Harbeth C7- Tube or solid state power?

That is true, most of us use solid state amps, and don't understand why anyone would want to use tubes. But, there are quite a few who are happy with C7's and tube amps. The amp should be fairly robust and stable. High power tube amps do fine with these speakers. The nice thing about the Harbeths is that they will reveal whatever qualities that tube amps have that you like, as long as they put out reasonable power.

thank you. Can I know, from your experience, what is the stand height which give the most bass?

tks,
Mark

The "most" bass won't be the most accurate bass. I use 16 inch stands, which are close in height to the 17 inch matching wooden stands that Harbeth used to provide with the speakers. Any lower than that and you may get more bass, but probably some lumpiness. I'd recommend 16-18 inches. Charlie and others, however, use higher stands, and seem to be happy.

To my ears, and confirmed by my in-room measurements taken from a listening position at which higher stands would make sense, the speakers sound thinner in the bass on 21 inch stands than they do on 16 inch stands.

Paul

I use, as Paul said, a 21" stand. I listen in near field and also use a subwoofer. This is an excellent combo.

Charlie

Dear All,

Tks for your valuable advice. I have measure my stand height, and confirm they measure about 24". Is these too tall? I use that for Dynaudio 1.3Mmk2, LS3/5A , proac, Quad 11L and find okay.

Now for the Harbeth, I use Manley Mon0-block with 175W X 2 and still find the loudspeaker bass shy. Is the power rating too low? The Quad 11L which is relatively smaller, give better bass and dynamic.

I have seen many review mention highly of these loudspeakers. But i have yet understand their true strength. Now I am pretty sure the imaging is extraordinary , with very natural bass.

However, after my A-B comparison, i find the LS3/5A mid more liquid(i still own 2 pairs of Ls3/5A),with my current set-up.

Any advice welcome.
Mark