Any monitors clearly better than Pulsars?

no matter how refine the pulsar are, they sound small with no real bass.

Id rather own:
805 d3
Harbeth 30.2

and many others

the reviewer did say exactly what I said about the pulsar.. not life size imaging (sound small) , and limited bass response. :" Although, like most minimonitors, the Pulsars didn’t produce life-size images, what they did produce was larger than most -- maybe 80% life-size -- and, like their bass response, could fool me almost completely with some recordings."

I disagree that they create impressive bass, and I guess this is truly subjective. for me impressive bass is a 12 inch, 15 inch or 18 inch in a 100l cabinet. even the reviewer agree: only with certain recordings the bass presentation didnt bother him.

Pulsar are made for jazz and chambers, at low volume. the distortion figures at 90 db is tremendous just like any 5 inch midbass.
7000$ for that? the 805 d3 is just a better allrounder, and id argue even more detailed, with better tone and definitely better bass, ability to play much louder and its cheaper.

Prof,

Op question is: " any-monitors-clearly-better-than-pulsars"

as I find the pulsar very limited in bass extension or bass punch, and find the imagize size giving a very small window, Ive recommended:
805 D3 and Harbeth 30.2 which I think are clearly better then Pulsar.

Prof,

Extension is meaningless if the distortion figures are 10% at 50hz at 90db.

I have tried to look up the distortion figure of the seas excel 5 inch midbass used in the pulsar, in vain. do you have the distortion figures of the Pulsar midbass? the only way we can discuss objectively about the harbeth vs Pulsar performance is if we have those measurements.

the Harbeth midbass used in the 30.2 distortion figures however can be easily found, the Harbeth distortion figures is excellent.
Ive never seen a 5 inch midbass thateven come close to the distortion figures of a good 8 inch woofer at 95db.

secondly, you mention that the Pulsar spec indicate that it has more extension then the harbeth 30.2, which indeed is true.  You can find sone 15 inch woofer that will have less extension then the pulsar. But does that mean that the Pulsar will have better bass? not at all. having heard both, I cannot understand how one could find the bass of the Pulsar comparable to the 30.2. 

Prof, btw, I really liked the pulsar when i heard them. its just that I prefer a speaker with more bass and even more importantly is how loud it can play cleanly along a life size image. The 30.2 for me have more of a life size image, but one of the trade off is a soundstage that cannot be compared to the Pulsar. The pulsar use totl Seas driver and its quite impressive in many ways, but I still find the presentation lacking in many ways.

I see you also really like the Devore 093/096. to me its a perfect example, that sort of presentation is to my ears in another league to the Pulsar as well. For the same price, lets just say I know which speaker id get.

ok, back to OP