Harbeth Owners - What do you think?

Thanks again, guys. My room is 11 x 13.5 x 8 with plaster walls/ceiling and thick carpet on hardwood over cement so it contains everything and does not flex with the music. I use a REL subwoofer so bass extention is not a concern.

I have narrowed it down to Compact 7s or Monitor 30s as I really like the idea of the soft done high end SEAS tweeter in the 30s. The closet dealer is a 10 hour round trip and doesn't have the 30s so I may work through the mail.

I'm lucky as the room is mine alone and my wife doesn't care what the speakers look like but I think they look damn good anyway. I like that classic appearance and (based on some internet photos) presume the woodwork and finish are excellent. I also will be using an Air Tight 300B amp which puts out a whopping 10wts! However, I just read a webzine review of the 30s which said a 2A3 amp drove them pretty well in a moderate sized room and my amp is three times that powerful (I like the big amps, don't you know).

The Air Tight has superbly designed Tamura trannies and the best, in my opinion, designed power supply for an SET that I've heard. In my room it has properly driven ProAc 2.5s and Merlin TSM-MXs.

Think I'll contact a couple of the recommended dealers above and see what they can do for me.

Tomryan. I'd be interested in your views on the Proac 2.5 as I am looking for a floorstander to replace my Compact 7s. I am thinking of the 2.5 or new D25 as a possibility. After you get the Monitor 30's or C7's up and running I'd be interested in your thoughts comparing them with the Proacs. I love the Harbeth sound but need something that will blend better into the room decor. Good luck with your Harbeth's, you will love them I'm sure. (That said, though I have no experience with your amp I really have concerns over the power output. My C7's did not really begin to sing until I put 100 watts or ARC solid state behind them. A 35wpc Naim amp just did not do them justice. FWIW.)

Dodge, I used to have ProAc 2.5's. When I get the Harbeths, I can comment on how they compare.

The ProAcs are one of those speakers with "magic" in the midrange. They are expressive or communicative or whatever you want to call it--you connect with the music. As great a thing as that is, I found myself craving clarity and resolution. I found them too soft on top. I also found the bass too loose and insufficiently tuneful.

My switch to Thiel was in response to these shortcomings of the ProAcs, and the Thiel 2.4 indeed resolves every one of the complaints I had about the ProAcs and I like them very much--I've had them for 18 months and they could be a long-term keeper. (Except that I loved the way the ProAcs looked--and so did my wife--but I don't care for the look of the Thiels.) But that magical musical connection is not as strong with the Thiels. Hence my upcoming experiment with Harbeth and a current experiment with the Ref 3A (which initially strikes me as delivering expressiveness in spades but at a huge price in loss of accuracy and fidelity; jury still out).

Maybe I can have everything I want, but I have not found it yet. The journey is the reward, I suppose.

Drubin. I would be very surprised if the HL5's did not give you everything you are after. I have been listening to a lot of speakers over the past 18 months and I don't think there is currently anything better on the market (sub 10K) than those. Enjoy.

That's good to hear, but I will be surprised if they do give me everything I am after. I can't imagine that they will deliver detail and resolution at the level of Thiel. We shall see.