Hello, Orfeo!

I'm assuming you're in Europe - Italy, perhaps?

Thanks for your interest in my system. The Monitor 30s I owned were the original 30's, and I loved them, for all the reasons you state. I'm curious as to where you heard the LS 5/8's - at a dealer? Perhaps the room acoustics were not ideal, but in my room, I feel that the midrange of the 5/8's is glorious! If they have any weakness at all, it's the fact that the big driver does cover a wide range of frequencies, and it will sometimes "harden" up in the region of 1800 to 2000 Hz or so. Overall, I find these speakers to have a bit more life and energy as compared to the Harbeths, and the low bass, when it is actually present in a recording, is astounding! They have been a game changer in my musical journey, and if you can afford them, I highly recommend them. Hopefully you might find a dealer who would allow you to audition them in your home for a week or so. I bought mine sight-unseen, sound unheard, but they have worked out perfectly in my home.

Best wishes in your musical pursuits!

[please excuse my bad English]

Your Harbeth M30-->Graham LS5/8 upgrade is VERY interesting, and is the nearest of the one I feel tempted to do.

- I owned Harbeth M30.1 (a bit too rosy-view but lovely; medium & treble a bit too muffled), sold;

- upgraded to M30.2 Anniversary (present); better speaker; sound a bit more "monitor", but still very musical. I love them.

- I *listened* to Harbeth M40.2. Terrific, and even better midrange than M30.1. But can't afford.

- I *listened* to Graham LS5/8. Liked it, *though intrigued by a somewhat lean midrange*. But excellent sense of "live", of "being there". Extremely fun to listen to. More affordable the M40.x. Nevertheless, I'm puzzled: where is the midrange? (hidden between a tweeter and a 30cm woofer...).

I was a bit afraid that the positive opinions over LS5/8 came from people who do not care as much about the mid as I do, and are more easily satisfied with a 'boom-n-tiz' big sound (lots of bass, lots of treble, but not much midrange in between).

That's Why your evolution from a M30 is VERY interesting to me => WHICH M30.x model exactly did you owned? (M30? M30.1?)

My LS5/8 temptation:

My 2nd system, setup for confinement in the countryside (see my Systems), is in a large room. I'm curious what an upgrade to Graham LS5 / 8 might be like here. But I don't want to lose the wonderful medium of the M30.2 Ann.

I listen to classical, attend to live concerts, and I'm very demanding towards the naturalness of the system.

In this post, I called for some feedback about the Graham LS5/8 (I wrote 'medium' instead of 'midrange', sorry for my English!).

Hey, Guys!

I did not compare them directly to the 40's, but almost...they replaced a pair of Harbeth Monitor 30's. So same basic sound minus the bottom octave and the ambient sense of the recording venue. Like the Harbeth, the midrange is superb, beyond criticism. I would say that the Audax tweeter in the Graham has more life and energy than the Seas Excel in the Harbeth, but without being in any way bright. The other advantage the Graham has is its 89dB/watt sensitivity (vs. 86 dB for the 40's). I occasionally use a 12W/channel Pass clone amp (single ended Class A) with astonishing results. I loved my Harbeths, and I see another pair of 30's sometime down the road. I don't think they'll let me into a nursing home with the big-ass Grahams...