Harbeth C7ES-3: 6 Years On, Still Impresses Daily.

I have Leben CS 300X and it works really well with C7 ES3 pair. I usually listen to music at very modest volume level.

 

I listen to around 60% indie rock and metal. Slayer sounds amazing through the C7s even with my nimble little 35w Primaluna amp. These speakers sounds really good no matter what you throw at them.

My dealer let me demo a pair of P3s for a week at home before I bought the C7s. The P3s are great speakers but I have a pretty big, awkward room and the P3s just didn't have enough oomph or bass for my space. I'd snap them up in a second for the right price in an office/smaller space setting however. They're really a great little speaker and I'm a big fan of the smaller form factor. They really did a nifty disappearing act - better than the C7s in that regard, probably because of their visual size.

 

Possibly. Funny, that after 20 years of complaints about their inverted metal dome tweeter, they went to a soft
dome tweeter so that it did not sound like an ice pick between your eyes.

They are not the only ones..there are a slew of speaker manufactures that have gone even further than Wilson
with this pursuit of inertness.

I have never encountered a musical instrument or vocalist who did not resonate.

 

I have a set of HL5s' that I feel the same about. Once they were dialed in ... incredible.

 

Anybody compare the C7 or the little one to the KEF LS50?

 

Sorry! You're right, I didn't mean to misquote you.

 

I believe there is a guy, mbnx01, at the speaker asylum that had the LS50's and the P3's, and a few others, in his house at the same time. Not sure which he wound up with.

 

I had both in my place at the same time. The LS50s were my father's.
He brought them over a for a few days so we could compare them, while the LS50s are very capable (and do an incredible disappearing act), my dad fell in love with my P3ESRs and ended up getting me to sell his LS50s after he went to buy the P3s and ended up with M30.1s... as did I.

 

Interesting.

In the end I think the P3 is more sophisticated speaker.

 

Than the M30.1?

 

LS50.

 

Yeah... that's a pretty good way to describe it actually. It's definitely (IMHO) got more tonal and timbral accuracy than the LS50, just sounds "right."
Like all Harbeths do.

 

Agree...as good as the LS50 is, and it IS good..it is really outclassed by the Harbeth line.

 

...and at the risk of starting WWIII, I feel Harbeths are more tonally accurate than Audio Note, and image better.

 

Stirling Broadcast SB-88 vs Harbeth Compact C7ES-3 Speakers

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/stirling-broadcast-sb-88-vs-harbeth-compact-c7es-3-speakers/

 

I haven't heard Audio Note speakers, but I really want to hear the AN-E/SPe HE, on its own and in comparison to my M30.1s – especially through an Audio Note amplifier.

 

I am curious too. But the corner loading thing just turns me off. At shows it sounds like the music is coming, well, from the corner.

 

You could be correct, but that doesn't necessarily make them better. I find Audio Note's to be a bit more engaging and romantic. Of course someone might prefer the conservative, neutral nature of Harbeth's. For the record I had SHL-5's and now have AN K's. They're both great, but I find them to be mostly different as opposed to better or worse.

 

agree there is no better, only different...and preferences. that is why I NEVER get involved in audiophile wars....lol..

I prefer to do my romanticizing with amps or preamps...that is just my choice. But either way works.

 

it really comes down to everyone perceives sound in a different way. Whether that is due to how we are wired internally of some of us have better ears than other. Could also be we each have a prefered way of how we would like things to sound to us. Kind of like women - each sound different, some voices drive you CRAZY bad others CRAZY good. Then there are those with their own agendas to promote items for financial gain. It's a tough slope to navigate in the audio world - takes a lot of research and a bit of faith to get where you need and want to be.

Both are good speakers in their own light. I'd prefer to have the Harbeths in my own home personally.

 

No surprise there.

 

Or how about the C7 with the 30.1? Do the C7s get you about there or are we talking a whole different level?

 

Cut from the same cloth. The 30.1 is not a revolutionary step forward, but a refinement.

Interestingly, I am going to hear a pair today, driven by Devialet. A friend is going to do a needle drop for me, since I don't
have a turntable.

 

We're talking a much higher level IMHO, and that of my father who also demoed them (as I did against the C7, and the SHL-5... the SHL-5 is much closer to the M30.1), and pretty much everyone I know who has heard both or owned both. The price difference reflects that jump in sound as well.

 

IMHO, the P3 is much closer to the M30.1 than the C7.
The P3ESR, the M30.1 and the M40.1 share a much closer sonic signature, as you'd expect from professional-grade studio monitors. The C7 and SHL-5 are designed for domestic use, not monitoring.
I love the SHL-5, but it just did things differently than the M30.1, and ultimately in a way I didn't like as much the M30.1.