Daedalus Audio speakers - Muse or Muse studio

the athena is only $1000 more than the muse studio but lou was recommending the muse for my room

I had Harbeth M-40.1's about 10 years ago.  For no good reason, other than audionervosa (foolishness) I sold my 40.1's and replaced them with a dealer demo pair of Daedalus Ulysses (without hearing them).   The Daedalus required extensive break-in, but eventually loosened up.   The Daedalus Ulysses were good speakers and had furniture quality cabinets, but they just didn't do it for me like the 40.1's.  I sold the Daedalus Ulysses after about 18 months, then tried Harbeth SHL5's for a bout a years  and now am back with 40.1's, with zero interest in trying anything else.

If you want full bodied / full range, organic and natural sounding speakers, I would try to find a used pair of Harbeth 40.2's.  Your 10' x 15' room might be too small for the 40.1's as they are a bit bass heavy.

I think 40.2 would work near field, I already listen near field with my 30.2 there is an extensive post on whatsbestforum of a user who uses 40.2 in a 10x10 area with monoblock benchmark abh2 amps, seems like a good setup.
Finding 40.2 used locally is going to be a b*itch tho I think I've only ever seen one for sale. I dunno. What you're saying has me questioning what we are going to do but you havne't really said why they didnt do it for you. What was wrong with them exactly that made you sell them? 18 months is agood while, did you enjoy them at first? what was it about them that made you miss your harbeths so much?