dont want to get sexist here... but then you will not go wrong with Any of the speakers

In the end there is no one Perfect speaker but many good speakers which can work for you/setup/room and as long as you get a good speaker you are in a really good space. Looking for the perfect speaker can be aspirational although chances of reaching of low probability since there will always be a better one.

Hey neither did I, especially in a world where it is fraught. But I am a father of 3 girls and my mum always uses Lalita Padmini Ragini and it seemed appropriate

I also loved the other post on philosophy of acquiring gear - as my friend said, the room is the elephant. That’s something I am struggling to change as it is in a living space that I like visually but hate sonically!

 

[Decadent_Spectre]

Not really - it gets annoying very quickly.

Interesting viewpoint. If you go by that then there's no point in spending too much money on gear unless that gear has a specific attribute you need such as dispersion or extension or output etc or any combination of them. Most expensive audio gear is expensive because of the "house sound", if the house sound is undesirable there is no reason to buy it. Yet these expensive items sell.

 

[sandyboy101]

I auditioned the PMC 25.22 with the Octave V40 and ended up buying them, then I wanted the Octave too but managed to hold my greed.

 

[himadri]

C

Graham LS5/9 + V40SE - the combo is heavenly. I have this as my main setup but everything is packed up at the moment since I shall be moving homes soon.

After hearing similarly priced options from spendor, harbeth and Graham, I found the graham to be hands down the most transparent speaker of the three. Harbeth and Spendor have a house sound that you just can't get rid of no matter what electronics you use.

Congrats ROC.The Grahams may just be the best of the lot in the BBC tradition.