Arguing about breakin or whether cables affect sound quality is like arguing about religion. You can’t change the opinion of somebody in the opposite camp through logic alone. It’s just a waste of time. Personally I think Alan Shaw is a brilliant speaker designer but he is dead wrong about breakin, cables and amplifier quality. At the same time, however, I respect him for sticking to his guns and not just going along with the crowd of public opinion. That doesn’t change my opinion that he’s wrong though. But again it’s just not worth arguing about.
As you mentioned, a lot of characteristics can be measured. The challenge is establishing a correlation between these measurements and what we hear. As for cables technical papers, here is 3 interesting articles. Cables: Time is of the Essence, Part 1 Cables: Time is of the Essence, Part 2 Cables: Time is of the Essence, Part 3
When I had my Harbeth HL5plus I was using a solid state mac integrated with 200 W/channel (MA6600) and it sounded great.
I have zero interest in the topic. I do (did) have interest in this thread which has wandered into the audiophile desert now unfortunately.
I don't know the long history of Alan Shaw's claims regarding his speakers and all other minutiae that has consumed this thread recently. I'm new to the Harbeth line, but when I heard them, I knew I liked them
Agreed. Back on topic: last weekend I have finally managed to find a beautiful and affordable pair of SHL5 30th Anniversary in rosewood. Having previously owned M30 monitors, I was somewhat prepared. But after a few days of listening I just have to say that these speakers are performing beyond my expectations. They make the music sound so effortless and natural, with the full sense of scale that only large boxes can bring to the party. Wow. And by the way: I do prefer them with grilles off. Sorry Mr Shaw.
That's my experience too They just feel so damn relaxed and in a strange way detailed yet never creating fatigue. I'm still after 2 months amused by their way of presenting music like nothing I've ever heard before. Large boxes for the win! I started with grills off but now prefer them with grills on taming the upper frequencies a bit and get a bit flatter freq response.
Does anyone know what brand of Speaker Stands are under the M30.2 40th Anniversary speakers. Anniversary models bring "music,music,music" to two German hi-fi shows Input Audio demoed our Anniversary speakers at not one but two German hi-fi shows during September. Firstly at Westdeutsche HiFi Tage in Stuttgart, where our M30.2 Anniversary model wowed attendees. Bernd of Input Audio commented - "we achieved one of the best sounds of the show as visitors confirmed several times, commenting - "Relaxed and natural as always. Music, music,music."" M30.2 40th Anniversary model on demo at Westdeutsche HiFi Tage Our C7 40th Anniversary model attracted attendees at the HiFi Days Show in Bonn, as did our much-loved mini monitor - the P3ESR. C7 40th Anniversary model at HiFi Days show in Bonn C7 40th Anniversary model makes "beautiful music" at shows in Norway and USA Harbeth distributors in both Norway and the USA demoed our C7 40th Anniversary model during September. Available in a stunning Tamo Ash veneer, the C7 was described as making "beautiful music" by Part-Time Audiophile at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Colorado, USA. C7 40th Anniversary model at Hi-Fi Messen, Norway Harbeth in the Press! Anniversary models are Stereophile's Recommended Components The M30.2 40th Anniversary model has received Class A accreditation in Stereophile's latest Recommended Component list. Described by Herb Reichert as "the most tuneful, accurate, neutral, fun, and music-loving stand-mounted two-way speaker I've heard." The P3ESR 40th Anniversary model was also featured and in another recent review by Herb, was described as "the best-built most natural-sounding small speaker I have ever heard." Show us your Harbeths This month we hear from a P3ESR 40th Anniversary owner, James
i dont mind discussion on this topic because it is especially relevant to harbeth speakers. i have measured the difference between out of the box and well broken in. ill try to find the rta files when i get home. this was with my former PSB towers that became so bass heavy after 2 1/2 years i had to part with them. by far the most obvious example of break in is with subwoofers. having owned several over the years the sound is anemic and disappointing out of the box. gradually over time they begin to bloom and is part of the reason for constant adjustments. with my JL audio sub i decreased the level control nearly 1/4 turn over the first year, i kept a detailed log including positioning of all controls. every sub i have owned required break in of at least 200 hrs or so. a literally night and day difference. you go from “i paid what for this thing?” to “wow that really came alive!”.
So I think I’ve settled on getting the Harbeth 40.2s. I’m leaning toward a Mcintosh Ma6600 Integrated or a MC402 amp with a mac preamp. I’m looking for a smooth and warm sound and don’t need the last edge in slam, detail or bass. Wondering if anyone has an opinion of the Integrated vs Separate options. The ma Integrated is 200 watts while the mc402 is 400 watts and both are supposedly not as “modern” sounding as the current Mcintosh offerings which the more relaxed sound is what I’m after. I’ll post this in the Mcintosh thread as well.
Good post. I'm a (retired) scientist, too (molecular biologist). (Quantum) Physics also doesn't explain the collapse of the wave function by a "conscious observer" for the classic double-slit experiment. Other than: it's the conscious observer him/herself that is causing the collapse of the wave function. Really good YT video about this by Dean Radin, PhD (he's got p-values and Z-scores that provide statistical validity to his rigorously controlled study): My point here in full agreement with yours: that reductionist science (and measurements) can't and doesn't explain everything we experience or know to be true. Cheers, GB.
it wouldn't hurt to ask the distributor fidelis av.com. they are very prompt responding to e-mail of phone.
congrats! each are excellent amps but with their older school sound may be too much of a good thing once the harbeth's sound matures. they tend to be warm and relaxing enough without adding to it with amplification. i'm actually looking for something more neutral / transparent to pair with the SHL5+ and have Benchmark (which I have heard are amazing with the 40.2s!) or possibly a quality Class D power amp.
nice post! the stands look similar to the ton trager but not quite so I can't say for sure but I like them.
See #4 here: Untitled Document We aren't talking enormous changes, but certainly enough to effect the voicing of a speaker. And that is LF drivers. MF and HF drivers break-in, too, and may take considerably longer than a LF driver. That is because their suspensions are relatively tight and excursions relatively limited, when compared to LF drivers.
Pass by the audio shop today. Listen to Rogue Cronos III + SHL5. First set of expensive funky speaker cables were an expensive but anemic match. 40 minutes after, take 2 with less expensive Van Den Hul cables was just magic all around. The Canadian price is around $5500 since a new distributor has take over the task. It used to be around $7000 before.
I am curious about the pricing differences between Harbeth and Spendor, which I noticed when I bought my Spendor A1s recently. I largely chose them over Harbeth P3 because they list for $700 less the A1 costing $1750 while the P3 is now $2450. However when you go up to the bigger 2 ways, the Harbeth C7 lists at $4000, while the comparable Spendor Classic 2/3 is $1000 more, at $4995! It seems odd to me that the tiny Harbeths cost so much more than the similar Spendor, but when you go up a size the opposite is true and the Spendor cost much more.
Do you like the A1? I have heard they are not voiced to compete with the P3ESRs. The 2/3s are excellent though. also interesting is the fact that Harbeth does not make an SP3 equivalent. Seems like there wold be decent demand for a $3k retail harberh with 6-1/2 inch woofers.
Yes I love the A1, thanks for asking. They are just about perfect for my smallish room, I love the natural sounding midrange and laidback, warm yet detailed sound of them. They don't have the deepest bass or play extremely loud, but that is to be expected. I would like to see how they respond to a more powerful amp than my 55 watt Creek, when I have the money to upgrade. If I ever have the chance I would like to compare them side by side to Harbeth P3 just to see what the differences are.
