I had the SLH5 for about 3-4 years and it was very good. I have a large living room for my listening room and I felt the M40.1 would be better so I upgraded to them. The 40.1 turned out to be a big upgrade in every way. I've had my 40.1s for nearly 5 years and I have no urge to upgrade.
In the last 3 months, I put together a system in my basement. The room in my basement is smaller. Since I like the BBC sound, I went with the Stirling LS3/6 and a REL S5 subwoofer. I like the Stirlings quite a bit more than when I had the SLH5. The LS3/6 have a similar sound but are just a tad less laid back in the mids and they're very dynamic. They have the BBC sound that is so involving but not fatiguing. As a bonus, they are about $1500 less expensive than the SLH5+. The LS3/6 with the REL subwoofer is very competitive with the M40.1 for about half the cost. You can see both of my systems in my profile.