Harbeth SHL5 vs 40.1

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.

if i had the room for the 40.1 i would seriously consider them, otherwise i'll just stick to my SHL5s.The bigger harbeths definitely need room to breath, otherwise, the bass could be an issue.

My room is 21' x 15' with short 6-7 foot ceiling. The 40.1's work quite well, but my room is heavily treated. Your 19' x 17' with high ceilings should be fine, but I highly recommend adding some acoustical panels (GIK Acoustic 244 panels are inexpensive and effective).

Many like the Harbeth sound, some less so:

http://www.10audio.com/harbeth_m30.htm

Considering the starter of this thread already owns the Harbeths, and is thinking about upgrading in there line, we can assume he is one of the many that likes them.