Are Harbeth S HL5's As Good As Reviewers Claim?

I have a friend who has owned many monitor speakers in his life that finally settled for a pair of Harbeth Monitor 40. When I spoke to him, he said the Harbeth would be his "final" pair of speakers, a line which we seldom hear from audiophiles or rarely materialize even if mentioned. He has nothing but good words to describe the Harbeth and has urged me to consider the HL5 which is a model lower than the Monitor 40(now replaced by the 40.1). Maybe someday when I have the opportunity to listen to them I will consider getting a pair myself, someday.

I owned the 40's for a few years. Good, but there is a pervasive warmth with these speakers that borders on "muffled" sounding. Most of the British speakers share this characteristic, including some Spendor's I owned years ago. Vandersteens also sound this way to me. For me, the Harbeth's were not satisfying for the long term. Everything gets warmed up a little which robs the music of immediacy, accuracy and ultimate tonal clarity. Some people love this warmish flavor, especially acoustic instrument lovers. Not for me.

Hi Joc301,

Have you heard of the M40.1?
What's your views on the M40.1?

Thx

Jeffmohd: Other than brief exposure at the last RMAF show, I have not heard the 40.1's.
I'm not trying to badmouth Harbeth. I think they are well engineered speakers and it looks like they're pretty successful. Many will find sonic nirvana with their approach. When I had the 40's, they were in the 7k price range. I think the price has almost doubled for the new ones. To my ears and for my taste there are better alternatives.

I recently purchased a pair of HL-5's. They substituted a pair of ESL-57 (Piquet modified). I am not sure I have found the best position in the room yet, but I am quite happy so far. The only area where they do not excel, in my room at least, is imaging. Compared to the Quad's they seem to process less well spatial information. In contrast to what some people said, I do not find them too warm. I think they are extremely neutral. And yes, I completely agree that they are not fatiguing at all.