I'm impressed by your review! I haven't heard any of the Harbeth line of speakers . This is another example of how you have given speaker manufacturers their due, in fairness. No night and day hyperbole. Just appreciation. I also like your discussion about the process you have gone through to discover the potential of your Spendors.
Those are awesome speakers Kev ! Best of both worlds in my opinion ; musicality and detail and by all accounts the type of speaker you immerse yourself in the music ! Love to hear them ( on my bucket list now! ) Just had a similar experience listening to a pair of Audionote ANK- J Hemps ; totally shocked at how musical these baby’s are too!
I have the HL5 40th anniversary on ton Traker stands with pass labs int-250 integrated amp with 2 large rel subs soekris ladder dac Mind blowing epic sound has to be heard to be believed
Good review! I bought a pair of C7ES3 40th's when that anniversary range was the latest release from Harbeth. I auditioned the HL5's first and fell in love with them. Unfortunately though, they were a fair whack more than the C7's and at the time my room was way to small to do the HL5's justice. I found them more open in the upper midrange as you noted, but what I do like about the C7's is that they struck me with their impressively tight bass compared to the HL5's, and still with a nice revealing midband as well. At the time I was upgrading from a very sentimental pair of HB1's and I wanted to retain that sound signature I liked, and the C7's with their similar size, do that and add much more detail as an upgrade. One consistent characteristic Alan has managed to design into the entire range is the lack of fatigue you may find when listening to other brands of speaker. All Harbeths are very easy on the ears in my view.
I agree with everything you say. I'm really in love with my SHL5+ 40th. Especially since I have a separate power-group in my home. And the final touch when I changed my Chord Qutest for a Holo Spring 3 KTE + pre. Now the sound is so full, so emotional, so deep, so tight. The higher the volume, it doesn't matter. Never loses grip on the music. And even at loud volume, the dynamics don't suffer. I'm so impressed, every time again. Have them for 4 years now, and they will remain for a couple of years. People who sell the Harbeth's, I think they didn't had good equipment behind the Harbeth's.
A fabulous speaker and I find it interesting that they so comprehensively best the Compact 7's. It doesn't even seem like an incremental improvement from what you're saying Kev.
It’s very refreshing to see content like this from a domestic UK user. So often Harbeth speakers only seem to feature in content from overseas based channels. I would however politely question one of your remarks about Harbeth not having a house sound. The compact model sits outside the other speakers in the range in so far as it was, I understand, an Alan Shaw design from the ground up. The others are all derived from original BBC requirements and for these I think it’s generally accepted that you simple pick the one which most suits the particulars of your room and budget. Might I also suggest that irrespective of which model you listen to in the Harbeth range you leave the speaker grills in place. They were designed to work that way. Also, take a very serious look at the M30.2. I purchased the M30.1 35th Anniversary Model when it was introduced some years ago. I pair them, perhaps unusually with the Quad ii Classic integrated amplifier and LFD speakers cable.
As an aside, my very first pair of speaker were Celestion Dutton 15s. I took a holiday job at end of lower sixth and saved to buy my first system. Had my heart set on the B&W DM4 but budget would not stretch that far and the Celestion was my next best option. My father did not like idea of them being placed directly onto the carpet- as most people did in those days- and so we had them on a short stand, no more then about 4-6 inches in height. If only he had realised - speaker stands - now there’s an idea for a business 😂 You seem to have an interest in Quad too? If you get the opportunity and come across their now discontinued Platinum Range, give their DMP and it’s matching Stereo or Mono Block Amplifiers a listen with those Harbeths. I think they are another overlooked gem.
I have these in 40th Anniversary . I am now using them with Unison Research Performance valve amp. I have seen on the HUG forum some say not to use valve amps with Harbeth. I refute this, I am no electronics expert I only know what I hear. I have had Quads and Luxman L 509X. The Unison is on another level, the openness and realism is astounding. Norah Jones is right in front of you like she is there. As for power with the 40 watts its plenty and I cant get past 10 to on the volume as that would just be too loud. My room is only 12 ft x 15ft 6in a modern house so maybe 7 ft high. I have thought maybe these speakers are a little big for my room, and talking to A.S. at Bristol show just before Covid he did say the CS7 would be well suited to my room , but after listening to your take on the two I think I made the right choice. Looking at some Unison reviews I remember one stating that the Harbeths work exceptionally well with them but it wasn't the Performance, but I think it gives some idea. I did have the M30.1 Initially , there is something I miss about those, but at the time I felt some of the bottom end went missing , however that wasn't with this amp. Thanks for a great review , I have subscribed. As for the grilles, I normally listen with them in place, but when I remove them I really cant tell any difference and the speakers look way better without them.
Totally agree with you Kevin that you need to change speakers out of curiosity otherwise you don't know how good your system can sound. I recently acquired a pair of Monitor Audio R852's (Robin Marshall designed) and omg! they are just the most musical and natural sounding speakers that I have ever layed my hands on to date. I wish I could afford Harbeths, but I think I am closer than ever to that natural and musically engaging sound!
According to A.S. Harbeth work on most stands. I initially I had Something Solid stands for my SHL 5 + 40th Anniversary. They did the job but I couldn't bare to look at them as I was a Sheet Metal Worker Fabricator by trade and the workmanship and welding on them was atrocious, but you would have to be in the game to know. I sold those and picked up a pair of HiFi Racks as made for SHL 5 at a great price. They work a treat and they are beautifully made .
I have Celestion SL6si which is very close to the kingston's or the 700's.....Mine are from 1987.......and these little brits are adored indeed, I hope I never get ride of them they are keepers.
Great review. In my experience front firing super tweeters introduces significant comb filtering and other nasties. Facing them to the ceiling general gives a better response. Further, if possible, I find if you can place them on axis with the tweeter voice coil is best and adding an L-pad gives the ability to fine tune them. Cheers.
Nice explanation.Check out a guy "2 Chanel Audio" who does a P3esrXD.,7ES,XD,,HL-5 XD that were loaned to him and a pair of 30;s he had on hand in a shoot out.He goes inside speakers. Spoiler alert he liked the HL-5 XD's most.He also thought the 7XD's are better all 'rounders than his 30's as he thought the latter were harder to set up an more acoustic genre specific.Plus he shows that 7XD's had some crappy components.Like you he thought the HL5's were in another league.BTW what year are your HL5's?I'd love a pair but in USA at $8K they are up against some pretty amazing speakers like Revel's FE226Be.Plan to definitely get some P3esr's to replace my near field LS50's as I have yet to hear an compact that betters them
In my experience, linearity is never a problem, but poor recordings or remasters (due to extra EQ enhancements) don't like speakers with bumps in the mids or treble. People always praise the mid-range of the Compact 7, but maybe their magic has to do with certain accentuations in the mid-range?
"Neutral, accurate" e t c is also coloured. It is high contrast. Like flooding an object in 10.000W flourescent light, does the object actually look like that? Maybe, or maybe not, depending on your perspective. I any case, it probably wasn't created to be viewed in that light.
I’ve always liked the idea of Harbeth’s, I own new Spendor D7.2s. Lovely sound but don’t provide ultimate scale and punch for things like Classical and Rock. Do the Harbeths give that extra in those areas?
@@dittonworks I’m assuming the classic series might be the answer, the D series are accurate and quick, but I’m sometimes looking for that huge scale of the production which the larger classic series woofers might give. The D series are fantastic for EVERYTHING else though, hence why I’ve still got them.
Good afternoon, Kindly would you mind to tell us the name of the classical music piece played as your sound sample - Shazam wouldn't give me any results, thank you! 🙏
Depends on budget room size and the rest of the equipment. Dynaudio’s Evoke series are great all rounders, room friendly and not amp fussy. That’s what I’d go for
