What Is So Special About Harbeth?

12:14pm

For those that say they are overpriced I would be interested in which less expensive speakers sounded better to you.

Vandersteen 1Cis and Magnepan .7s are two speakers I would much rather own than the 3X costlier C7ES3s. The Vandys with the caveat of attenuating their treble by 1db (adjustable on the rear panel). The Vandys had as good a midrange with less cabinet coloration and deeper, tighter bass. The treble was smoother on the C7s but only by a smidge. The Magnepans are not as resolving in the highs as the C7s and other Harbeths but their midrange is a class above -- with a textural realism I haven’t heard matched by any of the BBC derivatives, and they can play louder.

I have a pair of $3100 Revel Performas in a secondary system that have superior bass and treble to all the Harbs below the M40s, though admittedly, they do fall short in midrange presence and realism. Still, on balance, I feel they’re a superior speaker for a dual HT/Music setup.

a word to the wise

On the "what is special about Harbeth?" question, here’s part of my answer.

Having auditioned an insane amount of speakers - the Harbeth have just stuck out in terms of being able to produce the "gestalt" of the human voice, as well as acoustic instruments. But human voice in particular.

@prof, who stated the above, has contributed perhaps the seminal thread here on his hearing and assessing a whole host of excellent, mid to upper tier loudspeakers - for all interested, especially relative newbies, i strongly suggest you use the search function, or click @prof to see his past posts, and find that lengthy, but exceptionally broad reaching, informative thread - the value of this forum is only in small part the live threads, it is what has been written, covered and discussed in the past...

for others, who might feel a pair of used harbeths for under 2 grand is a poor value, well, neither @prof’s wonderful thread, nor i, can help you much... there is always youtube...

Well… with the right electronics there is very little that come close to the sound quality of the 30.1/2 and 40.1/2.  The rich sound is almost unmatched except for the Quad ESL57s.

But… “the right electronics” are the key words (eg. Hegel and Mac MA252 MA452.

I should clarify - they are superb for discerning "audiophile sound" (e.g. jazz, classical, country, acoustic, vocals, etc.).  For this type of music, they are almost unmatched.    

Any old speaker is fine for rock and hip hop, etc. - better off with JBL or Klipsch.  

@lalitk Thanks for the TAD CE1 recommendation.  It's a little outside my budget but you never know if a used pair becomes available for sale. I need to figure out if there's a way to audition them first though.