KEF LS50 or Harbeth P3ESR for desktop system?

I 've lived with the p3's 40th for a few months now they replaced my thiel scs4. Shortly after I recived them my beloved a/d/s pb1500 subwoofer (circa 1980) finally failed me and is currently in the shop. So I've been forced to listen to them on there own, bar from missing my sub theses speakers are magical! Like you see in almost of the reviews the mids are to die for and the highs are airy and delicate is the only way I can describe them. But if you really want to blow your mind with these speakers go on e bay buy a carver c9 sonic hologram take it to your local stereo shop and have rebuilt to a higher standard. I run a Rogue amp and preamp with nos mullard and rca(tectonics) tubes which already provides a great soundstage...the c9 puts it on steroids! Now I know the criticism about signal processing but I don't care I know what I'm hearing. With near field listening and in the sweet spot I am hearing things from the Beatles I've never heard before! Things like Ringo's bongos that was lost in the background now come out to the forefront and you can almost hear every individual finger hit the skins... Crazy! Another one is Norah Jones come away with me, bought this cd 10 plus years ago skipped though it wasn't impressed. Dug it out the other night and holy crap! You can almost feel her breath and you differently can hear it! The one and only criticism if you want to call it that is if you want any kind of volume levels they need power. My st100 is putting out around 70 watts per and it struggles with some of the pre sound war recordings. Other then that enjoy these little gems there awesome! O and if Steve Guttenberg is reading this get off your horns and finish the review on these already! lol




 

With near field listening and in the sweet spot I am hearing things from the Beatles I've never heard before! Things like Ringo's bongos that was lost in the background now come out to the forefront and you can almost hear every individual finger hit the skins... Crazy!

It's not really crazy. What's happening is that other frequencies are being turned down so things like Ringo's bongos will come forward...even though they were supposed to be in the background. Audiophiles are often times audio-voyeurs, so I can imagine the fun. ;-)  

I’m not quite sure if I agree with the above assessment of what I’m hearing with the Harbeth p3. As far as other frequencies being turned down I’m not sure if you’re referring to the speakers or the effect of the carver c9. I will say compared to my Thile scs4 the p3s are much more relaxed at the high end of the spectrum. Possibly this may contribute a bit more to the detail  to Ringos bongos but much more is going on here. First of  probably should have desc

As I was saying before I accidentally pushed post. Lol. I should have described Ringos bongos not to be so much in the forefront but more to say in his own space in the soundstage to were he doesn’t blend into the background. I believe this happens due to the high resolution of the p3s and there synergy with the C9 processor. Even though my scs4 have a concentric driver and are a point source speaker on paper they should be better  with the C9 but there not.  And as far as any frequency manipulation from the Carver that’s  not what it does. What the C9 does is crosstalk cancellation buy playing both channels in each speaker which has nothing to do with frequency. Basically the processor gives you a headphone effect though you speakers,only difference is instead of the music to be in the midd