Harbeth 40.2

I've been living with a pair of 40.2's for almost a year now in a room which is about 15' x 25' that opens up to the main floor of the home so lots of room to breathe.

I found that pulling the speakers out from the back wall and towards the listening position improved the sound quite a bit - I have roughly a 7' triangle orientation going which seems to work well with the speakers angled towards the listening position.

As a general rule people recommend going with big power with the 40.2's with a few exceptions such as the LFD NCSE which is what I'm running and the Vinnie Rossi amp which is also around 75 a channel.  I'd like to try one of the big Hegel amps out, apparently that's what Harbeth have been demoing with at audio shows recently but the LFD is so good I have no desire to try anything else at this time.

I have found that they play much better to all types of music than I had expected they would - for example I listened to my 45rpm copies of Radiohead In Rainbows recently and it was absolutely stellar.  Been listening to a lot of jazz recently and they do a great job on that particular genre as well so they are definitely not limited to female vocal and acoustic music.  Even the new Billie Eillish album for example sounds really good on this speaker.

Having a bit more time to listen to my system as many people have the past few weeks, the Harbeths are a joy to run morning until night across a wide variety of music.  As long as you don't cheap out on the source or the amplification they are real easy to live with.

Besides that, the grilles lasted a day on my Cherry pair of 40.2's - I didn’t notice any major change in sound maybe a bit more top end but barely.  They looked butt ugly with the grilles on and they're pretty sexy without IMHO so I'll trade whatever minute loss of sound quality for the visual appeal while I sit and listen.

I'd definitely want to have a listen before buying, I doubt that anyone and everyone will love the 40.2 but for me they may well be a happily ever after purchase.

Thanks all for the information! I have a big open room, with family rm and dining room in one big space. Family rm is about 20 x 26 and is 20 x 40 with the dining room....BUT, and maybe a huge issue, I cant pull the speakers away from front wall more than a foot or so. I’ve got 3 or 4 feet on either side, with an 8 ft separation between existing spkrs, and an 11 foot coughered ceiling in the family room that reduces to 9 ft in the dining room. Bass boom could be an issue...yes?

I think aside from any potential bass boom caused by being only a foot from the wall, I feel that most speakers (aside from those designed to be on or near wall) will never perform anywhere near their potential.

Perhaps a mini monitor could get further out into a room, and use a sub to reinforce low frequencies?

Could a panel speaker become a room divider ?

The high end dealer setup I heard had them a good 1/3 of the way into the length of the room with listening position somewhat forward of that maybe about in the middle.  That's the only way I've heard them but dealer seemed to know what they were doing.   They are good sized and probably benefit from space around them.  Soundstage was mostly left to right and slightly behind speaker location but not by much.  I enjoyed the audition very much. 

I’m 21 years old and hear perfect up to 20khz still. If you can’t hear above 10khz anymore I totally understand your position to disagree with me. Look at how the speakers measure. There is the classic BBC dip which literally means it will be quieter in the midrange.

Rest assured that being 21 does not guarantee pristine hearing. I also did not realize that midrange was considered to be in the range of 10khz+. Quieter also does not necessarily translate to any loss of detail.