As Charlie implies, they are not "small monitors pretty good for the money." Both Harbeth and Spendor make a range of speakers. Both make LS3/5a size (shoebox) nearfield monitors that are very very good, but those aren't what the buzz is all about. The Harbeth Compact 7 (Charlie and I have these) a large 2 way stand mounter, and the Spendor 1/2 (3 way) and 2/3 (2 way) have the most natural sounding midranges among box speakers. They do the human voice as accurately as can be and are generally as tonally accurate as speakers come. The Harbeths are better, I think, in terms of musicality, ie, faithfulness to real life dynamics, micro and macro, but may have a little dryer bass compared to the Spendors. A matter of taste, I suppose. Nothing under $5,000 retail can be said to be better than the $2500 Harbeth Compact 7 or Spendor 1/2.
Now, Harbeth also makes one of the best speakers built period, the Monitor 40, a very large 3 way, sort of a Compact 7 with a 12 inch woofer added on and a soft dome more extended tweeter substituted for the metal dome. I think they are around $7,000 list. Harbeth's 8 inch mid-woofers and 12 inch woofers are made from a proprietary material called "RADIAL" developed under a BBC grant. They are simply the least colored lowest distortion mid and low range drivers made.
Lots of reviews downloadable from the Harbeth website.
