Harbeth 30.1, 30.2, XD

I was blown away when I first heard the 30.2 40th anniversary editions in my system.  Bought it on the spot. Then I was even more impressed by the Graham Audio version of the LS5/9, sold the Harbeths after extensive a/b testing. Much more open sounding, much nicer treble. Minimal if any drawbacks. Graham Audio may be the modern pinnacle of the original BBC speaker. Harbeth is better than most speakers out there, but they get a LOT of hype.  

@arafiq No I haven't updated my system page yet... too many recent changes... and I don't even have the LS5/9s anymore... having upgraded in a big way to Graham's LS5/5s.  They are incredible, but LS5/9s would be my choice for a smaller room.

@twoleftears and @dhcod - I had to buy the LS5/5s without an audition. I was auditioning another interesting speaker as a potential upgrade to the LS5/9s (Wolf von Langa SONs) and wasn’t totally sold on the sound in my system. I ended up speaking with Erik from Gig Harbor Audio in Washington by phone who told me how good the LS5/5s are, but said that they were in such short supply that he couldn’t let me audition it without purchasing it. I went back and forth, ultimately taking a gamble on a new pair in Cherry (serial number 42) that was arriving a few days later to his store (he gave me a nice trade-in for the LS5/9s, though). The LS5/5s are virtually without flaw in my few weeks with them, sitting on top of custom stands from Gig Harbor, with footers by Isoacoustics on the stands. They’ll play any type of music, have a rich smoothness that has to be heard to be believed, and disappear completely with the right recording and amplification. They also look great (with the grills on) in my room. For $18k, they’ll be my reference for a while...  I've never heard the Harbeth 40.2s but I'm sure they're incredible too.

@vdotman very interesting, indeed. Derek Hughes (now mostly with Graham) and Terry Miles have very different approaches to updating the BBC sound (as does Alan Shaw). Top end Spendor classic speakers are probably excellent too (I haven't heard them either). Always down to personal tastes of course. Erik at Gig harbor audio was of the opinion that Hughes is more of a purist, and he seemed to prefer his designs overall. 

If you go to terry miles’ LinkedIn profile (which I can’t seem to access right now on my iPad but viewed recently), he lists all the spendor designs he was responsible for.  Previously, Derek Hughes was the designer, i believe.  So, by cross checking his page with your model, you can tell which one designed it.