Why do Harbeth speakers have such a cult following

Check out Bowers first LOL!

IMO they sound good with a variety of electronics. It's harder to make a Harbeth sound bad then good.

Taters, I too am a bit curious about what appears to be your obsession with Harbeth. But as to your question, I can only answer for myself. My goal is to come as close as possible to reproducing the sound of live unamplified classical music, and Harbeth Compact 7s achieve this better than any other speaker I'm familiar with. I'm not sure whether that's good enough for admission into the cult that you seem to think exists, but it's the only answer I can give.

I owned the 5's and it always was enjoyable. It drew you into the music. Someday I will own a Harbeth again.

I loved my time with Harbeth 40.1's. There's a good chance I'll go back to them some day.