Is there a point of diminished returns with amps and Harbeth 30.1s?


I’m currently using Herron M1As with my 30.1s and I’ve upgraded the rest of my system (Aries/Fatboy/SUT/DL103r and Lamm pre and phono) and each upgrade has been VERY satisfying. So is it going to be worth spending $5000 or so on the used market to upgrade the Herrons? Any thoughts as to whether I’ve reached the apex of amp/speaker performace for the M30.1s?
dhcod
I had listened to a couple of Harbeth models some time back, and my impression is that they are definitely in the warm and fuzzy camp. It is such a subjective thing, and different people have widely varying preferences for sure. They do play women singer voices very nicely.  But to me I prefer a bit more clarity and impact in the sound of my system.
I’ve never really understand the usefulness of blind tests. Do people actually know what they prefer in a short listening A-B session? 


I agree that this is potentially problematic, but to be fair, such tests are not about preferences, but differences. In other words, can the listener simply and consistently distinguish between components, irrespective of which they may prefer.

But while the science suggests that humans have very short auditory memory, I'm with you on the value of listening to longer stretches of music in order to make confident judgments about differences in components.
@whipsaw ,

"In other words, can the listener simply and consistently distinguish between components, irrespective of which they may prefer."


This seems to be the main problem the anti blind listening test brigade have.

No one has regularly managed to distinguish sonic differences between amps, cables and digital sources.

Therein lies their problem.
I run my C7s with either a 40 watt tube amp(Aric Audio) or a 100 watt ss(Modright).The ss has a sense of ease when listening loudly but I can't choose a favorite really. The speakers respond very favorably to different footers and speaker cables. They readily show any changes upstream.A recent happy discovery is they seem to love large gauge speaker cables (10+).
Mr. Shaw seems sure that any decent 50 watt amp and 14 gauge lamp cord can't be beat.I joined HUG looking forward to discussing how to squeeze the best performance out of these boxes.Not happening on that forum:-)
And yes, they are warm and fuzzy but they can rock without getting shrill.A couple of subs and all set.
@cd318

This seems to be the main problem the anti blind listening test brigade have.
Whoa there, big fella. You were well off-base in your original post re: the Harbeth User Group, as I noted above, and now you're sounding even more like you have been sipping the HUG Kool-Aid.

The suggestion that those who believe that there are audible differences between amps, and/or cables, etc., are necessarily against blind testing is ludicrous.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this is not something that is easy to set up, at least properly. So, there is a rather meaningful difference between being "anti blind test" and being unable to easily set up, or take part in them.

Here is an interesting thread featuring a highly regarded member of the Audio Science Review forum. Note both how complex it can be to set up, and record all of the relevant measurements, and that he did hear a difference between the two amps.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ab-x-testing-of-power-amplifiers.20464/