Harbeth 7es3 vs HL5

Thanks Ryder and Goose I will look into your suggestions. I am familiar with the Grand Piano and Thiels (ouch for the thiels). I listen to rock (light and heavy), jazz, classical, and blues. about 20% each. And to both cd's and albums.

I suspect that speakers with "rolled off highs" may not solve your problem. It's possible that the problem you're having is in the brightness region, which extends roughly from 2K to 5K Hz rather than higher up. I believe "rolled off highs," insofar as that means the region above about 5K Hz, result more in loss of upper-octave "air" rather than a reduction of brightness.

A review of the Vienna Haydn Grand at TechRadar said, "A common thread runs through all the Vienna Acoustics speakers we've tried, and it's a thread that distinguishes them from the overwhelming market majority. It concerns a suck-out in the presence zone. And if this feature seemed somewhat less extreme with the Haydn Grand than some of its larger siblings, it was still obvious enough on our far-field in-room averaged measurement. In this case, this was a lack of energy through most of the treble range. On our measurements, the output level fell something like 5dB between 1.2kHz and 1.7kHz..."

You might best be served by looking for speakers that are a bit recessed between about 2K Hz and 5K Hz. If I'm mistaken about this, someone please correct me.
-Bob

Bob I suspect you are right. I do remember some of the Vienna acustics speaker reviews although I have not heard them. I guess highs as far as I'm concerned would be defined in the spike in the 2 to 4 K region for my living rm. Its a hard room to deal with limited placement options for the speakers and combined with the Dunlavys it unacceptable. Thanks for your input.

try disconnecting the tweeters and see if the square room is still ringing.
Cheerts Johnnyr

Hi Timk
I have exactly the same room dimensions and openings as you do! Square rooms are indeed very difficult for good sound.
I have the Harbeth SHL-5 and use as listening area practically half the room. Distance between the speakers is about 6,5 ft (about 2 meters)and from listening point 9 ft (2,7 meters) The speakers are 3,5 ft (about 1,1 meter) from the back wall. The result is very very good. I don't have any issues with the bass or the high freq, everything is OK! I have never had any better sound in my home!
Go for the SHL-5, it is a fantastic speaker and very easy to position.
You will not need the sub, that is for sure!