Are Harbeth S HL5's As Good As Reviewers Claim?

i have heard harbeths and spendors many times. while they won't bite your ears, they have audible cabinet colorations. something that is absent from most panel speakers.

I have said in previous posts on this website that if I only listened to vocals, jazz, chamber music, and other lighter music this would be my speaker. They DO have good bass (note some said they can be 'boomy' while others said 'bass shy'). As always things may change in your room with your system. But overall, as you can see, all you have 'chiming in' are big fans. There is something about these speakers - try them...I loved them.

I have them, adore them. I love rock 'n' roll and soul too, for which the Harbeth's are great. I'm into the dynamics and detail of the recorded music, as close to sitting in a studio control room as possible ... for me. BUT, it took me a long time to get them to sound great in my room ... lots of experimenting with stands and tweaks. I thought (it was panic, really) at first that they wouldn't work with soul and rock. I was wrong, but it took work to get them to sound good. For what it's worth, I settled on an integrated -- a Luxman 550a II, which, after trying out many variations, sounds best with my S HL5s, particularly with rock 'n' roll (the gamut of Chuck Berry and Roy Orbison to Alice Cooper and Television and Ramones). And that Luxman is but 20 watts of pure class A. Go figure.

I think our colleague, RGS92, nailed it: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?rspkr&1227137239&read&3&4&

I think what he wrote about the SHL5s is accurate and can be extended to Harbeth speakers generally.

personally they are one of the best speakers i own and will ever own. No desires to upgrade !