Harbeth 40.3's. Should I buy them?

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.