Harbeth Speakers- Doing Something Right....

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by avanti1960, Jul 25, 2019.

  1. LeBud

    LeBud Born to be mild

    Location:
    Ottawa
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  2. Djohm

    Djohm Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mi Casa
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  3. LeBud

    LeBud Born to be mild

    Location:
    Ottawa
    That's strange ...You'd think that they'd be the same height no matter where they would be bought.
    All the other specs and notes are identical on both web sites . Maybe a typo ?
     
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  4. Djohm

    Djohm Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mi Casa
    It may be... but it would be great if they're available at 52cm as some people prefer the higher tweeter height than others. I'm good with the standard height as mine.
     
    LeBud likes this.
  5. Chris81

    Chris81 Teckel fool

    Location:
    Germany
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  6. Ingenieur

    Ingenieur Just a dog looking for a home...

    Location:
    Back in PA
    SHL5+
    no sub
    iPad, audio tools, umik w/calibration file, 20-20000 Hz hi res file. Only computed to 2 kHz.
    FFT 8192, 1/6th octave smoothing, 1 Hz resolution.
    The 250 Hz hole is my TV 1/4 wavelength.
    With the cover it is a few dB less.
    Solid to 30 Hz, nice bass rise slope


    [​IMG]
    40-400 Hz sweep

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2023
  7. Ingenieur

    Ingenieur Just a dog looking for a home...

    Location:
    Back in PA
    With sub
    Xover all the way down
    Gain ~1/4

    [​IMG]

    sub alone
    Down 35 dB by 100 Hz
    Does not interfere with the bass tonal range >80 Hz
    [​IMG]
     
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  8. David Cope

    David Cope Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gales Ferry, CT
    Seven to eight weeks is nothing. I have vendors at 6 months, one at a year and one who has stopped accepting new orders until they catch up.

    Absolutely maddening.
     
    timind likes this.
  9. Ingenieur

    Ingenieur Just a dog looking for a home...

    Location:
    Back in PA
    New sub integrated
    Room response almost +/- 3 dB 30-16000 Hz with a few excursions to 5 dB.
    Slope ~1.5 dB/Oct
    Listening to In a Silent Way... awesome, almost spiritual :)

    not perfect, but perfect for me
    Approaching end game result
    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Ingenieur

    Ingenieur Just a dog looking for a home...

    Location:
    Back in PA
    Not to belabor a point but I find this surprising.
    HLS5+, no sub
    Large room 14 x 32, open to the rest of the house
    Speakers are 3.5' out and 3' from sidewalls (one is next to an open entryway)
    mic was ~10', 20-20,000 Hz sweep, only computed below 2,000 for low end accuracy
    2 Hz resolution, 1/3 oct smoothing, lines are 6 dB, +/- 3 dB

    basically flat to 25 Hz
    could be boosted <100 Hz by moving towards corner

    I'd say heck ya' Harbeth is doing something right! :evil:

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Glmoneydawg

    Glmoneydawg Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario Canada
    Stereophiles measurements agree with you....my room flat to 35hz...-3db at 30hz....-6db at 25hz.... and don't trust my spl meter below that :)
     
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  12. Ulises

    Ulises Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
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  13. Kristofferabild

    Kristofferabild Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denmark
    That is very cool! Thanks for the share.
     
    Ulises likes this.
  14. P3ESRXD

    P3ESRXD Arnaud, still enjoying...with what I have

    Location:
    Montpellier France
    I wonder which P3 are they ?
    Even not toe-in :righton:.
    :edthumbs:very short speaker cables, I see also "vintage" amp.
     
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  15. G B Kuipers

    G B Kuipers Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    Judging from the on-shelf positioning and the distance between the speakers, this is a guy that doesn't expect a simple office system to sound like what he's used to in the studio. Makes sense.
     
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  16. tIANcI

    tIANcI Wondering when the hifi madness will end

    Location:
    Malaysia
    An awesome artiste with very simple audio system. Now … that makes me think. Lol.
     
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  17. Ulises

    Ulises Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    I’m with you. Also looks like he’s using a basic technics sl-1200 and some Sennheiser hd25’s. Timeless classics, but no frills.

    Just did an image search for the amp and it appears to be this one: HiFi Bargains: Sansui AU-555A (1971 - 1973) - Twittering Machines
     
    tIANcI likes this.
  18. Vegking

    Vegking Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Des Moines,Iowa
    Hey guys. My wife and I our moving to a new house. My man cave listening room is 17 x 32 (ft). Would that be too big for my HLS5 plus XD? I'm kind of worried about that. My current room is 14x20 and it works really well.
     
  19. bgiliberti

    bgiliberti Will You Be My Neighbor?

    Location:
    USA
    Too big in what regard? Echoing or able play loud enough?
     
  20. terzinator

    terzinator boots lost in transit

    I don't know much about anything, but it seems like there are too many unknown variables to give you any kind of a reasonable answer!

    That said, I bet they'll sound great. :)
     
  21. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    No.
    My room is slightly shorter than yours but has an open stairway and the HL5+ were in no way too small. They like breathing room.
     
    Vegking likes this.
  22. P3ESRXD

    P3ESRXD Arnaud, still enjoying...with what I have

    Location:
    Montpellier France
    I'm sure that you can push volume more, if need be to 150W :p

    From Harbeth website, SHL5+XD
    SHL5plus XD - Harbeth


    "
    ...
    Impedance
    6 ohms, easy to drive

    Sensitivity
    86dB/2.83V/1m axial

    Amplifier suggestion
    Works with a wide range of amplifiers – suggested from 25W/channel

    Power handling
    150W programme
    "
     
  23. P3ESRXD

    P3ESRXD Arnaud, still enjoying...with what I have

    Location:
    Montpellier France
    No port at all like my P3,
    and front port like my C7
    make placing them easier, even very close to the wall.

    I didn't know that ...
    this is something well-know, though.
     
  24. Kristofferabild

    Kristofferabild Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denmark
    At Bristol Harbeth showed off their active speaker with DSP. The whole range will have an active part eventually.
    I would be really tempted by a P3 active, if the price isn't outrageus.
    Taken from:
    Harbeth coming out with a “digital” speaker

    "We will be following-up this announcement with a formal Press Release in due course, but I thought that I owe it to you to give you a heads-up.

    For the last 18 months we have been developing digital equivalents of the existing Harbeth speakers. We first set ourselves a challenge with the most complex model, the three-way Monitor 40.3, and worked our way through the range to the P3ESR and to other concepts. At the Bristol show next week in one of our three adjacent demo rooms (230, 232, 234) we will be demonstrating the Monitor 40-D amongst other speakers, on open frame studio-style stands.

    Over the coming weeks we plan to discuss the development of these digital Harbeths in as much detail as we can in a public forum, hint at the sort of technical challenges we encountered and overcame, and consider together where this digital technology takes our brand. Digitising the existing models is a logical but hardly radical move: the M40-D is our 'concept car' that hints at a journey which is already significantly mapped-out. But first, for the avoidance of any doubt, I want to make it absolutely clear that there has been no change in ownership of the Harbeth company, no buy-ins or buy-outs, all R&D has been self-funded from our reserves and most importantly, there have been no tie-ups or commercial or contractual arrangements with any third parties with the exception of expert guidance in PCB physical layout of our prototype circuits to avoid hum and noise problems from digital circuitry sharing a PCB with analogue circuitry.

    In short, the entire design has been undertaken in-house with my continuous guidance as to what sounds 'right' as my colleagues experiments with different potential DSP implementations. The team collaboration has worked effectively because we have given each other space and time to experiment and respect each other's contribution, and no timescales of any sort were set. And when they invite me to listen to alternative candidate DSP strategies, I'm confident that they have carefully pre-selected potential winners from a myriad of possibilities. My colleagues know that I'm going to listen carefully and give them constructively feedback in meaningful language that they can understand, absorb and build in to DSP code. Absolutely no hi-if mumbo jumbo guff. No audio poetry. Comments on frequency, level, balance, distortion and integration. They can work with that sort of feedback.

    The power of even a moderately sophisticated DSP engine is simply incredible. The smallest lump and bump in the already world-class frequency responses of our Harbeth-made drive units can be completely eliminated. The energy in sub-sub-sub octaves can be minutely adjusted on a Hz by Hz basis to achieve any desired sonic experience. The relative timing between drive units can be adjusted to subsample accuracy (a few microseconds): none of this would be remotely achievable using passive crossover components at any cost or complexity. That said, the investment that we've made in designing sophisticated passive crossovers over the past near 50 years has stood the test of time: the passive solutions have set a high benchmark, and will continue to be honed and refined as our digital solutions trickle down to new passive implementations. Both can and will coincide - forever - as they solve different problems.

    There are and were many unknowns at the start of our journey, not all technology matters, many are pragmatic consumer-led issues. Will enough consumers abandon their love-affair with hi-fi amplifiers and cables and opt for an all-in-one, buy-and-forget digital solution? How would such a package make business sense to a hi-fi retailer whose income depends upon continuous upgrades? What sort of connectivity is required at a minimum and how would that allow the continuing use of existing sources (incl. vinyl)?

    Then there is the issue of how much access to give to the user to tinker with the Harbeth DSP. This is really a serious matter and our opinion has much altered as we have purchased and analysed many competitive DSP speakers and familiarised ourselves with how they have addressed that question. In every case, the graphical user interface (GUI) that sits between the DSP chip and the user's plugged-in laptop both (reasonably) protects the DSP and speaker but locks-out more than a superficial sub-set of the available DSP facilities. In some cases, the speaker manufacturer's default ex-factory (reset) DSP settings are so bizarre, that the motivated and able user could indeed sort-out and dramatically improve the speaker if only he had deep access to the DSP. So the question is, do you give the user complete access to the DSP, for which he will need a minimum level of acoustics/DSP/loudspeaker design knowledge as the 'real' DSP code is not managed through a pretty consumer GUI but in a much less familiar engineering language - or none at all? Or somewhere in between?

    For me, the experience of taking the M40.3 that I designed and know well and digitising it has confirmed, above all, the excellence of the 'raw' electro-mechanical-acoustic properties of the Harbeth-made woofers/midrange drivers and their exclusive material science and injection moulded cones. I assumed, wrongly, that the 40.3 was as about as good at it got for transparency, neutrality, imagery: the 'being there' sensation. But I was wrong.

    We'd love to see you at Bristol new week. If you do come, please introduce yourself and allow us to take you on a new sort of journey into sound."

    Did anyone hear them at Bristol?
    [​IMG]
     
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  25. Kristofferabild

    Kristofferabild Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denmark
    Video of the new digital speakers at ca. 1.05 hour:

    watch
     

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