Current or Previous Harbeth Owners…

My pre purchase comparison was The Revel Line of Speakers and Harbeth. I overwhelmingly preferred the Harbeth sound and presentation. Within that group I compared the Super5+, the M30 and the C7ES-XD. I was able to hear them with equipment similar to or the same as mine. For me the C7ES was the clear winner. The best soundstage and clarity. In comparison the M30 was too dark and lacked openness although it was quite accurate and the Super5 was a little too bright and while it offered slightly more low end I still preferred the openness of the C7. I listen to Classical, Jazz , Pop. The C7 blends perfectly with my Accuphase Amp, Aurrender Streamer and MSB DAC all of which have a similar warm, and open sound with excellent clarity.

For me the C7ES was the clear winner.

I think the Compact 7 is an overlooked hidden gem.  I agree with your assessment about it being the "Goldilocks" speaker in their lineup.

I realize “better” is subjective, but a speaker that does what Harbeth does, but better.

I have a set of Pass Labs XA100.5’s,

Sound quality wise, getting a harb 40 would be a waste of these Pass Lab amps, i.e., these are good amps.

20k for that Harb is broad daylight robbery of old men on social security. The Harbeth with its poor quality design/build at most is worth 1k or 2k. It really does not sound any better.

Get a Wharfedale Elysian

Or

Get a Mofi Sourcepoint 888 for 5k and pair it with those Pass amps....Both the Wharfedale and Mofi were designed by higher aptitude British guys, i.e., much higher aptitude than heritage Harb’s daddy and hence they tend to walk all over 20k Harbs.

@deep_333 hahahahahahahaaa,I've seen some delusional,absolutely asinine statements on this site but yours has to rank right up there in the top 2 or 3!

I'm a bit in a similar position trying to upgrade from another BBC speaker, the Spendor SP2/3R2. Admittedly I couldn't test a lot of brands, but I couldn't find the "better" sound, at least not for a decent amount of money. I have recently tested  a pair of Sonus Faber Serafino at home and they didn't quite cut it (a very forward but otherwise wonderful tweeter, by the way). I would have liked to also try Devore, Fink, Tannoy (and maybe Fyne) and the other BBC type speakers - Graham, Stirling, maybe you can check them out, I couldn't. So I have just bought the bigger Spendors, the Classic 100 (the equivalent of the Harbeth M40.x). Small room so bass is a challenge, but we'll see what room treatment can do about it.

I have also owned a pair of Harbeth M30.2 Anniversary and frankly preferred the Spendors. You can read my impressions here: https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2700741. For others or in a different system the Harbeth's could simply be the ticket.