Why look past Harbeth? I have a pair of M30.1's for sale now on audiogon that seem to be what you seem to be searching for.
My speaker transition over the past 20 years goes something like this:
1. Quad ESL 63's (wonderful). Look up reviews; as good as it gets. Mine were getting long in tooth and I knew they'd be a PIA to get repaired. Sold.
2. Harbeth C7ES2. A bit of a letdown compared to the 63's. Not bad by any stretch, they were my first Harbeths'. There was "some" magic that they brought to the party but I was spoiled by the 63's. I didn't feel the instruments were in my room, but I understood some of the Harbeth "house" sound. Sold.
3. Sonus Faber Electa Amator II's. More extended than the Harbeths. A beautiful composed sound. Gorgeous cabinets. Class. Owned these for about 5 years. Sonus Faber went through a change in ownership and I became concerned about being able to source drivers when I needed replacements. Sold.
4. Harbeth M 30.1. Midrange delight. Lush. Realistic. Acoustic instruments present in my room :-). Just super dee duper. Not much reason to change out but....I heard about the new XD's and - hey - I've had the M 30.1's for 5 years, just time to see what their latest model brought to the table. I'm spoiled by the Harbeth sound and although I've heard so many other great speakers that guys in my local audio club had, I continually came back to Harbeth. So the M30.1's are for sale as I bought a new pair of 30.2XD's earlier in March.
I'm sure there are many fine speakers that might float your boat. The reason you hear about Harbeth so much is that they are amazing sound reproducers.
