Harbeth Owners - What do you think?

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.

Remember that your Harbeths are not as bright or "forward" as the Thiels, so initially they will not sound as detailed and you may prefer the Thiels. Give the Harbeths a little time to break in and for you to get used to the sound. Then do a careful comparison. My guess is that the Harbeths have just as much resolution, but aren't as bright.

Drubin. You will be surprised. In my experience, the Harbeth's resolve detail in an extraordinarily natural fashion. The first time I heard the Compact 7 I thought I was listening to an electrostatic speaker--such was the unboxiness and level of detail. The Radial driver is an extraordinary woofer. It adds ZERO coloration and resolves gobs of inner detail. Beware--not the kind of hifi theatrics that some speakers do. I've heard a number supposedly high resolution designs that SEEM to present lots of information. What they do, I suspect, is emphasize parts of the frequency spectrum to present the illusion of detail. This is why, ultimately, they grow fatiguing and send their owners off to find another pair of speakers that are "more satisfying". What the Harbeth's do is present an extremely rich and musical experience but without tipped up highs or forward mids that throw everything in your lap. Some people seem to like speakers that are aggressively forward because they feel like they are not "missing anything". For me, I like to listen "into" the soundfield and follow the interplay between musicians. I know that this all really boils down to what strikes your fancy but something tells me that folks who like "high resolution" "forward" sounding speakers really are about impressing their friends by playing the same audiophile junk over and over while pointing out the creeking floor at the rear of the stage or whatever. Harbeth's won't impress anyone, really, unless they are a musician or a music lover. (I know I'm gonna catch it for this!) I'm dying to know how things turn out so please return to the thread and share your observations after you have the HL5's up and running. BTW:
1. What gear are you using with them?
2. Check out the Harbeth users group at Smartgroups, lots of Harbeth lovers there swapping tips etc.