Harbeth HL5 vs Magnepan 1.6qr Who wins??

>>Which speaker is the best overall performer?

Depends on what "your" overall preferences are. For me, it has been the Maggies for the last 10 yrs. I haven't found another speaker that does the human voice so well, that is, until about a year ago when I got a pair of custom 2 ways. They do voices extremely well and are 10db+ more efficient so the dynamics are noticably better. So it's back to preferences. The Maggies are still special to me so I use both sets in my listening room.

Pubul57, exactly, I fell for the maggie sound over 2 decades ago. When I replaced my MG1s, it was natural to take a pair of the 1.6s home.
Never heard the Harbeths, but the Paradigms I heard did impress but at a price higher than the maggies.

I think the most fair comparison would be between the Magnepan 1.6's and the Harbeth P3ES-2's, as they are in the same price range. I just so happen to own both of them for different setups in my home. I love each set for different reasons. The Harbeths have better balance overall, work well in most areas, and are compact. The Magnepans cast a huge soundscape, have wonderful timbre, and perform excellently with most music. The Magnepans have somewhat lackluster bass performance in comparison to the Harbeths, need much, much more room to place properly, and are quite large. The Harbeths sound somewhat confined in comparison to the Magnepans, lack some of the air of the Magnepans, but they perform equally in terms of tonality and timbre.

I guess it does come down to what you have to power these speakers with and their intended application. The Audio Research VS110 / SP16 combined with a set of MMG's and a Martin Logan Grotto i turned out to be one of the best setups I have ever heard. Then again, the McIntosh MC252 / C220 combined with Harbeth P3's turned out to be the best near-field system I have heard. Both were in small rooms. The VS110 /SP16 with the MG1.6QR's sounded a little weak in my large room, and improved a little with the MC252 / C220 combo. They really came alive when I hooked up a MC352 instead of the MC252. Magnepans really do need the grip of a powerful amplifier to perform well.

All in all, if you have a small room, go with the Harbeths, they will charge the room somewhat better then the Magnepan 1.6's, will give you more room to place with placement, and will be easier to pair with amplification. If you have the space and the amplifier, go with the Magnepan's as you will get s lot of performance for your money, although strongly consider purchasing a good subwoofer to fill out the bottom end.

i lived with maggies for quite some time and now harbeths. Definitely harbeths for me.

Nolitan - Do you mind me asking which models you were using?