Most significant upgrade

Pubul57, I heard a pair of the Harbeth Compact 7's with my wife at my local dealer in New Orleans and we were both very impressed. Now keep in mind, it was being driven by top notch ARC gear, but none the less I was shocked at the sound coming from those relatively small speakers. I love the sound of the Vandy's but they are so damn big! ha ha, I know that is shallow, but I do agree with you 100% the Rogue or tubes of any kind bring out the 2CE like nothing I have ever heard.

Inna, Regarding the so called "refusal" to upgrade my TT, totally not the case. Why do you think I started this thread? I just don't appreciate childish mudd slinging at any product line no matter who it is. Has no reason that I have a TT that you feel is sub par, that is fine, and may be true, I just respect opinions that include more imperical data and less opinion. Maybe it's a Southern Thang?? Either way, I felt my biggest issue was the wacky impedence curve of the ML's (they dip to around 1.7 ohms @ 20k) With that said, I spoke at lenght to Mark at Rogue, and he assured me it would not be a problem and in fact they had some ML's running at their factory for sh1ts and giggles and were all running into the room to hear what speakers were playing, when they saw it was the supposed hard to drive ML's, they were quite surprised. However, it's just bugging me knowing how low these things dip, but it's all mental cause they sound pretty damn good. But I love variety, but through this thread I'm finding it may be a damn good time to sit back, have a glass of vino and enjoy what sounds very healthy so far.

Regarding the cart I have on my "toy", it's an Ortofon 2M Black suggested by the guys at Needle Dr, due to the rigid arm of the Rega P5/RB700, this was suggested over the Sumiko Blackbird. That coupled with the phonostage on the Rogue being better suited for the higer output of the Ortofon.

I too love the Harbeth sound, and if you take the manufacturer's word for it, and a large number of users, it sounds pretty darn good with a wide variety of amplifiers. It seems you have some pretty large group of devotees in the Harbeth, Vandersteen, and Merlin camps - and Maggies too (though WAF might be lower than VS). Like I said, everything is important, but the speakers are the basis of the overall sound of a system IMHO, and I think many others think the same way on system building hierachy - though in a vinyl front end, I do think there is a lot of importance and differences to be had with the quality of TT.tonearm, cartridge combinations - less so with digital in my experience.

Given your tastes in music I think the Harbeth's compact 7's are a winner. They are not the last work in bass response or dynamics but they have a nice forward mid range that is clean and clear of colorations. A little laid back in the upper mids ( you can hear this on horns ) but in a nutshell this is an EXCELLENT choice and it is without doubt the "ideal" speaker for a many folks who appreciate vocals and a good mid range!

Hey I didn't call it a toy, it seems cartridges can always be interchanged for different presentations.

Samhar, I was not directing the toy comment to you. Many apologies if you took it that way, it was directed to another contributor that called my TT a "toy". Your comments are more than respected and appreciated.