Harbeth 40.3's. Should I buy them?

among dynamic loudspeakers, big harbeths like big spendors and big proacs, are akin to 'the girl you marry for long term happiness'... substantive, refined, all arounders for a lifetime of satisfaction, as opposed to so many modern high tech speakers that are good for cheap thrill rides but rarely pass the test of time

Been to our local Harbeth dealer and while they can sound very organic they just can't rock IMO. 

I'm a bit concerned that my 150wpc tube power may not be enough. On the other hand, the Allnic is not your typical tube amp. 

I just don't want to get my passion for this integrated in the way of finding synergy with speakers. 

I have no real expertise knowing is this integrated will move those big woofers with texture. Reviews have warned me of this. 

Looking around the forums, this version of Harbeth, absolutely rocks. I appreciate the first hand experience however.

Also, some reviewers seem to believe that these maybe best as near field monitors.

@desalvo55

unless your room is truly huge and/or you listen crazy loud, 60 push pull triode tube watts should be plenty (certainly 100+ pentode watts will be)...

mon 40’s work in the nearfield (take tom mallin’s experience with many grains of salt) but are really meant for decent sized rooms where their utter ease and big sound become magical, and the speakers can be placed away from room boundaries

that said, in my experience, the mon 40’s bring a good dose of richness and warmth to the music in and of themselves, and are best used with top flight solid state amps, as the big woofers and medium efficiency of the speakers like strong current drive and damping factor/grip for the best bass and uber clean transient attack

pass labs, hegel, classe (among other excellent solid state) are well known lovely pairings with mon 40’s

I own Harbeth and they are not, in my humble opinion, rocking-out speakers - Just as @rsf507 mentioned. For Classical, Jazz, musicians such as Dire Straits, Taylor Swift, Pink Floyd, any Blues, Female voice is wonderful, and any acoustic they are amazing.

@jjss49 is correct.

AC-DC/Ghost/Black Sabbath not so much. A sub does help, but they are not JBL's or other speakers known for in your face sound. I listen to everything (including Ghost, Hot Tuna, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC) and I don't mind they are bit "polite" for very hard rock. I never get tired of listening, which some "in your face" speakers can cause you to turn them off. No offence to JBL, I had them in college. I hear the new ones are better balanced, but have not heard them.

I think the 40.2 with a sub, will be a good balance......Hope this helps.

I don't know if this will help, but I used to have the smaller C7es  along with two subs.My amp is an AricAudio Transcend that was 60+watts with KT150s and half that single ended. I measured it at 90db in my 16 x 17 room.It was great with rock music but not as dynamic as a more sensitive speaker would be,which made it forgiving of harsher recordings. I really enjoyed them for a couple of years then sold them for a pair of easier to drive speakers. 

Nothing wrong with those big Harbeths especially if you listen to all kinds of music. Vocals are a particular strength and that means a lot!

Is placement/WAF part of the problem? The big Harbeths I have heard were enchanting placed well out from the rear wall. I could learn to live with that. Whereas Audionote is designed for corners. That’s a big difference. The solution is to get speakers that work well for you in your room. YMMV.

that's a new car price territory, I would definitely try before buying

@desalvo55 

I own that same Allnic amp and love it.  We have fairly similar tastes in music and after looking at my options I ordered a pair of Coherent Audio 18's.  Frank at Coherent and Gary at True Audiophile have both been great to work with.   

I can't say how they sound as they have not yet arrived.  They are being custom built to order with some special veneers that Frank found and upgraded internals.  They are sending over photos at various stages of the build process and they will look fantastic.  They are rated at 102 dB sensitivity and the Allnic should have no issue with those 18 inch drivers (down to 25 Hz and -3dB at 22 Hz).  I am hoping they end up being a final purchase, but history tells me otherwise.

I had the same experience as @rsf507 with Harbeth.  I tried out two or three models (including the 40.3XD) at my local dealer and never really found them to suit my taste in music even when driven with really nice amplification (Luxman, AR. D'Agostino to name a few). 

Good luck and let us know where you wind up!

Give the Rockport Atria speakers an audition. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Good luck ! 

You mentioned Audio Note speakers, I just upgraded to the AN-E LX HE Signature and I couldn’t be happier. I found them to be more musically and emotionally engaging than Harbeth. Placement is very important with AN speakers which is something to be considered. Enjoy the hunt. 

Thanks for the great responses. 

Allow me to expand on where I'm at with this purchase. For starters, the 40.3 XD is $13.6 used. Now it doesn't matter the price if they won't work in my room, with my electronics and the music we enjoy.

Listening to speakers for going on 6 decades, ya think I would have this figured out by now? And while I'm writing this on my iMac, behind it sits a pair of Spatial X3's that are currently for sale. Great speakers, open baffle (not my first OB speaker) with built-in subs. There's been one problem with these speakers. My wife admitted to me after I - on a whim - dropped a pair of Buchardt S400 MK II's into the audio room. She loved it and I was very impressed. Of course, the Buchardt's were being fed some very expensive gear, heck, the DAC costs nearly 10 times the speakers! 

My room is 15' X 19' with 7.5 ft ceiling. The back wall is nothing but built-in shelves with vinyl sitting in them. Bass traps on the front wall as well as acoustical treatments. Rock wool in one wall, an epic failure of the contractor who turned out to know nothing about building homes nor did he care.

My wife doesn't care what the speakers look like, she cares about what they sound like. If she plays a track and there's distortion, she'll tell you. If she doesn't get goosebumps with certain types of music, she'll tell you. If she can't play it loud, she'll tell you. She's brutal at audio shows. I'm not trading her in.

Seems like most if not all refer to the Harbeths as near-field speakers. Although we have great affection, I'm not sure if I want our heads to be stapled together although, in truth, they often are. Such is the stereo experience.

I think gimmer has good insight as he'd know just how powerful the T2000 is but still feels that solid state if best used with the 40.3's? Not everyone I've talked to felt that way but the general consensus is solid state is preferable. 

And as deadhead said, I'd probably add a sub for foundation, but now I'm getting ahead of myself.

It's sounding like I need to move away from this purchase.

7.5' ceilings are somewhat low. I would be interested in the room's contribution or detrimental effects on your sound. I would certainly have something happening on the floor and/or ceiling and at first and distal reflection points on the side to make sure that any speaker sounds its best.

Have you heard Apertura speakers? I found them pretty magical.

I haven't found our audio room to pose any problems at all. That being said, I would like to REW to see if there are any serious nasties going on.

I've had 4 different pairs of speakers in that room.

Usher Tower XL

Spatial X3

Buchardt S400 MK II

Alta Audio Alec SE

The only speaker that did not work were the Alec's and I doubt it was the room.

Those are bad-ass looking speakers.

Since you are buying them used, why not give them a try? If they don’t work in your room you can resell them. If you were buying them new that would be a different story! BTW, I have owned many Harbeth models and always enjoyed them! The price of that speaker is over 24 grand and you can get them for 13 grand used . Go for it!

@yogiboy I thought it was the opposite, when you buy new you can easily return them, when you buy used, you are stuck with it

I had a pair in a 14 by 21 foot room, firing the length of the room.  First thing to consider, these are very big speakers.  They will dominate your room.  Second, as mentioned they need to be away from the walls.  If you can get them 4-6 feet out from the front wall and at least 3 feet from the sidewalls, you might be ok.  For me, they were just too big for my room.  Too much bass and presence overall.  The Harbeth magic is there when the speakers disappear.  For this I’d rather go smaller speakers in a big room, rather than big in a small room.  I downsized to the M30s and was much happier.  Since they are expensive even used, I would recommend trying a pair of SHL5s in your room.  If you buy used you can always resell them without too much loss, and you’ll know if you like them or not.  The SHL5s also work really well with tubes.  You may just find these are exactly what you are looking for as well.  I think they will be better suited to your room, and then easier to integrate with a sub than the 40s in that room, if you need one.

@grislybutter

Not all speakers are returnable without some kind of loss once the box has been opened. In the past 20 years and the many used speakers that I have bought and  never took any loss on any speaker that I have sold!

@yogiboy that's amazing. I am usually the opposite, I can only sell hifi gear at a huge 30/50% loss.

I would have 14 days to return them. I would lose on shipping costs, that's it.

Yes, I'm often losing my ass on audio purchases, even used, but I'm gaining experience and knowledge (like I know anything after 57 years in this hobby).

My room was built for audio. Size does not matter. 

The reason this speaker had piqued my interest was that it's a Harbeth, and seemingly a good deal if of course it worked and sounded amazing. It has to sound... amazing.

@grislybutter

Are you sayin’ that you take that much loss on something that you bought new or used? I can see that on a new product but not used!

"size does not matter"

OK, I am confused :)

while I know even less than you do (waaaay less) it seems that unless you can pull the speakers "far" out from the wall and still have 9+ feet in between from them, they will be too big 

Also, matching them with a sub would be very shaky. 

The only solution, to keep both your wife and the speakers happy is to destroy the room and rebuild it around the speakers :)

@yogiboy 

yes. E.g. I bought new LSA speakers for $1400, and sold them for $700 in 3 months. I guess I need to buy what people want. I am trying to learn it. I am probably spending 30-60 minutes a day looking at ads and prices and supply - looking for what I need and what are items in demand.

@grislybutter

Like I said, you take a big hit if you buy new and then sell it. That’s why I only buy used. The last speaker I bought new I was lucky to get 50% of what I paid!

yes, very true @yogiboy 

silver lining: if I lose a ton on a sale, I will learn it for life not to make the same mistake again!

@grislybutter

Glad you learned early. Believe you me, I doubt that many on this site haven’t made some bonehead mistakes including me! LOL

Agree you don’t want speakers that are too big for the room. If so it means you can go with smaller Harbeths and maybe save some $$$s. Right size it as needed!

I auditioned 40.2’s at Deja Vu audio in Northern Virginia a few years back.  Top notch sound BUT it was in a sizeable room with speakers about 1/3 length of room out from front wall and well away from side walls as well.  Not something just any room might accommodate.  It was also with some very large and very expensive CJ tube amps.  So it better have sounded top notch and in fact it did. Bravo!

What I meant by writing "size does not matter" is that I'm not concerned with how big a speaker is in my room, only that it plays well.

And the consensus is that the 40.3 is simply too big for my room.

I'm thinking of the Devore Fidelity Silverbacks as a speaker that might work well. Or Legacy Audio Focus SE.

From what I've heard from otherwise nice Harbeth speakers, if you want to rock out, these are not the best choice in any reasonably sized room regardless of the amp.

Bigger Proacs & ATC's that I've heard are much more capable kicking some butt when desired. 

For myself, who also enjoys true dynamics & good quality loud rock music at times as well as rich, accurate sound, I have & really enjoy my highly sensitive Volti Audio Rivals! W/ good tube amplification. They are not hard or bright but big & full bodied, super dynamic,   image very well & sound like live music. They will handily out rock just about any speaker you can think of that sounds anywhere near pleasing & non fatiguing.  

They are pricey, about $15 - $18K built very well & imo, worth it. They're younger sibling, the Razz (Stereophile class B if that matters to you) is less than half the price & really nice too & will also rock out when desired.  I doubt Greg Roberts will do a home audition period but you may be able to see & listen to both of them in an upcoming show. You might really enjoy them. 

Consider looking at the NSMT Model 100.  Getting very positive reviews and are about the same price as the used 40.3's.

A bit of a different speaker, as it as an active sub in them - but could be an advantage in your room as you can then adjust the base as needed.

One reviewer called them "40.2's with balls", if that helps.

Call Ty Lashbrook at Tyler Acoustics Phone: 270-691-9500. He will gladly help you .

@desalvo55 And the consensus is that the 40.3 is simply too big for my room.

Tried it in a smaller 11’x12’ room, I heard the prior 40.2 version on my prior 50wpc tube Triode and 60wpc tube mono blocks. Big transformer amps, plenty of drive.

It was like having headphones on. Could have benefited in a bit larger room, yes. Sounded nice and musical though. Not sure why a 15’x19’ room would not work though, interesting. Would have to hear them positioned back/mid room both.

veroguy. These speakers have definitely piqued my interest. I've always respected Terry London's reviews. 

Tyler acoustics; I actually owed a pair, custom built by Tyler Acoustics. They were big and beautiful with custom outboard cross-overs that I could fine-tune. Couldn't get them to sound right in my room, no fault of the speakers. just lacked synergy in my world at that time.

decooney, TMR's sales guy owns the Harbeth 40 and thought it would work well in my room with my amp. It is too big of a purchase to go by one opinion and AG is the place to go for actual experience and knowledge.

I asked Allnic regarding the damping factor of the T2000. It is -4db. Which means nothing to me.

When I spoke to Allnic, they also mentioned that there had been some shows in the past where they partnered with Coherent speakers.  That also helped in my decision.  Another plus is they don't have to be 3 feet from the wall. 

@desalvo55 which T2000 do you have, the 25th came with KT150s and 30th anniversary comes with KT170s, or some older model?

Both of these later amp units should be fine in Pentode mode with the H40.3s at moderate volume levels. Sure, a little less drive in Triode mode of course. Kinda also depends on how often you/r family listens to loud rock music. Maybe not designed for that so much, more of a musical finesse speaker than a rock monitor.

Always buy the Harbeths....By the by the only speaker I ever owned that didn't rock was a Tannoy but the issues were elsewhere perhaps...Tho I drove them with some Krell from the 90's. The JBL they say that rocks can just be shrill. Speakers that are supposed to be acceptable for only certain types of music is a theory that I don't ascribe to; Like different alcoholic beverages having different qualities of buzz- I don't think so and I'm a Friend of Bill's and I've seen 350 Dead shows for starters.

Personally the MBL 126  standmount speaker with a good sub,or two 

like the SVS -SB 4000 sub are a exceptional match  why  not only do you get a omni directional  loudspeaker where even off axis it sounds exceptionally good 

but this is their entry level speaker but have the same tweeter and midrange driver 

thstis in. Their $$ 100 k Loudspeaker if you heard them you would buy them no box

resonsnce and detail and speed Thst box speakers can rarely equal , with 2 opposing mid,bass drivers , a friend in our audio club owns them and a end game speaker they say 82 db efficiency but more like 86 db or better since music is coming out in 360 degrees equally ,Xover the sub around 55 hz you then have a full range monster total outlay around $20 k , but this setup speakers at $50 k 

just look them out great reviews Everywhere and with their grill screens off they look very unique with Thst exceptional MBL build quality.

You might want to take a look at the Vandersteen Tree CT's. I was a Harbeth owner for more than 10 years, SHL5's and M40's and though I enjoyed them for a long time I became bored with them. Great with some music but not everything. That may have been due to my room, electronics or any number of things but I got to the point where I had stopped listening to music. My musical tastes are all over the map from R&R to Classical and there were some things that the Harbeth's did very well but I just lost interest. I stayed with Harbeth for a long time because they play well at low volume which became a priority for me,

I moved on to the Vandersteen Treo CT ($9,995) which also plays well at low volume but sounds great with everything I play. Now if I were looking in the same price range you mentioned, I would look at the Vandersteen Quatro CT with it's built in subwoofers. I'm not sure they would work for your Allnic Integrated as they need an external crossover. My Aesthetix Mimas Integrated has one built in and I know that Ayre and Aesthetix have built-in crossovers available as an option. 

I would say that whatever you do you should try and hear whatever speaker you look at either with your electronics at a dealer or in your own home. No one else can really help much as we all have different listening priorities. Good Luck!

"I would have 14 days to return them. I would lose on shipping costs, that’s it."

At that price, up in my neck of the woods that purchase is called  a no brainer!

Have the Harbeth 40.2’s and 30.1’s and both are grand for classical, jazz, vocals, all things acoustic... sound a lot like Quad ESL 57’s - which is the best for these types of sounds. Harbeth’s sound best with great SS electronics - Harbeth usually shows them with Hegel - I drive mine with the Hegel H590 - which is superb. Though, it seems like the .3 versions sound better with tubes than the prior versions.

But... if... I were really into rock... I’d either learn to love "all things acoustic," or maybe consider something like ATC 100’s (or so) - if I were going to invest that much. They will do both well - just as the piece was recorded - since they are designed as studio monitors for sound engineers.

Though - if you don’t mind the size of speaker... the Legacy Audio Aeris or Focus SE’s is very hard to best, by any speaker - they also do all types of music very well. The only reason I don’t have these is because of their size / weight... and... because I have a house with a crawl space / suspended floor, which acts like a drum with loud music (hard to damp).

And... if you don’t mind saving some money... and have enough room for positioning the speakers... the Klipsch Heritage line of speakers will do all types of music very well - the La Scala, Cornwall, or Forte all sound superb and are very easy to drive - a very "live" sound.

The only reason I didn’t mention the Linkwitz LX521, which is the best... is... because you’re wife probably wouldn’t like their look.

If you can’t demo all of these at your local dealers... then go to YouTube and listen to demos of each speaker and you will very quickly learn how each performs with various kinds of music with various types of electronics. Those who say you can’t tell anything by listening to your computer or earphones on YouTube... simply aren’t listening - you can most certainly discern the differences in the sounds of various systems. You will not hear the sound as you would in your room, but you can certainly tell the differences between systems.

Here are the Klipsch Forte’s with tube electronics...

I have 10 pair of speakers......all sizes...all brands...all prices. Each pair sounds different with different types of music. JBL and Klipsch Heritage and Tekton for Rock.....Triangle and Maggies for Jazz....Maggies for Classical. I don't believe ONE speaker can do every type of music the" best".....Switch your preferred speakers in and out depending on the genre' of music you happen to be playing on any given evening.At the Florida show the standouts were Acora...MBL...Borresen and Focal IMHO....

I have 40.2 40th Anniversaries in a large acoustically treated 18.5 x 23 room w/ 9-12’ ceiling. They are 7’4” out into the room, 7’9” apart, and almost 5’ from side walls. I do have them on shorter stands (by inches). Even with this placement and treatments, I believe the speakers being lower to the floor is causing a bass issue in a particular range, so I plan on going back to another pair of stands… Oh, I also have the speakers towed-in only an inch or so. So this is not the towed-in pointed-at-the-listener type placement that may be typical for this speaker. I prefer the large, wall to wall soundstage, as well as tweeters not pointed directly at my ears…but that’s a personal sensitivity issue… 

With this setup and a 150w Wells Audio Innamorata Signature amplifier, w/ 200 damping factor, I have been able to get big and bold room-filling sound. With the right cables and the right articulate gear, these speakers can actually play bright if one wanted (at least within this placement type. Not as much pointed at the listener)… These  are chameleons to a certain degree, as much as I have been able to swing their sound from the above…but then make a few changes to gear and set up and they can turn to that more typical softer / more polite type sound. For instance, with placement, scoot the speakers 1/8th of inch back closer to the front-wall and the forward-projecting of the sound into the room is gone and the sound recedes all the way back to the front-wall and has less impact. Similar but different affect with exacting distance apart from each other and the side-walls. So, exacting placement is key IMO with these speakers. 

I did recently hear my speaker on a new 100w GaN stage class D monos w/ 2000 damping factor and it took bass control to another level! But they didn’t play nearly as big in soundstage and played with less forwardness and less in-room presence. I prefer the bigger, bolder and brighter sound, so somewhat lesser bass control it is for now with my ss amp. 

My point is these speakers, IMO, are more ‘tunable’ than some may think. But it is a very careful balance, that can go out of balance quite easily. They are top notch in transparency and refinement. Get placement perfect and with well matched neutral and articulate gear and they can really ‘wake up’. Oh, and I found that LESS bass traps, than other speakers may want, helped  bring the bass level down a bit. But I think the .3 is better yet again in the bass, over the .2. Just as the .2 is better than the .1 in this regard. So by design you’d have a percentage less issue in the bass to begin with.  
 

I have 10 pair of speakers......all sizes...all brands...all prices. Each pair sounds different with different types of music. JBL and Klipsch Heritage and Tekton for Rock.....Triangle and Maggies for Jazz....Maggies for Classical. I don’t believe ONE speaker can do every type of music the" best".....Switch your preferred speakers in and out depending on the genre’ of music you happen to be playing on any given evening.At the Florida show the standouts were Acora...MBL...Borresen and Focal IMHO....

😳

I remember an amusing 18th century suicide note, which read simply: "All this buttoning and unbuttoning..."

All this plugging and unplugging! I listen to up to 8 or 10 different genres of music in a long listening session. Changing speakers for each? Maybe if I was really rich, I would have half a dozen rooms with different systems (as different speakers require different amps, tubes or SS, room setups, etc).

I do believe that there are some speakers which are almost "jack of all trades" if not master of any one. If I could have 2 setups, it might be Vandersteen Quatro CTs or Kentos (or 7s), or Rockports (for even more $$) in one system, and then a 2nd smaller system with a lovely 2-way stand speaker (Harbeth/Graham/Joseph/or  ?) and maybe a nice integrated amp—small, simpler system. I've heard the Linkwitz 521 and they are magical, as are the MBL omnis, so maybe I would need a 3rd system! Oy. 

I do not have anywhere near the budget or home for them, but have you considered GR series Tannoys? Low to mid 90s sensitivity, GORGEOUS....most beautiful speakers I've ever seen, resellable, and just plain amazing. I too also own and love the Buchardt S400 MKIIs, truly amazing speakers.....not just for the money.

I've heard (three times) the Tannoy Prestige GRF and the Turnberry GRF series at a client's home in about a 15' x 20' room with 9' high ceiling and reasonable treatment.....were driven with ARC vintage tube electronics. Only speakers that made me want to sell my house. Take with a grain of salt, I've never owned a pair of speakers more expensive than Thiel CS 7 series speakers.

Upscale Audio is the distributor, might be worth a phone call.

I have the Allnic T2000 30th Anniversary using the KT170's.

I've written a review on this integrated stating that its sound signature was more like a class A solid state amplifier, than a tube amplifier. It is not at all euphonic to our ears. With 150wpc in pentode, could it drive woofers with texture? I don't know. Maybe. Last night we were enjoying playing music immensely, listening to the little Burchardt's in my main listening room paired with the Allnic Integrated, the Allnic D10000 DAC and fed by a Pro-ject RS2-T transport. As I recall I started with Neil Young - Live at the Filmore with Crazy Horse, then Greendale, followed by Radiohead - The Bends, followed by Bach - Brandenburg Concertos then Sarah Brightman - Haram, then company arrived. Great session.

That listening session had artists that spanned a lot of years. Everything that was thrown at those speakers and they didn't flinch, rather, they dug into the recording and presented it musically. They did cheat a bit using a pair of Adam SW260 subs, small studio subs that always seem to integrate well with anything they've been asked to do. They're like a great session player, "hey where's that amazing bass player"? "Adam is over there".

So you might think well why not a pair of monitors and use the Adams or better yet, a pair of REL's? Because I Macgyver'd the subs into play by using the speaker tap's as an output signal to the subs stapling in a few resistors and bam - output. Probably illegal in the high-end audio community - I know I'm breaking some electronic rule.

Point is that I steer toward full range speakers because I'm not sure that my "Macgyvered" setup is long-lasting.

As far as finding speakers for a particular genre, I sort of agree as there are plenty of speakers that are great at playing a particular genre, well, like the Harbeth's, or the Harbeth's of yore, because the 40.3's have that modern sound... But yeah, I need the jack of all trades it seems.

I had the Wells Audio Innamorata Signature amplifier and their owner, forgot his name, really good guy over at the house one night. We compared his masterpiece (Innamotara) to what may still be the finest sounding amplifiers ever made, the Joule Electra VZN100's. The Joules ended up being the darling of that listening session but Inamorata gained huge respect from my audio clan that night. I would totally own that amplifier. But I'm not selling my Allnic. 

Some years ago after a visit to Siegfried's home, I bought his design, the LXmini which he was using in his system. You'd think he would have all this fancy gear but not, a cheap multi-channel HT amp, a miniDSP using a program he designed and the LXmini's. Amazingly spacious coherent sound emanated from those little guys. I still have the LXmini's and the miniDSP but I somehow lost the programming and the miniDSP forum refused to give it to me. Need to circle back on that.

I have 2 systems, The Burchardts upstairs fed by the Holo May KTE dac, Acoustic Invader FET pre, and powered by a BMC-S1 amplifier. Then my main Allnic rig.

Speakers are tunable to a room for sure. Our room plays pretty clean. I need to deal with the ceiling (the ceiling that was supposed to have rockwool in it) by adding absorbers but reflections haven't been bothersome as they have been mostly tamed.

Well, I owned the MBL 126's. I drove them with a Pass Labs 350.5. They sounded great. I would say the only issue with them is that we often play music loud that we put a strain on the standmounts. Now the 101E would work. Let's take up a collection. The along came the Dynaudio C1's. Driver failed, Dynaudio blamed on my amp. Too much dc or something like that. Yeah, my crappy Pass Labs amplifier was the problem. $500 dollars later and no more Dynaudio.

I like Vandersteen. Nearly bought a Quatro many years ago. I have to relook at that.

Last night my wife and I sat down on our listening couch and pictured the Big 40.3's, well out into the room. It's just not big enough as many have informed. So I have to move on from that. Dang.

Again, my wife cares about the sound. I care more about how they look than she does! I mean there are some ugly-looking speakers out there, let's be honest.

Tannoy's are beautiful. One could be happy just looking at them turned off. Would have to hear them in person, I probably have for all the audio shows I've attended.

Buchardt's right? They're killing me, I want to grow them in size, and no, not the active 700's.

why not the Buchardts with a sub?

I'm playing the Buchardt's with 2 subs. They're my 'upstairs' speakers that found there way downstairs. They sound great in my 'main' system but ultimately, they are too small for the room and I don't wish to use subs unless for the very bottom of frequency. They're just not an appropriate speaker for north of $60K in electronics. But they sure do shine with all them beautiful watts. 

@patrickdowns....All this plugging and unplugging! I listen to up to 8 or 10 different genres of music in a long listening session.....OK...........But I enjoy picking a "Genre’ " of music for the mood I’m in that night and what the drink of choice ( wine, beer, gin, scotch) is. Hook in the best sounding speakers for that type of music and get get the best of THAT world. I don’t want a speaker that’s a Jack of All trades....because there’s no such thing. Laziness is not in my dna. The best sound quality for what I have to work with IS.....Plus , It's fun and keeps things exciting. Buy more speakers!