A move from Harbeth to... Wilson?

@daveuk

I owned "BBC monitor" style speakers for decades from the likes of Rogers, Spendor, KEF, B&W, et al. They are all wonderful with what my grandmother would have called a "nice tone".

Yes, but it's that 'tone' that is so incredibly appealing and addictive to so many of us.

Is it not fair to ask why can't we, after all these years of development, have the best of both?

Has it got to be one or the other?

Or is that like having our cake and eating it?

For me that's the point. A live event (of whatever sort - it's live!) does not have a "tone" as such. It is what it is. A musical instrument has a "tone". But that's just it. A loudspeaker is not a musical instrument. It is a medium through which a musical instrument is transduced. Nothing is perfect of course, but my Wilson speakers get me closer to the live sound (warts and all) than anything else I have owned and that is what I am looking for. 

I like a wide range of speaker brands.  Each has their own strengths and weaknesses.  None are really bad and I'd be happy to live with any of the top brands at their various price points.  I've just ordered a new pair of Wilsons as I love their ability to image three dimensionally.  Do they sound like live music .....no but then no speaker or recording does.

@jjss49 , great systems will reproduce them all. 

There is nothing wrong with Wilsons other than the price and a few questionable building practice's. I personally prefer Magicos because they are most definitely better made. The sound is remarkable similar between the two. For value you can not beat Harbeth P3s on stands with subwoofers. The subwoofers with proper digital bass management turn the little guys into monsters, every bit as potent as Sabrinas if not more. The limiting factor in most speakers is the power handling of the tweeter.. There is only so much you can get out of a 1" cup or dome. In a room the size of the OPs small monitors on stands make sense. These little monitors are so attractive because the small cabinets are so small and stiff they do not resonate. The enclosure disappears. The problem for them is the little woofers have to work very hard to make bass distorting everything else they carry. Subwoofers and crossovers with steep curves solve that problem turning David into goliath. I think the P3 is Harbeths best speaker. The Falcon is also popular but I have not heard them.

All these speakers are point source which means their acoustic power drops off at the cube of the distance and they are relatively omnidirectional causing more room interaction. I prefer line source dipoles because their power drops off at the square of the distance and their directionality is controlled in all directions limiting room interaction. They produce a larger soundstage which is more realistic.