Harbeth 40.3 XD versus Harbeth 40.2

And the Super Duper Duper Duper 40.5’s might just shake the ground you walk on. It wouldn’t be bad if Harbeth published the changes but they seem to leave their upgrades without technical specifics, just price increases. pdreher does make a point, maybe they hit their delta on performance. My only issue is that the 40 series monitors are so huge and in all honesty, cabinet designs from the 60’s are yesterdays news. Maybe an updated form factor would catipult them to another level.

Jesting aside, the last significant change (and hence audible to most rather than just bats) was between the 40.1 and 40.2  After that it was negligible (40.2 Anniversary, 40.3 XD).  I fear these last two iterations had a lot more to do with marketing strategies than anything else.

It is really a bit shocking, even by the ridiculous prices of high end gear that we are all accustomed to, to look at the price increases in the Harbeth 40 since its introduction. I don't know what the opening price was, but when it was introduced, one of the writers for the Absolute Sound used them as his reference. A year or two later, they received a rave review from enjoythemusic.com. and at that time I believe that they were $6,995.00.
So how did the price get to where it is now with only minor changes? I guess because it really is one of the finest speakers around, and they realized that they had underpriced it from the outset. Too bad though...I would love to own a pair. 

I hear ya Rox, The 40 series were way too big for the room so I opted for a pair of SHL5+'s and have them sitting on B&W 8"subs. I think the sound quality, especially mid range drivers are phenomenal.
Not sure that the price jump from the 5's to the 40's really makes sense. 6K too 18K is a big jump.

When I picked my P3ESR from dealer and walked into room where he had the 40.2 I had no idea how big those boxes were. You can't tell from photos. They look like wine fridges 🙊