Are Harbeths really "all that?"

boston A100's , a marantz receiver, a systemdek....the blue collar audio note system....sounds good.

AN has not always impressed me, but the couple of times it has, it REALLY has.

i bought a pair of HL-5 a couple of months ago, and my assessment is: they are close to perfection. The most natural speaker I've listened to. My view is that the goal of a speaker is to reproduce music in the most natural way possible, and this is what these guys are about. They don't aim to unnatural levels of detail, which is what lots of audiophiles seek. They aim to reproduce the experience of listening to live music. Also, compared to excessively detailed speakers, they are less fatiguing, and they are more forgiving: if you have a bad record, it will still sound like a bad record, but you can generally listen to it. I also own a pair of ESL-57, which is a wonderful speaker. The HL-5 are in my opinion better. And I find myself listening to more music than with the Quads.

The HL 5's can be a musical transducer with less than state of the art components and /or recordings...it should also cost about $1500 pair. It IS a moderm day version of the Bozak B313 large bookshelf design. A pair of Maggie 3.6R's with well designed components and cables will allow you to experience the full dynamic envelope of your favorite recordings in a most realistic and natural manner...you just need to have the space and the deep appreciation of music to be heard as it was intended. :O)