Harbeth 30.1 or 40.1

Another thing to consider with sound on YouTube is the room. Same speakers in different room probably sound much different. Including yours. Also who is to say how the production of the videos differ?  

In any case choosing speakers based on Sound on a YouTube video alone is very risky business IMHO.

Yes I have only heard 40.2 set up in large room away from walls. In smaller room closer to walls or corner with more bass reinforcement from the room I might be concerned going in about too much bass and no way to tame it other than eq or tone controls., which is always an option. They are big! “Full range” speakers in a smaller room is not always a good thing.
Something to be aware of. Too much bass can be detrimental to the overall sound, obscuring the otherwise lovely midrange and detail, and very hard to tame.

Right I think it was LTA tube amp of some sort at CAF driving Spatials.

Tube amp but LTA is a unique design and does not sound like most tube amps. Much lower output impedance I believe which is a good thing to my ears..the best of both good SS and tubes together.

I tend to think of CJ amps as your stereotypical somewhat warmer tube amp sound but really did not hear much if any of that with the CJ/Harbeth setup at Deja Vu. Of course I am guessing those very large and heavy CJ amps cost at least 30-50K or so, maybe more, and sounded really very good. Most of the other smaller tube amp setups I heard there with much smaller Harbeth and Audio Note speakers: yes. warmer, softer, less detailed...not impressive especially for the asking price to me in many cases.

It's easy to focus on speakers but what is feeding them will have a lot to say about how they sound.   Harbeth or others.

@gte357s

Yes, totally different setups in all regards. Very hard to compare concisely other than both were top notch in their own way in my opinion, though much different.

Harbeth 40.2 was at Deja Vu Audio in Northern VIrginia in their large showroom off their top of the line Conrad Johnson amps. Spatial (not sure of model) was at Capital Audiofest 2018 in an average size hotel room. Do not recall amp used but was more modest as I recall. The designer/owner was seated right next to me and we chatted as I listened.

The biggest difference was in the overall presentation and soundstage as one might imagine with two such different designs with different dispersion characteristics.

The Harbeth presentation was unique in that the speakers were set up a good 1/3 of the way into the room, and there was good soundstage detachment and some depth but not all the way back towards the rear wall as is often the case with many less boxy modern speaker designs. Donna Godchaux’s vocal on Sunrise from Terrapin Station album struck me as particularly spectacular with the Harbeth streamed from my home library via Plex on my Smartphone using whatever high end DAC it was they used. Maybe Audio Note?

I think " warmth" will vary with gear used. The demo I heard surprisingly did not strike me as warm sounding, more neutral with very good detail and no fatigue.

I suspect both sound their best with room to breath but should work fine as well in tighter quarters. In tighter quarters, I suspect the largest Harbeths might be a bit of overkill. They are very good sounding large box speakers, but I have to wonder how some other similar larger size box designs I have heard over the years for way less cost would fare against them. Overall they remind me of old Ohm model C2 speakers, which I also used to like very much, but listed for $700 or so a pair back in the 1970s. Of course I never heard those running off large high end tube amps like the CJs at Deja Vu Audio back then so again apples/oranges. I wonder.....

I’ve heard Zu many times at CAF and they have yet to grab me.

Correction:

The Harbeths I auditioned were 40.2, not 40.1.

Yea I have heard both spatial and Harbeth 40.1 and presentation is much different but both were very good with midrange when I heard them. 

I’d be Very careful judging solely on You Tube.

40.1 seem designed for larger rooms and yes far out from walls. 

I’d start with the smaller Harbeths in that room.

Buy used and don’t overpay or buy new with return policy if you want to keep your options open.