ellisdj said:
more importantly did you buy the bad boy Harbeths or what??
At this stage, I still had no idea which way my decision would go.
Anyway, we connected the Ref 3s to the ADSM/Majik and fired them up.
The result was very interesting. They're quite similar in some ways, yet quite different in others. Both produced beatifully sweet treble, with the Kefs being a touch cleaner. They both had a highly detailed and accurate midrange, with the Harbeths being slightly richer and they both had prodigious bass, with the Harbeths going a touch deeper and the Kefs being bit tighter.
I was surprised that the Kefs sounded almost as natural on voices and acoustic instrments, but had a vibrancy that the Harbeths lacked...not bad, given the Harbeths are over 30% more expensive. It just shows how well sorted the UniQ is on them.
So, of the speakers I've heard, I would put them in the following order:
Kef Ref 3
Harbeth 40.2
Kef 205/2
Harbeth SHLS Plus.
.....so I would take the Harbeths over my current speakers, which makes them exceptional. In fact, if I could put them in an 18' x 24' x 11' room, bring them well away from the walls and power them with 12k worth of Accuphase or Luxman, it might easily be a different story.
In the real world, I believe the Ref 3s will sound even better driven by the 35i, in my room of 14' x 22' x 11' and be more suitable, given where they will be placed, than the Harbeths driven by my AVR600....and are substantially cheaper.
Next step is the home dem.