A very interesting thing about the Harbeths, at least in my ownership of them, is that they are true chameleons. I had thought for years I was getting the most out of them and I wasn't. It took a very specific amplification setup to really appreciate them on another level, and a much more refined turntable setup. I'd been, apparently, feeding them fast food for awhile (good fast foot, like In 'n Out, not Burger King) when they demanded something more like steak. Which was what they finally got when I mated them with the transformer volume control. I even tried to replace them a few times... Spendor S-100s, and the Quad 63pros coming in and out every so often. What happened with the TVC was that they -finally- became really dynamic. They opened up. They came alive. They were actually ... exciting. Along with the open window/neutral/holy crap that sounds exactly like a real (x) thing they do.
There were some other times with my ownership of them, that they were kind of crappy. They sounded terrible with my Sony TA-f808es integrated amp, and that's actually a really nice amp. Just dead, lifeless, dull. With my VAC setup, they revealed everything I hated about the VAC preamp. Veiled, noisy...lifeless. If something in the system wasn't fully transparent they'd just close a window.
What I'm saying is, they can be a pain in the butt. And I still missed some of that bottom octave kicking out of the jams. When I figured them out, I didn't want to sell them. Up until then, they were always kind of on the line.
I'm stoked about these Onkyos, though. When a Japanese hi-fi company is showing off, watch out. Something incredible is going to happen.