Experienced audiophiles best speaker

Now that was easy, wasn't it? The Wilson Benesch / deHavilland room at RMAF 2008 was one of the best at the show IMHO.

I don't think that explains the discrepancy as most Harbeth users do seem to be using SS and "musical" does seem to be the most common phrase used to describer them

Thats exactly why it was on the top of my shortlist when I was upgrading from my Dyn Contour 1.3SE speakers a year back. I was drooling all over the "Harbeth" brand and the aura around it. At that time I had created threads on AA asking about Harbeth vs other speakers while some people raved about it, some "experienced" guys did tell me to be careful and not buy a Harbeth blind as they are not as musical as Spendors and I may not like them as much as I am thinking. Thankfully I auditioned them, rejected them in 15 mins.

As a long time Spendor user (3/1, 7/1, 1/2e) I took the opportunity to give the Harbeth's a listen before I moved on from Spendor. Yes they are warmer, especially in the bottom end, but I think I understand what Pani is alluding to. There is definitely some dryness in the mid range IMO, which is opposite to the sound and what I love about the Spendor speakers I've owned. Funny thing, at any of the audio shows I've gone to I can "blindly" pick up the sound of a Harbeth speaker very easily.

agree with Nolitan 110%.
Had lot's of Dyns over the years. Now have Spendors. Love them. Wish I had gotten into these first.

Yes, Spendors were far better, they did sound musical, what it is touted for. May be this gives a clue where I am coming from. Since I was upgrading from a Dynaudio which was a fair bit more neutral than the Spendors, I could not convince myself to buy the Spendors. But yes, the Spendor is a more musical speaker than Dyns in general.
Finally I hit the sweetest spot with the best of the neutrality and highest grade of musicality with the ATC !!
They are God level speakers, where others end, they begin.
Set them up correctly and you would not be able to upgrade, which is such a rare thing in Audio. Unfortunately they draw a lot out of you in terms of matching electronics, cables, positioning, room treatment (need not be exhaustive but some care needs to be taken for bare walls especially if concrete). All these things take time if you are doing it on your own and you learn a lot. Most importantly one can blindly trust the speakers not being at fault if there is something wrong in the overall sound, they are brutally honest in a good way. One can listen to the poorest of recordings on these speakers and enjoy every bit of it (if there is anything to enjoy in the music) without getting fatigued....but all that after the painful setting up process is close to done.