Where did you go after Harbeth?

In my opinion, a pair of Penaudio Cenya driven by a well engineered (not over driving the tubes) 300b design (such as the Nagra 300i) is a hard to beat combo. The Cenya is not outclassed by the Nagra and together they have that synergy that audiophiles spend countless years in search of but rarely find.

Disclaimer - Yes, the Nagra 300b has won numerous design, engineering, and best of show awards and as such is not inexpensive...but neither is Pass Labs (recommended above). However, it is a component that you can pass on to one of your sons or daughters from which they can pass on to one of their children. It's not an item that you would likely tire of or wish to flip. It was engineered from the ground up (unlike most products which are just modifications of existing manufacturer designs) because Nagra wanted to see what they could do with the 300b tube - considered by many to be one of the most musical.

Burt - Seattle Hi-Fi

As I realized, there is not a lot of people on the forum who move from Harbeth to another brand of speaker. I guess that many stay with Harbeth.

Sébastien

Sebastien:

That is a logical conclusion and SHOULD be correct given the sheer musicality of every Harbeth design BUT I do see quite a few pairs for sale here on the A'gon so some folks must be moving on to other brands (though some may be moving up in the Harbeth line). Honestly, I probably would not have sold my Compact 7's had I not moved into a much larger listening space. In fact, I even tried running my C7's with a sub (Rel Stadium III) which initially satisfied but over the long run I yearned for the coherence of an integrated design rather than separate subwoofer. I will say however that as good as the Harbeth's are the one area where they do not keep up with other designs is in delivering the speed, weight and dynamics found in good rock (and other) recordings. If you listen exclusively to chamber music, female vocals, acoustic music and the like I could see living with a pair of Harbeth's till the end of time. However, if your tastes are more diverse and run toward rock, large symphonic works, big band, etc. then a speaker that can reproduce the scale and dynamics of those genres might be preferred. The trouble is finding one that does the midrange as well as the Harbeth's and can play the smaller scale and acoustic material with delicacy and tonal accuracy. I have found that many larger designs (some very expensive) are colored in various ways or are overly lean, bright, etched etc. That is why it took me two years to find a full range speaker to replace my Compact 7's. I would always return to my Harbeth's after a demo or show and feel that (within their range) my Harbeth's sounded much better than the speaker I had just auditioned. This would happen over and over again--the Harbeth's would be bested in a few specific areas but their overall musicality simply could not be beat. Then I discoverd Daedalus and realized that I really could have it all--warmth, musicality, delicacy, tonal accuracy, dynamics, detail, no fatigue, etc. For me, Daedalus was the answer and I could finally let my C7's go without an ounce of regret.

Hi Sébastien,

Count me as one of those that moved up the Harbeth line rather than to a different brand. I recently replaced a pair of Compact 7s with SHL5s. I'm getting great sound from a pair of Cary 805Cs. That might be one route to consider if you want single ended triode sound with your moderately sensitive Harbeths. Good luck!

Hi Dodgealum,

It's surprising how I recognized myself in your talking when you say:

" I would always return to my Harbeth's after a demo or show and feel that (within their range) my Harbeth's sounded much better than the speaker I had just auditioned."

Plus, it's very exciting when you mention the qualities that the Daedalus offer you and the ones they share with the Harbeth which seem as important for me and for you.

The fact is that I want to try a speaker that can be powered by almost any SET. I'm even thinking about a 2W/channel 2A3 design for exemple. I'm wondering if the Athena, which is the one I consider, will have enough high efficiency.

Sébastien