Upgrade from Harbeth Compact 7

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?

Without getting into a lot of detail, here is a ranking of the ones I tried, Compared to the prior speaker

Proac Studio 140 - Harsh upper midrange and lacking in detail compared to the other speakers.

Harbeth Compact 7 ES-3 - Very smooth, not very dynamic, easy to listen to without any listening fatigue, lacking in bass response.

Proac Response 2.5 - Smooth and dynamic, plenty of detail, bass response goes very low, but a little loose.

Proac Response D-40r - More inner detail and better imaging without harshness, bass response not quite as low, but better defined.

The Proac 2.5 is a great all around performer, getting a little long in the tooth, but a great price performer if you can find a pair used. It is inefficient, but worked well with Quicksilver V-4 amps.

The Proac D-30r, which I have heard many times, is another speaker you should consider at a lower price point than the D-40r. It may be hard to find used, but if you are interested my local dealer may have a demo pair for sale.