The three speakers are of the same size or cost? Given your rooms size and previous speaker SHL5 is the one for you. They are however totally different from the MA and really not something you should buy without listening to. Maybe you could visit Selfdivider. Some people say Harbeths are as good as what comes before them.

Hi, Dave... been absent from the forum b/c I just moved. Very hectic. Still so much crap wrong w/ the house it makes my head spin. Just got my internet hooked up today. (Verizon FiOS ROCKS, btw.)

RabPaul is right: I think the Super HL5s are the way to go for that room. Monitor 30s & HL5s are roughly the same size, I think, but I think the HL5s' midbass is slightly bumped up in comparison to the Monitor 30s. Haven't heard the 7s, but am dying to, especially since I moved into a new place & am looking for a pair of smaller monitors for my basement office.

Getting back to Super HL5s, I love em to death. They're the speakers to grow old with. Even if I get some new, flashy pair of speaks, I'll always have the HL5s somewhere in the house. Mind you, if you like speakers to image like crazy, they won't be for you. They do image/soundstage well w/in boundaries & reason, but the music won't "appear" on you as they do with - say - the Devore speakers. But they get the music exactly right, IMO, every intonation, beat, and timbre. They sound way bigger than they are, too, with more than adequate bass performance. You do need room for them to breathe or they'll fire notes past you at louder volumes, but they're pretty sweet-sounding, too, at lower volumes. But in order to let them sound their best, give them room. 15' x 28' is more than plenty.

For how good Harbeth speakers sound, it makes me wonder about the reported impact of baffle and edge diffraction. If diffraction is that significant, then Harbeth speakers should sound less good. Harbeths, and the Audio Note speakers, should be pictured in the audio dictionary next to the entry for speaker diffraction.

Harbeths sound so good, they always activate my "how the hell are they doing that" gene!

For $3000 to $5000 I'd be listening to the Vandersteen 2Ce Signature II and Vandersteen 3A Signature, and making room for either.

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I spoke with people at Acoustic Sounds. After I mentioned that I was also thinking about a sub, I received a recommendation on the Harbeth Monitor 30s with a Rel sub instead of the Super HL5s.

I've no doubt Rel makes excellent subs, but either you like subs or you don't. I happen to not like them. That said, there's a forum member who uses 2 subs w/ his Harbeths & loves it. But why go through the trouble of adding one more link to dilute the simplicity of your audio chain by going w/ subs? Plus adding the cost of the Rel to the cost of the Monitor 30 doesn't represent much in value to me. I'd rather go w/ Super HL5s, of which bass I don't find problematic. It's more than fine enough for me. But if you must have deep deep bass, you should look at full range speakers at that price. Makes more sense than going w/ Monitor 30 + sub.