Why do Harbeth speakers have such a cult following

They look and sound a bit old fashion, some seem to like that.

"They look and sound a bit old fashion..."

In the sense that a real violin or piano sounds "old fashion" (sic), I would have to agree!

-Bob

11-13-12: Philjolet
maybe the loose cabinet joints that assists in recreating the sound of live musical instrument adds to the 'mystique'

There is a lot of misinformation about the rationale behind the Harbeth cabinet design.
The BBC researched damped thin wall cabinet design was originally evolved to push cabinet colourations down below the critical midrange where they are most damaging to the tonal properties of the reproduced music.
ie, the goal was/is to make music and speech sound tonally like itself, not to create some specific sound.
Those who like this type of tonal accuracy will be attracted to Harbeth speakers and others like them.

IMO, the longer you listen to speakers with this basic tonal accuracy, the more appealing it becomes (and the less acceptable other, less tonally accurate, speakers become). YMMV.

I am new to harbeth, only three months I have to say that. I had listened
More records than ever, its the first time that. I experience a musical system.
Yes I have luxman 550 A I I matching, I bought it based on harbeth uk forums, no regrets, the cult is based on what you hear pure music, no color or unrealistic dynamics as close as live performace that you can get.

I owned before DAli helicons 800 mk2
Nola boxer
Linn accurate etc

Harbeth compact 7ES3 all about music, wondering why took me so long to give them a chance, lot of money and time saved....

Regards