Harbeth Owners - What do you think?

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.

I am familiar with the HUG and have read it from time to time.

I'm using a First Sound preamp and Rowland 201 monoblock amplifiers, with Audience AU24 single-wire speaker cable. Might be overkill.

Dodge, sorry if this was mentioned before, but Harbeth introduced some new floorstanders at CES last month. Have you considered those?

Drubin. I am drooling at the thought. However, if you follow the HUG posts Alan Shaw seems to have some serious reservations about building a floorstander that can compete sonically with the monitors. He is all about panel resonances and seems to feel that they cannot be controlled in a long panel floorstanding design. I have to give some serious consideration to this because I have come to believe that the transparancy and lack of boxy colorations found in my C7's (and your HL5) are due to the lossy cabinet construction. It also has driven me toward looking for floorstanders that have employed some unique methods of controlling panel resonances (beyond ever thicker MDF!). Thus, speakers like the Wilson Bensch Curve or the Vandersteen 5's or the Wilson Sophias are all at the top of my list. I have heard all but the Curves and think they are excellent, open and transparant sounding speakers. The only traditionally built speakers I am still considering are the Focus Audio 788/888's and the Proacs. Bottom line, if Harbeth manages to work out the cabinet issues this could be an extraordinary speaker. It has two 8" Radial woofers and a new 6" Radial midrange. The possibilites are really great but this needs to be followed a bit further. Thanks for the suggestion. Can't wait to hear your reaction to the HL5's!
p.s I'm not familiar with your electronics but the Rowland monos I suspect have lots of juice. I've seen them before, I believe. Very tiny right?

Correct, they are "petite". the First Sound is one of the truly great tube linestages.

Have you listened at all to ATC speakers? They make a smallish floorstander.