Which Harbeth Speakers

Handsomeck, I haven't heard either C7 or SHL5. The latter is too big for my room, maybe not sound wise, but the looks of it. The C7 just wasn't available in the store or in any store around where I live, that's why I had to chose the other two models, which I both like a lot. Again, the smaller P3 is punchier with clear bass lines and very allround for any type of music. A "fun" speaker. The 30.1 is fuller and warmer sounding with very smooth highs, natural mids, a sound very easy to listen to.

I use mine in a 11x12 room. I use around 6' of separation. You have to play with the distance apart until if locks in. These are magic speakers. Once you get the optimal separation and distance from them you get a ROCK SOLID center image. I compared them to Dynaudio C1 Sigs and Focal Utopia Micro BE both of which are excellent. The Harbeths clearly best them in terms of natural sound and believable representation of instruments. Many speakers tend to present believable representations of voices/instruments but when the SHL5s are properly set up, my mind cannot tell if what I'm hearing is the real thing. Bass can be strong but is incredibly rich and natural.

Michael, It's quite interesting that you compared the SHL 5 to the Dynaudio Confidence C!s and the Focal BE. They were speakers on my list as well. I found the JM Lab Micro Utopias to be very exciting but not well balanced and fatiguing. I still love the Confidence C1s but when I compared them on the same day to the Harbeth C7 and M30 I found them much less natural -- the same conclusion you came to. What kind of music do you listen to? And what electronics are you using?

What cables do you use? I heard Harbeth with very inexpensive but good DNM cables.

I would expect Harbeth, Dynaudio and Focal to each sound unique and different off any particular amp. Different amps used would likely sway preferences to some degree.