Upgrade from Harbeth Compact 7

How big a room are we talking here, and how low do you want to go?

How much are you willing to spend, and is there a limit on how big the speakers can be? Also, what's the rest of your system?

If you like the basic sound of Harbeth, the SHL5 is, IMO, a superior speaker with a more coherent sound, a bigger soundstage and deeper bass. Harbeths are not known as rock speakers, but if you are satisfied with the C7 in that regard, the SHL5s do more of it.

If you are truly looking for something that will play much louder, I would look into the Coincidents or, if the rest of your system is up to it, a used Wilson Sophia. With the right gear it can sound very powerful, but it is a tough speaker to drive and sounds like absolute crap with amplifiers that can't handle its tough load. Good luck.

I had the Harbeth Compact 7 for a while, then changed to the Proac D-40r, which IMO was a significant improvement. You can see my system in the link below.

Harbeth M40.1 , Active Gradient Revolution or ProAc D-40r ( already mentioned)