Why do Harbeth speakers have such a cult following

Honeybee2012 I had the same amp you have, i suggest if you want to try the harbeth go with Luxman, Naim,acuphase or LFD,
you will no regreet.
I did my journey and homework already!
I wanted to like the Yamaha but the sound wasn't my cup of tea compared to Luxman class A and others i had the chance to try and the time.
Regards

The interesting link was given .Alan Shaw made statement very clear abaut their speakers as mastering speakers for recording studios.In my experience .Sometimes I create computer based music works and use for this SHL5,I can imagine in this place dynaudio c1 or s1.4 ,because they have mellow flavour to the sound.But I saw that a lot tv station and radiostations using active dynaudio speakers.May be promotion has influence to it

The honest answer? Because Stereophile put them class A about 2-3 years ago. They blew up after that.

Harbeth's website describes their sound as "fresh'' and "natural'' which I think are very accurate adjectives.

To my ears the sound is also warm and relaxing, which should appeal to fans of most genres of music (except heavy metal/rap).

Other than sound quality I also think the appeal is that they do work well with a wide variety of amps - I recently listened to the Compact 7s driven by a modest setup costing about US$2k and the sound was captivating. The dealer actually emphasized the point to the several customers present that you don't need "crazy money'' to enjoy a Harbeth.

11-13-12: Bobheinatz
I owned the 5's and it always was enjoyable. It drew you into the music. Someday I will own a Harbeth again.

I also owned the 5's for a short time and Bob's comments sum up my feelings as well. It took me a few days to settle in with them, but after I did I enjoyed a lot of music.