The few times I've listened to Vandersteens, they struck me as having a rather "forward" presentation. By this I'm not referring to tonal balance, which was fine, but rather to where the plane of the sound stage started, which was well in front of the plane of the drivers. Tastes will differ, but I prefer a more "distanced" presentation, where the front of the sound stage coincides with the front plane of the speakers or even starts a little behind them. The Harbeths are 100% satisfactory in this regard.