Harbeth - Audio Research?

Pubul57 - I think the Vandersteen 3A sigs are very good for certain things, and can be tempered depending upon what's running them. I get listener's fatigue all too easily, and I think most equipment sounds too bright. I went to the RMAF and, frankly, liked very little of what I heard. My ears seem to have some kind of sensitivity in the high frequency range. Plus, I listen to a lot of orchestral music, which is often not really that well-recorded. Massed strings are awfully hard to record, and are often miked too closely, so that if what you want is a Carnegie Hall type sound, you're in trouble. That's a lot of my problem.

I hear you regarding massed strings. I heard a very expensive setup with vinyl and the highs were just shrill to my ears. Thank god it was vinyl.

It is so hard to go wrong with Harbeth with any quality amp choice; I prefer SS with mine. an ARC amp would be a great choice. Eweedhome and I seem to be cut from the same cloth. I too found the M30 a little to much after a while and I much prefered the C7 es3 (plus, they are less espensive). Later, I got a sub to go with them, and I am really enjoying what I am hearing; I listen to a lot of classical and the full range I get now with the sub is a tone of fun. Smiles and goosebumps everytime :)

I picked up a pair of the HL-5s off A'gon about 6 weeks ago and couldn't be happier. I am running them with a Primaluna Dialogue 2 with SED Winged C EL34s; talk about rich/lush midrange. While they perform very well on the low end, I still like a tad more at the bottom, so I paired them up with my Martin Logan Grotto. After tweaking the settings, I have been able to successfully integrate the two (to my ears) and haven't looked back since. I feel like I have a system now that gives me non-fatiguing imaging along with the fullness of a floor standing speaker without breaking the bank.

Great to see so many happy Harbeth users. E-mailed Andy of Harbeth (UK) but the sale price he gave me was too high! I will have to lookout for a used pair in the future.... Anyone compaired HL-5 to the new HL-5S?? Thanks.