Is my room big enough for the Harbeth HL5's?

A parallel thread is running here:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1303719698

I think the thing you have to consider with the Harbeth's is that they are quite forgiving of room size, ancillary equipment and placement. HOWEVER, they are remarkable speakers that can really sing if you get them out into the room and away from the boundaries. This becomes more important as you move from their smaller to their larger models. If you read my initial post carefully I did not say the HL5's would not sound good in your room. Rather my point is that given the cost differential and the size of your listening room it is my opinion that you would be better served by keeping the C7's and investing the difference that you would have spent on the HL5's into other equipment upgrades. I don't claim to be an expert about a lot of things audio but I do know the Harbeth's pretty well and just wanted to clarify my prior submission.

I'd keep the 7es3 and look at upgrading the rest of your system, I've heard 7es3 with tubes and they sounded amazing. FWIW I recently owned, and sold a pair SHL5.. didn't really care for them, heresy I know but that's why we don't just have vanilla..

And I still disagree. The OP asked if they'd work in his room, and yes they would, quite nicely.
Sure, the 7's will show any improvements upstream, they're wonderful speakers. But so will the 5's, and the OP already stated he seems to prefer them.
Everything else mentioned has no regard for context.

You may want to post over on the Harbeth forum. Many users there and plenty with smaller rooms as they are largely from Europe or Asia.

When you listened to the SHL5 at Fidelis did you do a direct comparison to the 7es3? I ask because as you say you fell in love with the SHL5, but what you need to keep in mind is that you fell in love with them at Fidelis, in their room, with their gear.. Being as the 7es3 has the newer Radial 3 woofer and is a newer design if it was my coin I'd want to hear them head to head before I made the switch. At least you'd then know what it is you prefer about the SHL5 over the 7es3, or if it's their setup. And FWIW I don't think your room size is an issue at all. I used mine in a room 15' x19 and I never felt like the room was the problem.