Are Harbeth S HL5's As Good As Reviewers Claim?

I owned the 40's for a few years. Good, but there is a pervasive warmth with these speakers that borders on "muffled" sounding. Most of the British speakers share this characteristic, including some Spendor's I owned years ago. Vandersteens also sound this way to me. For me, the Harbeth's were not satisfying for the long term. Everything gets warmed up a little which robs the music of immediacy, accuracy and ultimate tonal clarity. Some people love this warmish flavor, especially acoustic instrument lovers. Not for me.

Jeffmohd: Other than brief exposure at the last RMAF show, I have not heard the 40.1's.
I'm not trying to badmouth Harbeth. I think they are well engineered speakers and it looks like they're pretty successful. Many will find sonic nirvana with their approach. When I had the 40's, they were in the 7k price range. I think the price has almost doubled for the new ones. To my ears and for my taste there are better alternatives.