Hello all
I am new to this forum but noticed this Harbeth thread and thought I would chime in as a long time, satisfied Harbeth owner.
These discussions always require the caveat of the impact of room and system matching effects, but I have found the Harbeths to be relatively forgiving of matching electronics and relatively easy to place compared with other speakers.
I have heard all of the Harbeth models with the exception of the newest 30.1 and have owned the Harbeth C7ES3 on Skylan stands for some time (currently used in my office 2 ch system). I personally think the C7ES3 and the HLS 5 are the sweet spots of the range (may include the new 30.1 as well but I have no personal experience). The smaller P series are very nice but limited in range without the use of sub(s) and the 40.1 flagships are excellent as well but IMO need a bit more care in room matching to avoid some potential boomy bass.
I have heard the Harbeths match very well with Herron, Leben, Naim, Red Wine Audio, VAC, ARC, Luxman and CJ, so Joe's current equipment selection would be ideal.
My thoughts on strengths of these speakers corroborate previous comments regarding their beguiling, smooth sound and lack of grain to provide unintterupted hours of musical enjoyment without fatigue. When I play music such as Andres Segovia or Ottmar Liebert classical acoustic guitar or listen to premier vocalists like Ella and others, or jazz like Ben Webster as another poster mentioned, I find the Harbeths to be the match of most any speaker I have heard, with an especially compelling midrange.
I find them to be less successful as the music becomes more complex (massed orchestral strings or brass) or bombastic (many larger symphonic works and such). That is not to say they sound bad, just not their forte, again in my subjective opinion (and again acknowledging the impact of electronics on this point). For me, they do not scale as well as some other speakers. They also do not have the visceral bass, extreme leading edge of the note attack or exceedingly high resolution in the higher frequencies that some in our hobby prefer.
To my ears, though, they have a natural sound that more closely conjures the live, un-amplified acoustic music that I perceive when I visit live venues. They seem more normal and realistic, as opposed to exaggerated or artificial as I perceive in some other brands and sizes of speakers - sort of more "human scaled" for typical, residential environments.
My Harbeths will remain for use in my smaller system and for the large portion of my musical tastes exemplified above for the foreseeable future, even if they are no longer resident in my main 2 ch system. They are more of a "keeper" than a flavor of the month sort of speaker for me, and I like to have some variety in any case.
Hope this helps to describe their appeal.
Jim