Harbeth P3ESR or Monitor 30?

whipsaw......I've been home-auditioning the P3's for three days now as per your advice. Actually the dealer offered so I took him up.
Very lengthy sessions,with back and forth between B&W's and P3's
all w/cds . There's a long version and short version of this story so will see what it goes. For starters,I had my B&W's set up in less than ideal conditions.....on either end of a wood homemade record cabinet
loaded with maybe 500 lps. My electronics are in between,and a 42"
tv in front of this on a stand,so that the speakers just edge out fully
on each side of tv. I know....  also used a B&W asw300 sub to good
effect on floor in right side. So this is how I started with Harbeths.
Played lots of music this way for first day.Had some difficulty dialing
the Harbeths and sub. On second day I pulled both speakers off record cabinet and onto makeshift stands of two wood chairs each
with books stacked and leveled at 24" to bottom of speakers. Listened this way all day yesterday without sub. The P3's improved and bass especially without sub.That being said,the B&W's also improved,getting out into the (living) room...much better soundstage
like they could breath better. The B&Ws have been holding their own
without question.....more of a testament to their strenhths than an
indictment of P3s. The P3s are without a doubt right up my alley
sound wise. As we speak I have them playing Willie Nelson & Friends...Stars & Guitars  Live ,after playing this with B&Ws. I''m not
much of a critical listener nor am I very tech proficient so will spare
attempts to sound knowledgeable. The two speakers sound very
close in quality to me,which has surprised me some.I have always
enjoyed music w/ the B&W 303s but figured they would pale in 
comparison to P3s. Perhaps if I was auditioning them both from
scratch,say my first pair of speakers I would choose P3s for a slightly
smoother presentation and a more clear definition of instruments.Hard to say. The cost is a factor as well,since it would be
a $2,000 lay out. I find I'm hearing that voice on my shoulder saying the Harbeths must be so much better....the B&Ws cost $300 some years ago,but letting my ears alone be judge, I think at this point I'll
stay with B&Ws as strange as that may sound. I will be looking to keep them out in the room on stands,so this experiment has given
me insight in several ways. Trust your ears,audition at home if possible, and best of all the speakers will now be free from a less than perfect placement. And if you like Willie,the Stars & Guitars cd
has great sound.....right now Patti Griffin singing Angel To Close To
The Ground....wow ....those sad songs just kill you. 
Sorry if this was a worthless ramble but wanted to get back with my
experience. See my post above for my rig specs.

Thanks offnon! Not worthless at all, and a very interesting read.

You have highlighted the most important variable of all – listening at home with your associated components. There is no substitute.

As I am using an integrated amp from the '80s, and consider it to be outstanding, I am open-minded about the quality of older components. B&W certainly made good speakers, and they clearly sound very good in your system. I applaud you for being objective enough not to been seduced by the speakers that are, at least on paper, superior.

Oh, and thanks for the CD recommendations. I have eclectic taste, and will give them a try.

Cheers,

Tony

Is it possible the different Harbeth models under consideration will sound radically different in different rooms, with different amps, etc.?

I ask because a single comparison in a single room with a particular amp would not be sufficient to judge one model superior to another. Different results might be found in other cases with a different setup in general.

I am not very familiar with Harbeth models and their sound, but in general I would lean towards the larger model with larger drivers that probably also costs more retail and then work to optimize the sound.

OP has very good powerful amps. That alone should help assure either model is performing optimally. What sounds better to any one person then is a totally different story. But size and performance usually does matter, at least in larger rooms. I would only rely in general on a smaller model alone in a smaller room. The laws of physics are the one thing you can always bank on.

@mapman 

Well, if you were to ask the designer of Harbeth speakers, Alan Shaw, he would downplay the importance of the amp. There are actually some very interesting related threads on the Harbeth forum.

However, while Shaw has forgotten more about audio than I'll ever know, I, and most audiophiles, would disagree with him on that issue.

Harbeths, like any speaker, can certainly change based on room acoustics and associated equipment, but given my experience, I'd say that the P3s are probably the most forgiving. I tried one of their larger speakers before settling on the P3s, and found them to be less open, and they suffered more from being placed fairly close to a back wall.

Whipsaw what speaker maker wants customers to sweat what amp is best?   None I know.  Same applies largely to amp makers.