I felt the Quad ESL 57's I had were getting a little long in the tooth so I started looking around for a new set of speakers. I auditioned a Monitor Audio, Sonas Faber, and a KEF. I wasn't imprest with any of them. Since I had a classic Spendor S 100 in my studio that I liked very much, when the S9's came into the dealers show room, I bought them immediately without an audition. They prooved to be very satisfactory. They are hooked up to my Pathos Classic II amplifer and REL subwoofer. I tried them out with the VTL tiny triods with the Reference Line passive preamp I had hooked up to my Classic Spendor S100s that are in my studio. Talk about transparent, they were unbelievable. Sorry, I can't think of any superlatives to describe them. I was fearful of playing Saint-Saens Organ Symphony N. 3 on Telarc and the LP of Pink Floyde's 'Dark Side of the Moon' on my Quads, but now, with the Spendor S9's I can hear them in all their glory.