harbeth p3esr or usher be 718

hi,i thank everybody for there comments,special thank to neal i beleive i spoke to neil on the phone once. when i am ready to purchase i will give neal a call.I am just taking my time because i always rush into buying and then end up selling.this is the last purchase the wife will let me make so just taking my time,but even thouth the harbeth 7es3 is out of my price range leaning more toward p3ers again thank everybody for their expertise. Thank you Dave

Harbeth - no contest. I heard the Compact versus a top of the line Verity. I admit my tastes are not exactly mainstream - a great midrange being of primary importance - but the Harbeths are simply musical while the others are just hi-fi...boom boom tizz.

The SHL5 are a great speaker but for a person who listens primarily to female Vocals I would still pick the Compact 7ES3 and if you had the budget add a sub or a pair of subs with the KRK ERGO to perfectly integrate the subs. If your tastes run to Classical and or Rock then the SHL5 is the better choice.

Neal

I am more generous towards the Ushers - especially the US version of the Be-718 - than some of the other posters here. Given enough power and the right placement, they can sound very, very good. But as an amateur speaker builder, I am a big fan of both sealed boxes and palpable midrange. Harbeth speakers have both, and now I shoot for my speakers to sound as close to them as I can get. If I were to go out and buy some speakers right now, it would be a pair of Compact 7es3's.

Late last year, I was searching for new speakers after living with a pair of Diapason Adamantes for a number of years. I had the Harbeth Compact 7ES3 in home audition for more than a week, then the Usher 718. I ended up returning the C7 and kept the Usher. I felt that although the C7 perhaps sounded more neutral, the Usher certainly sounded more lively and exciting. Instruments sounded a bit more palpable and weighty with the little Ushers.

My system is in the family room, and often I have the music on but sitting in the living room to relax. The Usher sounded better to me sitting in the living room. I would say if you primarily listen front and center 7-8 ft from your speakers, then you might like the neutral sound of the Harbeth better. But moving a bit farther, I felt that the Usher sound carries better.

Oh, and the Usher seems to project a deeper sound stage.

I have a very simple system: Oppo BDP-83SE is the source (a fantastic player), NAD Master M3 integrate feeds the Usher.

Richard