I've never seen Harbeth speakers in person. They look very nice to me in photos. Do they look less well built in person?
Harbeth look beautiful both in pictures and in person. The idea that they look like they are not well-built in comparison to any other speakers out there is ludicrous.
Never said Harbeths aren't well constructed. But mine in cherry wood are not exotic by any means. Very conservative. If I did it over I might spring for more exotic woods.
I see. By "cheap $50 college speakers" i assumed you meant they look poorly constructed. Aesthetically, I'll take traditional boxes over Wilson/B&W's/Sonus Faber/Vivid (!) any day.
My M30.1 are cherry and my P3ESR are rosewood. I prefer the rosewood. My opinion - the rosewood are much “richer” looking.
Harbeth speakers don't look shoddy, they are well built, but plain and unadorned. They are very utilitarian--they need a box to house the drivers and that is what they deliver. They will never visually wow someone in the way Sonus Faber, for example, impresses one visually with graceful curves, wood in-lays, leather covered fascia, etc. This is sort of common to British speakers. I recently heard a 40.2 set up that sounded fantastic. The speakers were being driven by Audio Note Gaku-On amps (parallel single ended triode 211 amps). This would be classified by most people as a truly crazy system because the amp is about 25 times the price of the speakers, but, the result spoke for itself. I've also heard this same pair of speakers driven by a very modestly powered pushpull 6L6 amp (a Western Electric amp) and the combination sounded quite good at not crazy volume level. This is, apparently, a VERY sensitive amp when it comes to pairing it with amps. I heard it with several much more powerful tube amps and thought they sounded mushy. I heard them with other low-powered tube amps and they sounded dead with these amps. Others who have heard this speaker with some really exotic pushpull 300b amps thought that that combination sounded best of all. I had similar experiences with the shl5+ speaker--very demanding, but very good when the right amp is matched to the speaker. The "easy" model is the 30.2--it sounds decent with a wide range of amps.
The 2nd best speakers I've ever heard. I was floored by the results but a spacious good room is needed for it sound great.
Well, I think most people would call it crazy just based on the $15000+ cost of the Harbeths, but we do exist in kind of a crazy audiophile world here
I have and love the Harbeth 40.2. I use a McIntosh MC275 VI with them, which though rated 75W/channel is supposedly more like 90W. I brought my preamp and amp with me to the dealer and compared different tube amps when I purchased them, including the Western Electric amp @Larry I mentioned. I thought they sounded excellent with all of them, but better with a bit higher power, like 90-100W. Though I didn't hear them with the Gaku-On. They throw and amazingly 3-D holographic image when placed properly, with enough space between them and the wall behind and preferably nothing between the speakers. This puts them sort of in the middle of my room, but I bought custom stands from Resonant Woods with special locking casters so I can make them more "family friendly" and push them back against the wall when not in use.
My impression of Harbeths the first time I saw them was how small they seemed. Not sure why I expected them to be bigger, but the 30.2 in particular just looked tiny. No complaints about the build quality.
Back in the middle 70's, a lot of people I knew bought the Large Advents and loved all the bass that they produced. To me, the all had a mid-bass hump that would drive me up the wall. The thing is that I had professional Altec speakers that had accurate bass and these individuals were coming from crappy speakers that did not have bass before they acquired the Advent's, so they thought the Advent's bass was wonderful. I never shared their enthusiasm. Most people don't understand correct bass from incorrect bass.
I've heard and seen Harbeths multiple times at my local dealer and at Cap Audiofest. I find them to be good looking in a very classic way and I think they sound fantastic very natural musical and precise. I could easily live with any number of their models thought I went in a different though not too different direction with Audio Note speakers.
I would probably be more inclined to go with Audio Note speakers too, but, among Brit box speakers, I like both brands.
i loved the sound of the d7s, they are a true stereophile class A speaker and are outstanding- without peer really in many areas. but i did miss the sound of a subwoofer. i tried a second time to add subs but the D7s play so low that they were impossible to integrate a sub properly without adding a crossover for the mains, something i refuse to do. i would have needed a beefier amp (like 200 WPC) to get the best out of the D7s on their own to duplicate a subwoofer like response. i was torn on which direction to head down but i love the sound of my amplifier as it is. I will try the SHL5s on their own and then decide about a subwoofer.
I'm collecting a pair of Harbeth Super SHL5 Plus on Thursday Have not listened to Harbeth before so it's a bit of a gamble but worst thing that can happen is I sell them. Will run them with my Line Magnetic 508 and also try it with my Naim Supernait 1.
So the least expensive model is the P3ESR? That is one tiny speaker for $2,600.00. 5" bass driver and 75hz bass response. 50wpc power handling. 83db efficiency (so clearly they won't go very loud). Pedestrian looking cabinet. But then the one review on them at Acoustic Sounds has the owner waxing poetic! Harbeth Speakers-P3ESR Speakers-Speakers|Acoustic Sounds
