Harbeth - Audio Research?

I was having a problem similar to yours (reported in other threads)...I was using Vandersteen 3A sigs, which are very nice speakers, but they tell you everything that is wrong with the recording, and I just became terribly fatigued by it. I bought some Harbeth M30's and was greatly relieved. The midrange was much richer than the Vandersteens, which, because I listen to a fair bit of classical music, was quite wonderful. And voices...uhmm, very lovely. However, they are monitor speakers, and are, themselves fairly revealing. I eventually switched to Compact 7's, which are probably a bit more pleasant all around--BUT, I would read the series of reviews of 4 of the Harbeth speakers by Paul Szabady w/ Stereo Times online. In the end, he preferred the HL5, and I think that's probably the way to go.

As it happens, I used an ARC VT100 mkiii with both pairs of Harbeths. It was a fine combination.

As always, if you can try beforehand, do. But I think it is rather rare that someone doesn't like the HL5's. I should add that, with the M30's and the C7's, I concluded that I liked having a modest subwoofer. (I just use a single Essex.) I don't think you'd need that with the HL5's

I do think the HL5 is a wonderful, easy-to-listen to speaker, but I'm very suprised to hear you had listener fatigue with the Vandersteen, not a typical reaction IMHO, but that's what you heard, so can't argue with that.

Out of curiosity, how close to the rear wall can the HL5 or 7ES3 go? I'd like to start another system in a very small room - 12x13.5ft and because of how it is all laid out the back of the speakers will need to be about 6-8inches from the rear wall. I know that is less than ideal, but I'm not after imaging at all in this room. However, I do want purity of tone, harmonics etc. Will this mess that up?

6-8 inches at the back would be super close. I have mine around 5 feet away from the rear wall.
A meter would be ok, but even at that distance, it might be boomy.

Pubul57 - I think the Vandersteen 3A sigs are very good for certain things, and can be tempered depending upon what's running them. I get listener's fatigue all too easily, and I think most equipment sounds too bright. I went to the RMAF and, frankly, liked very little of what I heard. My ears seem to have some kind of sensitivity in the high frequency range. Plus, I listen to a lot of orchestral music, which is often not really that well-recorded. Massed strings are awfully hard to record, and are often miked too closely, so that if what you want is a Carnegie Hall type sound, you're in trouble. That's a lot of my problem.