My take is it very much depends on what you mean about rocking the speaker. What volume level are we talking about. How much bass are we talking about. The P3ESR can’t hit hard or play at high volumes. It’s just physics. It won’t give you that nice low bass either. But how can one expect it from a 5” driver? Paired with a sub, it’s works well in a room of your size. Now the M30 or the C7ESR would be better for sure. It is larger. I heard some people say the C7ESR can’t rock. It did for me. My room is just slightly larger than yours. Want hard hitting speakers? Something like the Marten Duke 2 does a very good job. But look at the price ... RRP of $8k.
Yes, for rock music they'd be better - it's just that in my room, for example, I'm afraid the bigger Harbeths would be overkill (plus I can't give them enough space away from the wall to do them justice).
One of the Harbeth dealer here in Norway also carries the Moonriver. He gave the Harbeth (upto the Super 5) being driven by that amp a glowing review. As did a few people who manged to attend his demo "session day" of the pairings. I was hoping to get down there for a listen earlier this year but then Corona dumped on us. A Moonriver came up for sale here at 40% discount over summer. I was very tempted to pull the trigger based on what I'd read but didn't as I was laid off due to Corona at the time. I think there's a theme here........
i have heard the psesr rock pretty hard with a robust 100 wpc amplifier, plenty of bass and volume for a small / small mid room. similar to the kef ls50. demands a high quality amp that can double down at 4 ohms.
My listening area (living room) is 13’w x 10’d. Opens up to the dining area, another 14’ longer. I enjoy my P3ESR with a Rythmik F12 sub. It’s fun. When I got the C7ES3, it did cross my mind that it may be too big. But it was not. Was just right. But the C7ES3 does have, for me, a very slightly looser bass. Very very slight only. If you find the bigger Harbeths having too much bass, just get bass traps. It helps a lot. Buy some Rockwool 2’x4’x2” slabs and either make cushion covers for them or build proper frames. I did the former. Works great. I use 4” for the corners and 2” for the side of the speakers.
They can play rock, just not very well, actually so bad I sold my M30.2's XD's for the that very reason. Harbeth's are exceptional with the human voice I have not heard better then my P3ESR 40th's for that. I only listen to rock maybe 20% of the time but they just don't cut it for rock music. I even tried subs, that did not work. Make sure you try the speakers before you buy. Just been playing AC/DC's new album, swapped in my P3's and it was like the bottom end was completely gone, well it was! The album became flat and lifeless, plug in my new speakers and BAM, my head starts banging again! Great album BTW.
4.3" driver! in a sealed box, struggles to get down to 75Hz, complete waste of time for rock. Subs are for HT not HiFi IMHO! If you get the correct speaker for your room there is no need for subs.
Regarding the 30.2XD, I'd agree to some extent with rock not being their forte. Sure, you could certainly have something with more ebullient dynamics, with a greater sense of bottom end and scale etc. Nevertheless the Harbeths give a good account of themselves. For me, not to rely on the trope but I will, they're a decent all-rounder with most genres and thread a nice, fine line between insight and musicality. Whether that's worth the admission price is a subjective proposition. For me, they are expensive for what they do. I don't labour under the delusion that I couldn't find something much cheaper that I could live with. But that's how this thing goes...it's why we're all here!
My other issue with them, and like many other great speakers is they shine with well recorded music, stick some compressed 90's pop / rock on and they fall apart. With any speakers there are compromises, I just found to many with the XD's, add in the overinflated price and they had to go. I will be trying the next iteration however and my P3ESR 40th's are going nowhere!
The only album my P3ESR's 'fell apart' playing was the CD of Led Zeppelin II*. On other rock albums, they were great (Black Sabbath 13 and King's X Dogman, for example.) And I take great exception to the notion they "lack bass" ... if you've got an amp with any grunt at all, and take care with positioning them to the wall, they've got plenty of bass -- at least in a small-to-medium size room. *Zep II has become the acid-test for me when auditioning speakers. When my LS3's get here, it'll be one of the first things I break 'em in with.
I'm listening to a UK first press of Court of the Crimson King on Stenheim Alumine 2s. A friend/dealer kindly let me try them out. I love my Harbeth c7s and initially wasn't too taken with the 2s, but now am amazed by their performance. I know it's a very different speaker than the Harbeths and decently more expensive, but they pull quite a bit more detail out of the music, are more dynamic and the sound stage/layering is off the charts. Going back and forth between the Harbeths and Stenheims is not boding especially well for the Harbeths at the moment. They are light on the low end however.
I am sure this will sound like Heresy, but the JBL 530s have the same frequency response as Harbeth, per the audio science review site.
Having had both the 530 and the M30 ... I can tell you they sound very different. No way the 530 will sound like the M30. M30 is the better speaker
Living not far from distributor Fidelis, the same thing happened to me in the same time frame. Got my speakers on the spot, factory sealed. Initially went to audition the C7ES-3 and liked them. Superb mid-range and vocal rendition. Impressive for its size. Well, of course I had to also check out the next one up - the Super HL-5+. Had to go for it because of the deeper bass response. Damn - another couple of grand... But when you listen to a lot of reggae (as I do), which is very bass-dependent, you need to get "down there." The HL-5 was better in that respect than the C7. So I traded in my beautiful pair of Legacy Classics. With their two 10-inch woofers per side, getting down to 32 hz was easy but the midrange was not as sweet as with the Harbeths. Bass on the Classics was a bit looser as compared to the Harbeths though. Now, the Harbeths can't reach quite as low as the Classics did, but close to it. There are not many recordings that really demand 32 hz. Frankly, if you have usable response down to about 40, that will do it for the vast majority of recordings, including bass-heavy reggae. Because I got a good price for the mint-condition Classics, I sprang for the more expensive Harbeth Super HL5's. Figures - you go in with a price in mind but wind up stepping up and spending more. I don't regret it at all though - I can fill my 15.5 x 29 room with sound waves without a problem. These just might be the last speakers I'll ever need.
It is noted that speakers with a downward slope like these two speakers is more "all day listenable" than other speakers where there are peaks in the treble. Most people over 50 can't hear above 15khz. I enjoyed the newer JBL speakers - quite a lot of speaker for the money - if you can take their looks. I heard a floorstanding model from this series. Quite nice - weird looking but nice sounding. Indeed, with looks like those you HAVE to sound good!
