Vandersteen 3a signature vs Harbeth 30.2 anniversary

Jjss49- 
thank you for the input!
valuable.
I agree w the 3a description which makes me trust your Harbeth input.
Biggest immediate notices for me was the midrange strength and the bottom weakness as well as the feeling that they would never fatigue my ears.
I don’t demand super strong bottom end but I feel I would miss it a bit w the 30.2’s.
I love vocals, outtakes, demos and stripped down stuff I can feel like I’m at live as well as jazz at times. Since I posted earlier I did some lurking and now would like to hear some 40.2’s which are not super crazy used.
I really like my 3a’s, just thinking there might be more out there for not a ton more money.... one can always hope!

I would keep the 3A speakers unless you wanted to spring for the Harbeth 40 series. 

i would agree with stereo5... the mon 30's imo are not an upgrade from the vandy's

the mon 40's would be, but make sure the form factor (HUGE ass box) and bass loading are compatible with your room and aethestic needs

I have owned a few Harbeth's, 40's, SHL5 and SHL5+ and a few Vandersteen's, 3A's, 5's, Quatro's (cloth) and currently Treo CT's. Like jjss49 I never warmed up to the M30's. I have moved back and forth between these two brands for the last 30 years as I have moved back and forth to Italy and had to sell my system each time. I ran my 3A's and 5's with Quicksilver V4's and a PSE HL-1 preamp and found the midrange to be a particular strength. I always liked the 3's with tubes better than SS. YMMV and only you will know what you prefer. 

My decision to move back to Vandersteen was due to the fact that all of the updates to the Harbeth's  created more accurate speakers that became less enjoyable to listen to. With each update of the Harbeth's I found I was not as engaged with the music and listened to my system less often. Just my opinion. The Harbeth's still are the best speakers I have heard for low volume listening. I haven't heard the latest Monitor 40.3 XD but I will admit that I miss the original 40's as they were extremely musical and involving. Also, I know that many Harbeth owners use tubes to power them. I tried multiple tube amplifiers with the various Harbeth's I have owned and they never sounded right to me. IMHO you need a SS amp to hear what the Harbeth's are capable of. I always used a tube preamp though. Now I have moved on to a hybrid integrated, the Aesthetix Mimas which sounded great with my SHL5+'s. 

Moving on from the 3A's I think the Treo CT's would be a better choice than going to the M30's. Depending on your room size either the C7's, the SHL5 or Monitor 40 if you go with Harbeth's. One other thing to consider is to add a pair of subs to the 3A's if you have the room. Somehow the subs will improve the overall performance of the 3A's.

I might suggest reaching out to JohnnyR at the Audio Connection in Verona, NJ who is a dealer for both and who sold me all of the above mentioned speakers. He can offer some insight on both speakers. Good Luck!

Joey54,
great feedback/ viewpoint. Thank you- and thanks to others input as well.
I truly am happy with the 3a’s for most of my listening and I rarely get the “ looking for something “ itch but the genesis of this was spending an afternoon with JohnnyR last winter to listen to some TreoCT’s as I was thinking about them.
I liked them but ,and maybe it was just the day, i just didn’t get the amount of improvement I was imagining...? That being said I am pretty sure I could have loaded up a pair and easily enjoyed them.
JohnnyR took me over to the other building to show me the eucalyptus finish ( wow) and when there played me a few tunes on a set of Harbeth 30’s, not sure what version that he had on consignment.
I quite liked them, very classic box speaker sound that I instantly knew I could listen to all day and be pleased. To be truthful we only listened for a few songs so I have to balance that impression with the, in my experience, often initial impact of something being a bit different that gives it a touch of special.
That listen and the general Harbeth fanboy aura is what got me thinking about trying some.
Really just got back on this thought train yesterday and part of me has already figured that the move would be to the 40’s as that is a definite up versus a bit lateral as I currently quite like the 3a’s.
One of the issues I have, as most of us do in some level, is that I don’t have wads of cash to try something and then swap other components to get it optimized. I probably could commit to a used pair of last gen 40’s but wouldn’t be able to “ tune” them with switching other items.
I have a Benchmark amp so your input about SS being good for you with Harbeths is good to hear. Adding a sub is also on my potential, or bi- amping , both would be not scary moves into the unknown.
Next step is to try and hear some 40’s and perhaps 30’s.
jjss49 makes a good point about big box aesthetic... but I had some huge ads boxes at one point and survived... lol
thanks again for feedback.