Demoing Harbeth Super HL5 Plus against my Harbeth M30.1s

I have it on good authority that bunny kibble pellets work the best in speaker stands; and that the Timothy hay ones are more musical than the alfalfa.

 

Sorry to derail, but heavier than rice? What made you rethink the rice?

 

Dunno... try something different. Very happy with it BTW.

 

Right. We KNOW you had a terrible wevil infestation and you just won’t cop to it. lol

I may try some metal fillng in mine. I only have two posts under each, so less room to build mass. I think sand might leak out of the Skylans.

 

AUdio Note recommends play sand or lead shot in their stands, I'm using a combination of both as the sand fills the gaps between the larger lead shots. I sealed the stands with Blu Tack to prevent the sand from leaking. It makes the stands incredibly heavy. They also recommend Blu Tacking the speakers to the stands.

 

Rafe, are your speakers firing across the short dimension of your room?

 

I used a smaller antimony shot in my Vandersteen stands. They were very small, so I wanted it to be heavy. I decided to try rice because I went with a Skylan stand and Rafe had suggested it. Also because there was a huge bag for $10 at the supermarket. I think I may range around and try a few different options now that this has been in place for almost a year.

 

I spoke with the dealer, Don Leman, and he told me that the SHL5-Plus Skylan stands he loaned me are filled with sand. No leakage whatsoever, I wouldn't use Blu-Tack for anything. I hate that stuff. Seen it discolour several speaker veneers. YMMV.

 

Yes.

 

That is interesting to know and probably has some effect on what you are hearing. Thanks for running that down.

 

Just dumped the rice and filled with sand—very fine, dry play sand. The sound is more relaxed. Upper bass has a little more extension—tends to hang a bit longer and not fall aways as quickly. Sounds a bit slower. Not bad. Different.

 

So the wevils can breathe now? I was getting worried about them ...

 

You should have seen them pour out of the stands. More bugs than rice.

 

LOL... Weevil fill!

 

Sure sounded organic.

 

Great pictures and write up raferx! So can I take it from this that the 30.1s aren't going to be replaced anytime soon? From what I've read along the way (in more than a few places) the 30.1 and 40.1 are the best in the Harbeth lineup and hard to beat even though the 5s have the advantage of the super tweeter.

Now all we need is for you to do a shootout with the 30.1, Devore O/93 and Audio Note AN/E's. Now that would be something to satisfy all our curiosities with wouldn't it? So I suggest you hunt those speakers down and get them over to your pad ASAP!

 

What an awesome opportunity- a shootout between two of the most highly regarded loudspeakers on the planet in you home with your music! One question-
could the laid back qualities of the HL5's be because they are not yet broken in? I have witnessed speakers that take months to really show what they are capable of.

 

Oh crap!!! I'm discoloring the inside of the supports on my stands with BlueTack. But it does add a jaw dropping timbre to my soundstage, that wasn't there before the change.

 

I'll post more on the 30.1s later,

I can't say for sure. Harbeth states that their speakers need no break-in period. and I know Don has been listening to the 5 Plus pair I have on demo quite a bit, so I'd say they have enough hours on them to be considered "broken in."

 

The compact 7Es3's i bought new did not seem to have any kind of break in period. Sounded great right out of the box!

 

OK, more on the 30.1s compared to the 5 Plus:

Going from the 5 Plus to the 30.1 is quite interesting.
With the 5 Plus you get everything I imagine music lovers want from a speaker, so as I wrote yesterday, I was kind of hooking up the 30.1s again and feeling like it was a foregone conclusion that after a few solid days of listening with the 5 Plus that going to the 30.1 would show they couldn't fill the room the way the 5 Plus does, that the bass wouldn't be as extended as the 5 Plus, that the treble wouldn't be as smooth... not as much air around instruments, that they just wouldn't be able to really satisfy me the way the 5 Plus had.
Well, I was wrong. IMHO, it takes not hearing something for a while to realize what is there.
From the first seconds of the needle dropping with the 30.1s my eyebrows shot up (I'm sure in comic-book style), and I was grabbed at the immediateness and impact of the sound the 30.1 was producing.
The 30.1s have an incredibly linear cohesiveness to them. While instruments and voices have plenty of air around each, and you are able to follow every instrument through its own thread in every recording, it manages to project such an air of authority that you can't help but sit there and listen.
There's no getting up and puttering while music plays, these speakers produce such a musical sound that you are hesitant to get up and leave the sweet spot. They rivet you in place.
Sound stage is very deep, very high and very wide, often projecting (like the 5 Plus) far beyond the speaker's physical presence to the point where you involuntarily look to the side for some instruments suddenly projecting from the extreme right or left.
The 5 Plus is not better than the 30.1, nor is it less engaging, it is merely different.
If I had to use an automotive analogy (and I don't, but I'm going to), I'd say the 5 Plus is a Bentley and the 30.1 is an Aston Martin.
Would you be remiss with either ride? No. But it depends on how you like to drive every day.
Could I live happily with the 5 Plus for many, many years? Absolutely.
But I can say the same for the 30.1. There are no real weaknesses in my experience with either speaker, and their strengths are numerous, but they are different in their presentations, and ultimately that is what will decide any prospective buyer.
I've been listening to a wide variety of LPs through these speakers, from jazz, classical rock and acoustic to electronica, hip hop, dub and down tempo.
Both have offered up a stunning performance with whatever I threw at them and left me shaking my head many, many times at their capabilities, even in my modest set-up and fairly "average" listening room.
I consider my space "real world" and I know from hearing both these speakers in well-damped, acoustically-treated rooms that they are capable of much better imaging, so YMMV if you decide to demo either of these speakers, but I can assure you: You will not be disappointed with either.
I'm still a little torn between the two, but at this point being a 30.1 owner, I'm not sure if I'm ready to trade the Aston for a Bentley...

 

They are both lovely speakers. Alan and company don't build any bad ones.

 

Like others here, I tried different types of fill in my speaker stands. 17 years ago I bought a pair of Opera Callas 2 way monitors that were quite similar to Sonus Faber

 

....Electa Amator speakers. A friend of mine was the salesman and he tried everything in the stands. He told me that the best overall solution was a dense and heavy kitty litter. No health concerns like lead fill, no growth or mould or bug issues and it absorbs any moisture. Those stands were very heavy when full. Just a bit dusty when you first pour it in.

That's all I use now. I think we over think some items in Hifi. Now back to the minute VTA adjustments ; )

 

Judging by the pictures, I think Rafe should start an audio system portraiture business. I'm sure most audiophiles would rather spend money getting pictures of their systems than their family.