Leben CS 600 and Harbeth vs Audio Note vs ATC vs JM Reynaud

I posted a while ago on an auditioning of Audio Note and Harbeth, and elsewhere on Spendor.

AN have a wonderfully natural timbre.  But to get the best bass, they do need to be wall-adjacent, and that compromises sound-stage depth.  Trade-offs.

I've heard 40.2 several times and are very good all-rounders.  Very good.  Close runner-up to this model is the Spendor Classic 100.

@mpomerantz I too found the SHL5 bright, though I gather many people do not.  However, it is voiced differently from the 30.2 and 40.2, both of which I've heard and liked a lot.  The only dealer I know of that has Classic 100s on the floor is David Lewis in Philadelphia.  There must be a couple of others, somewhere.  I've never heard the LS5/8, but would have liked to have done.