Harbeth HL5 vs Magnepan 1.6qr Who wins??

what amp you use and room thay are in will determine which is better for you. they are about equal in performance.

I lean toward the Maggie but then I think Harbeth are a bit overrated...

I moved from Maggie 1.6 to Reynaud Trente and preferred the Reynaud's. I did not miss the open quality the Maggie has as much as some think you will (though that is a very nice thing about the Maggie speaker).

The bottom line for me is the Maggie needs lots of room and very good amplifiers to sound their best so part of my decision was based on these factors.

Tpreaves I had the 1.6 with a cheaper Musical Fidelity amp and it sounded pretty good but I guess the point I was making is that they need more power than most speakers and that power comes at a price.

Part of it for me is that I like tube amps and could not afford enough power to play the speakers at lifelike volumes. I tried Rogue M120 and it was not even close to enough power - for my tastes...