Harbeth 40.3's. Should I buy them?


I've owned a lot of speakers. I've just finished auditioning a pair of Alta Audio Alec's. Not good at all in my system. I own a pair of Spatial X3 open baffle speakers. I really like them and my wife doesn't. I recently bought a pair of Buchardt S400 MKII's for a second system. I say second system because I have a dedicated 2 channel room 15' x 19'. Upstairs in a much larger room, the Buchardt's were anemic, fine, 2 Adam subs solved the anemia. Then just for the heck of it (and because audio is a hobby) I moved the Buchardt monitors downstairs in the 'big guys' room. The Buchardt's loved that room and my wife loved the Buchardt's except they are to small for the listening room and our listening tastes.

I'm tired of buying and selling speakers. I've been to a hundred audio shows and have "favorites". Harbeth have always sounded great, not a show stopper, but, at shows, they've been totally inoffensive, warm and engaging in the same way I like Audio Notes AN-e.
We play all types of music. My wife especially likes classical, leaning towards female singers but too, she'll rock out on Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Keyes, Journey, you get the idea. Me, classic rock but anything that soothes my soul works. I like to play loud. My wife - louder, but not teenager loud.

We have an awesome front end to work with. Allnic T2000 30th integrated (60wpc in triode 150wpc in pentode), Allnic H5500 phono and Allnic D10000 DAC.

Why wouldn't we happy with this speaker?

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@grislybutter

Like I said, you take a big hit if you buy new and then sell it. That’s why I only buy used. The last speaker I bought new I was lucky to get 50% of what I paid!

yes, very true @yogiboy 

silver lining: if I lose a ton on a sale, I will learn it for life not to make the same mistake again!

@grislybutter

Glad you learned early. Believe you me, I doubt that many on this site haven’t made some bonehead mistakes including me! LOL

Agree you don’t want speakers that are too big for the room. If so it means you can go with smaller Harbeths and maybe save some $$$s. Right size it as needed!

I auditioned 40.2’s at Deja Vu audio in Northern Virginia a few years back.  Top notch sound BUT it was in a sizeable room with speakers about 1/3 length of room out from front wall and well away from side walls as well.  Not something just any room might accommodate.  It was also with some very large and very expensive CJ tube amps.  So it better have sounded top notch and in fact it did. Bravo!

What I meant by writing "size does not matter" is that I'm not concerned with how big a speaker is in my room, only that it plays well.

And the consensus is that the 40.3 is simply too big for my room.

I'm thinking of the Devore Fidelity Silverbacks as a speaker that might work well. Or Legacy Audio Focus SE.