Devore vs Harbeth

Ah, we all hear differently. Very differently.

I have not had the pleasure to hear speakers by Harbeth, but have read many fine things about them. I own the DeVore Silverbacks and have heard the DeVore 9's, Super 8's, 3XL's, & former 3's. I do not find them thick or closed in at all. Quite the opposite, actually, along with being the most musical and the best value at their respective price points, which includes many, many speaker offerings, but again, not any by Harbeth.

what are you using now?

having owned harbeths & listened to devore speakers a few times around, i decided NOT to upgrade my harbeths to the devore.
I find the harbeths more musical in the end... yes, the devore can be a bit bland.
The only area i feel the devores are "better" than the harbeths is in the bass department. Its tight & well controlled.
The harbeths bass is more colorful but the midrange and up is something else.
Either the SHL:5s or the C7s would be good.

Although I owned both Harbeth and Devore speakers (at least for a few months), I'm afraid my experience might be too "apples to oranges" to be of much help. The Harbeths were the Monitor 40s (the big ones), which overwhelmed my room with bass, while the Devores were the much smaller Super 8s, which had to work a bit too hard in the same room. But I do think I learned enough about each speaker to devine the difference you might experience from a closer matchup--say, the SHL-5 against the Nines: the Harbeths offer to-die-for midrange while the Devores are balanced throughout the spectrum. Harbeths seem a bit "bendy" in comparison to, say, Thiel (I had a pair of Theil CS6 on hand when I owned the Harbeths) with a relaxed yet present energy. The Devores seem closer to Audio Physic --warm, but snappy, a more "audiophile" balance than Harbeth, but just as musical IMO.

I don't think "bland" describes the Devore sound at all--I'm sure I could happily ride a pair of Silverbacks into the sunset. And if my room were smaller, maybe the Nines would do too. But if it's midrange magic that really floats your boat, buy the SHL-5s and don't look back.

Just my HO.

I compared the Harbeth 7ES3 to my Super 8s using a 25W push-pull tube amp. With that one, the Devore's are tight, fast, very detailed, and even handed. The Harbeths were somewhat thick and slower in comparison with a fuller, warmer, less detailed sound.

I somehow got the feeling that the Harbeths would need a higher power solid state amp to move them to quicker and tighter spectrum.