Dynaudio, Harbeth, Penaudio or Sonus Faber

Egoben -- thank you for the detailed comparison. I have the P3ESRs, which I got just to see what all the fuss is about, They have completely won me over, such that I've barely listened to my much larger Dunlavys in months. My room is 17 x 23 and I am driving the Harbeths with a Sanders Magtech, a very high-powered amp I doubt anyone would think to recommend for these little speakers. The combination is magnificent!

Stil, of course, I want more. Based on your description, it's not clear to me that the 30.1 would definitely be better for my tastes, but I do need to hear the two models in comparison, which I plan to do soon, perhaps starting at the upcoming Newport show.

I know exactly what you mean about the clarity of the bass line on the little ones and that could be a hard thing to give up, even in exchange for more heft and extension. As for the mids, if they are more forward (you didn't say that, but I wonder about it), that might be a problem for me.

Surprised that you did not comment on any differences in the treble since, if I understand correctly, the 30.1 uses a different and presumably better, more expensive tweeter. What puzzles me is why the 30.1 costs nearly 3x what the P3ESR does. Larger RADIAL driver, better tweeter, larger cabinet -- sure, but that would not seem to equate to 3x the price.

Anyway, thanks again.

Thanks everyone for your interesting insights. I will now audition the two noted Harbeth speakers. I understand that Penaudio has lost its distributor in the U.S. which is a shame. One point that no responded to. Do you think the Oppo 105 player will do justice to the system I am considering or should I be prepared to spend the $3-4k on the cd player?

I have now tried to add a 2x250 watt class D power amplifer to my tube pre amplifier, to see how the speakers, Harbeth 30.1, react. And as I thought, the bass becomes much more clear. Some midrange lushness and richness might get lost, but not that much. The whole soundstage sounds a little bit thinner and clearer. I like it quite a lot for a change. It's fun playing around with different electronics to speakers and especially the Harbeth's.

Sonus Faber audito M has no match with tube.
What I feel that music consist of 30Hz to 15kHz but our ear starts from 18 Hz to 20 KHz.

Different ear have different response and depends upon the structure of the ear. Heavy ear flaps obsorbs HF and pushes LF to ear canal. The structure of the canal also varies. So there is not necessarily that all the hardware fit for all type of ear. There is another factor that ear follows log 10 base response. So it also varies from person to person. HF response becomes poor as we aged but ear is very sensitive when we are in young age.
So there is no hard and fast rules about the listening of music on certain equipment. May be Sonus does not make happy to old man who lose his ability to listen HF as compare to those who are relatively young. Young ears are more responsive to HF and LF. Old ear become less responsive to HF but remains normal at LF.

So how can we set criteria over the other. Very simple go and listen to music of you choice. Which you feel good will always a good choice. There is another factor that is tones quality of the system. Suppose you purchase new system and install at your location and will feel very pleasant but after extensive listening you start feeling that something else would be better than that I have at the moment. I mostly state that girlfriend in the beginning feel you very charming but after certain period you start looking arround. Same is with your hi fi equipment.

I did lot of experimentation with audio with my friends. Nearly after one year every one start thinking that some new idea must be change the quality of music and become impatient to do that. Some got IBS due to anxiety.
LoL.

This is musical electronic equipment and can never able to perform like a real instrument. Loss and distortion is the inherent property of electronics. So the best way to listen live like sound is to go through time machine and enjoy live when the it was performed.

I power my Auditor Ms with an Audio Research VSi75, and the match is spectacular!