Harbeth SHL5 vs 40.1

I've not heard the SHL5's, but I own the 40.1's and love them. Your Cary amp & pre will work fine with the 40.1's. How large is your room?

Pdreher,

My room is 19x17 with a 12 foot to 8 foot slanted ceiling. Do you think this might be to small for the 40.1's?

I've the SHL5s and after I heard the 40.1s I wasn't all that tempted to move up; I was relieved, actually, because there's no way I could swing it money-wise. The 40s are to-die-for amazing, in every way, but SHl5s have that same mid magic, maybe it's even more involving (just the mids, mind you -- the 40s can't be touched all else in). I also realized my room is too small for the 40s, and that's certainly part of it. They need lots of air around them.
My room is 12'X26' with 8' ceiling, perfect the Shl5s.

Hope this helps in some small way ..

I have the SHL5 and will be listening to the 40.1 this weekend at my friend's place driven by Leben CS600. If the space is huge I would say the 40.1 is the way to go as the bigger speaker will throw a bigger soundstage and sounds bigger than the SHL5. Although the Harbeth is said to work well in small spaces, they do need some room to breath to sound good, especially with the 40.1 that may have bass problems in smaller to mid-sized rooms. A 17'x19' room would be quite good for the 40.1.

Alternatively, you can try a subwoofer to reinforce the bass of the SHL5. I have the SHL5 in a big space and the subwoofer made an appreciable difference to the overall presentation as the speakers are set up in free space away from wall boundaries for optimum soundstaging.