https://www.stereophile.com/content/harbeth-super-hl5plus-xd-loudspeaker ConclusionsThe SHL5plus XD may, as Shaw said, be tuned to modern tastes interested in a wider range of music, but I found it less than ideal for rock. It's hard to explain. They worked extremely well with electronic music (like Fuse, the new album by Everything But the Girl) and the rowdier tracks listed in my listening notes above. They're tailor-made for well-recorded classical with its grandeur, spaciousness, and separation, and I very much enjoyed jazz through these Harbeths, especially female vocals. But when I played anything that required a significant boogie factorZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, MastodonI found I wasn't satisfied. They seemed to lack the drive needed to fill my small room with convincing rebel sounds. Yet the Harbeth Super HL5plus XD is easily the finest stand-mount speaker I've heard, and it challenges most floorstanders for pure musicality and enjoyment. It manages to combine high definition, warmth, soundstage dimensionality, intimacy, lyricism, gracefulness, refinement, insight, and clarity, and to weave those elements into a beautiful, sensuous, fulfilling whole. Harbeth Loudspeakers are on demo at Absolute Phase, Bengaluru (Exclusive India Distributor) at Rhyme N Rhythm, Mumbai. Demos via prior appointment only.
