Harbeth vs Vandersteen vs Sonner

Well you will never experienced listening fatigue with Harbeths but you also may get tired of the homogenization of the sound. Dont know Sonner so would suggest Vandersteens over Harbeth. Harbeth speaker to my ears are very colored and not in the least bit neutral. I deny the viability of the basic premise of lossy cabinets and think they add a huge amount of coloration to any speaker in which they are used. A dead give away that a speaker is flawed is when others say they are best on a particular type of music. 

i would agree w the statement that lossy cabinets a la spendor harbeth et al provides a sympathetic distortion in the mids and midbass, warming up and giving added body to many types of music, and critics are accurate to say there is a level of homogenization that results in the sound character... same can be said of many tube amps, and we certainly love them

nothing wrong with that though -- we are first and foremost pursuing beautiful sounding music that moves us, after all, and 'listenability' is viewed by most appropriately as an asset rather than a liability...

'straight wire with gain' end to end is woefully over rated...

@denon1 My Sonus Fabers are the Olympica Nova I model.  I prefer my Harbeth 40.2A's over them but keep in mind the Harbeths cost 3X the price.  My 40.2's are in a room that's about 12' x 14', which is "supposed" to be too small of a space for the speakers, but I find the sound to be perfect for the space after tuning and tweaking.  
For your room size it really depends on your budget.  The 40 range of Harbeths will not be too much for your room, if not too much for your wallet.  If you can't go that high on your spend you should consider SHL5+ or 30.2's.  I used to own a pair of 30's and loved them.  I have never owned SHL5's but I have heard them in a store demo.  They sounded great.  
@audition__audio I have heard a few others say what you said about the lossy cabinet design of Harbeth, but in my experience you are in the minority.  I will say that there is no one speaker that will suit everyone's tastes (duh!), and this is a good thing.  I don't know your specific experience with Harbeth but it sounds like you don't like them.  I have found that they sound their best after proper match with amplifier, source components and cabling.  I think this is true for every speaker (probably), so it's no revelation what I'm saying, but unless you have owned a pair of Harbeths and have truly worked at getting the most from them I'd say you really haven't heard them in their best light. 
On the other hand, if you have experienced them fully and simply didn't like the sound, that's OK.  I just don't agree with the assessment that lossy cabinets are at fault.  The design is intentional, and right, and clearly this opinion is supported my legions of Harbeth loyalists.  I personally think B&W speakers sound very unimpressive, but clearly my opinion is wrong according to legions of loyal B&W fans, so I figure I haven't ever heard them in a proper setting.  The fun part about this hobby is comparing experiences that a wide and diverse group is having.  
Cheers,
Peter

@audioconnection gsal - awesome system, I have heard every single bit you mentioned ( except the Legacy sub ) all stellar by themselves and must make a hyper musical system. I will look at your system pics, but i am guessing some HRS isolation is next....

@tomic601 ,
Great point.
I put my preamp and subs on Townshend platforms and bars.
IMHO, it 'tightened' up the sound, especially the bass.-Just a clearer/cleaner sound.
I want to add some Pods to my monoblocks, but they are so dang heavy...

And, to throw fat to the fire.
The new AQ power cords are really something. John Rutan recommends starting with Source and working your way down.

Bob