Harbeth HLP3ESR

Would you know if the all-new Radial2-coned Harbeth P3ESR speakers would be a good match for a 12 feet x 14 feet listening room?

The speakers would be roughly 7-8 feet apart, 1.5 feet from the wall behind them and 9 feet from the listening position.

They would be paired with a Linn Majik 126 sub and powered by a Linn Akurate 2200 (2 x 200W) power amp.

The Harbeth P3ESR speakers would be replacing a pair of Linn Katan speakers in an all-Linn stereo music system.

They would probably sound great, but I would go with a bigger Harbeth in that room.

I just auditioned a pair of P3ESRs through an LFD integrated in a room that was about 13 x 15. They were very pleasant to listen to, very musical. But their decided warmth and flabby bass was revealed in a comparison with Devore Super 8s through the same amp. I preferred the Devores in that setup hands down, although the latter admittedly were more than twice the price. I'd be curious to hear the compact 7s. At any rate, the Linn components are probably a bit less warm than the LFD and the Harbeths might be a good match for them. I can't imagine it would sound bad, but if you were interested in rocking and rolling you'd probably want to look elsewhere.

Although I have not listened to the Linn, I suspect one won't get higher degree of dynamics and slam other than an LFD/Harbeth pairing. The flabby bass reported by Coverto may be due to the limitations of the small P3ESR as this speaker won't be able to give any deep taut bass compared to other bookshelves or speakers designed for strong bass reproduction. In fact, the bass-shy Totem Model 1 has better bass response compared to the P3ESR. The strength of the P3ESR lies in the midrange and musicality. If rock n' roll music sounds bad on the Harbeth driven by LFD, one might need to look at a different speaker. I have tried quite a few amps and the LFD remains the most dynamic amp that is able to give a raw sound with jump factor on the seemingly warm and smooth Harbeth.

I finally these speakers few days ago out of the box and was just stunned how much improvment it had over the older HLPes2s.
The air, the clarity, the bass articulation, the refinement and lovely seductive midrange!
Its a keeper.
To those planning to upgrade their P3s, by all means go for it.