Upgrade from Harbeth Compact 7

If you are like me, you loved the Harbeths but with full range and full power music they broke up. At the same time I had a pair of Tyler Acoustics Linbrook monitors. They only gave up the smallest amount to the beauty of the Harbeth midrange but could handle the large scale music and lots of power. For about $1,000 used (if you can find a pair) you should try them as something different and a good reference, then decide if you want to get rid of your Harbeths. I had the SHL5's. Both were run with the Rowland Concerto integrated amp. I have a review/comparison somewhere here on Audiogon if you want to seek it out. Otherwise, I find it hard to recommend a great speaker to give you what the Harbeth's offer that also handle full range music and for a reasonable price. Also, I suspect that a lot of what you might find comparable (and what people recommend) might require expensive amplification. Both the Harbeths and Tylers do well with a lot of different (and reasonable - both size and price) amplifiers.

I had a similar predicament a year ago, but I've still not really solved it (see my thread on Harbeths or Devores). I could have solved it if I'd had a bigger room, so I think it's crucial that you mention your room size. You can get a lot more from the larger Harbeths, and the new SHL5+ is a beautifully balanced speaker, less bloomy in the mid bass than the old SHL5 and smoother in all other areas. But this kind of design needs space to breathe. Ideally I would say at least 17 x 12, but you might get away with a bit smaller. Otherwise, I wish you luck, because it's not easy maintaining the tonal naturalism of Harbeths and at the same time getting greater scale and dynamics. One friend moved from 7s to Zingalis and he loves them, but still sometimes misses the way the Harbeths do voices and acoustic instruments. He thinks it's worth the trade off; I couldn't do it. Another friend has Devore Nines and a group of us that know him aspire to this system; it combines the tonal naturalism of the BBC style monitors with an effortless and dynamic sense of space. That's with VTL amps, which I believe a a little more affordable your side of the pond (they are prohibitively expensive in the UK.)

Room is 18X20X8hi. Tube pre & amps.

Pre is VTL TL-2.5, amps are Manley Retro 100 (KT90) & 75/75 Stereo VTL.

Jperry, How do the less expensive PROAC FLOORSTANDERS that would be available used compare to the Harbeth C7?