But first, to respond to the inner thread on Harbeths-
So what I see is a bunch of speaker design "no-nos" all of which coincidentally reduce the
production cost that are then presented as a viable design methodology that doesnt make sense to me and also runs counter to the design philosophies from speakers that I think sound best.
Well, I completely disagree about "homogenizing", but YMMV. I think it's a stretch to say the whole line of speakers is representative of "inaccurate" designs when most of the recent model line at least measures more accurately than most speakers.
The "no-nos" were one of the things that intrigued me in the first place. It's counterintuitive that optimizing an older, resonance-managed, design is not only appealing to a ton of experienced listeners but also *measures* flat. And Harbeths just refuse to sound the way their looks prejudice me. But it's worth noting that Shaw prolifically defends and explains his methods and design choices on the forum. And he's made significant and expensive changes to the original design in terms of driver materials and crossover design, so they haven't been sitting still. I hadn't heard Harbeths before recently, but clearly many people think the last few years have brought huge improvements, particularly with the proprietary driver/material.
As for phase coherence, I moved over from Thiels, much like @prof , Thiels famously optimize around phase/time coherence. Honestly, the Harbeths were the only speaker I heard in my last round of auditioning that (and forgive the imprecise analogy) offered as clean a "window" onto the sound as my old Thiels, while providing an even more lively and natural-sounding presentation of instruments I know well from live performance. That's where I get the "tone is just right" feeling others are referring to here. Their marketing catch-phrase is well chosen.
I listen to music for hours every day*, and there can be no doubt that a major search criterion for me is "non-fatiguing". I was happy with my Thiel CS3.6 for 25 years (!), and I'm becoming similarly wedded to the new SHL5+ (Anniv).
Now, Harbeth's ridiculous additive model naming, that's seriously fatiguing. I suppose some model down the road will be the "Super HL5 Plus Ultra Enhanced Anniversary of Anniversary Edition"
*as I write this, I'm listening to the Sony Classical/Sol Gabetta-Schumann recording on Tidal - lovely open-sounding recording, close-up image, and lovely tone in my living room.