Midrange is smooth from the plastic cone driver, but treble is nicely extended. Easy to place in the room, maybe because of the thin walled resonant box? Even the smaller ones sound big, controlled, easy to listen to. The Monitor 40.1 is very capable even with audiophile tracks, and with good acoustic treatment it can really rock. The Compact 7 is my favorite, just a perfect balance of bass to treble, the midrange doesn't sound as smoothed out as the larger models, a really sweet bookshelf. I was fortunate to be able to hear each of the current Harbeths at RMAF 07 using same electronics in same room, all compared together on the same tracks. They were in the room directly above Feastrex, right near the stairs, so I was up and down like a yoyo. The Compact 7 sounded very close to the bigger models in terms of scale and presence, and everyone agreed it was an amazing value among the other Harbeths.