Which Harbeths?

So I’ve had the C7es3 xd in my system for a week now. I must say so far I am both very impressed and a bit underwhelmed.  I’ve swapped back and forth with them and my Totem Rainmakers many times trying to determine which I like more. They turn out to be more similar than different to me. The Totems have an airier presentation, and the Harbeths a heftier bottom end. Through the midrange I find them extremely similar. I found this a bit disappointing from Harbeth do to the crazy amount of praise they get for their midrange. While it is very good, I don’t find it better than the Totems despite the huge difference in price. I will be keeping the Harbeths at least for now mostly because they play considerably louder without strain. I’m also trying to give my ears time to adjust to the sound.  If I still feel the same after a couple months I’ll probably sell the Harbeths. I honestly can’t say one is really better than the other.  But the Totems are much cheaper, and cosmetically much smaller and living room friendly.  I do highly recommend people who aren’t familiar with the Totems should give them a serious listen. Just recently I tried the Dynaudio special 40s as well, and I slightly preferred the Torems. I don’t know if it is there cosmetics or just brand image but Totem is ridiculously underrated these days.   Also I have to say that anyone who listen to Harbeth with the grills on is missing out. The only thing I could do when listening at first with the grills on was laugh at how miserable and muffled they sounded. Truly very underwhelming with the grills on. Maybe good for falling asleep due to boredom. Anyways just thought I would share my initial impressions. 

I would recommend not swapping the speakers back and forth and just live with the Harbeth for awhile. Give them a chance to settle in to your system. You might be surprised after a month , or two living with the Harbeths. If they are still not to your liking, you can sell them. 

Also synergy is a big factor. Maybe the Harbeths will not shine with the Mcintosh gear. Never hurts to explore and experiment with different brand amps and preamps. That is if you have any other audio gear to try. If you have any friends who are into audio , maybe they could bring over something different gear to try. 

op

i have not heard the mac mc302 but it may be voiced too warm to mate well with the c7, if the user desires more ’presence’... perhaps try a hegel or ayre amp - they are known to be very successful mates to harbeths, bring a little more life to the presence region without overdoing it

also, you have not disclosed your source

by and large, harbeths present music as an integral whole, many would say other more ’hifi’ speakers let you hear ’into’ the music more -- harbeths, from a bbc design heritage (like classic spendors, grahams, stirlings, etc etc) are trying to present music as one hears from a mid hall position in an acoustic concert hall, playing acoustic instruments in an orchestral or chamber group type of setting ... if you have been to a music event like that, you feel the music comes as you as a fairly unified wave of energy, with cymbals, string leading edges, vocals revealing details in a gentle way, there is less sparkle and ’etch’ - similarly bass is smooth energy and has a reverb component, there is not too much ’slam’

harbeths more recent iterations like anno and xd versions are trying to give the user more ’hifi-ness’ but overall, compared to other makes, the balance is still as i stated above - it has been many years since i had my totem 1's, and if totem's overall voicing has stayed roughly the same, i would say totems provide a much more etched, energetic treble 'presence' region...

thus it is important to do as a poster below states -- give the speakers time, let you ears adjust, and then see if you enjoy them more... this is somewhat of a less-is-more experience, the beauty is in the subtlety and depth

OP, don’t discount Graham Chartwell’s versions of the BBC monitors; I really like their design principles (e.g. look at their driver selection and philosophy in the VOTU model; great engineering); seeming more modern (less flat earth) to me than Harbeth’s thing, plus still doing a faithful take on the originals.

I’ll definitely give them a couple months at least and see what I think after adjusting to there sound.  I’m open to keeping them but I’m also open to selling them and putting my totems back. I’m not really after something that is maybe slightly better. I decided to try some new speakers thinking my 500$ used rainmakers could be the weak link in the system. I’ve found that’s simply not the case at all.  If I keep the Harbeths it will probably be for the ability to play louder. If I keep the totems it will be for their purity. And just to be clear I do find the Harbeths sound to be beautiful, just not to the extent that the reviews and there reputation led me to expect.  Also any notion that they offer good price to performance is a bit crazy. I honestly feel if any other company tried selling the same speakers at the same prices they would be out of business.