Harbeth Experts

Drubin, i find the Harbeths sound good with a variety of amps. They seem to prefer more detail oriented speaker cables, though.

The Diamonds are better speakers in most aspects. The only drawback is that the ceramic midrange can sound glassy with the wrong amp or cables.

I share the same observation with Nolitan. Vocal reproduction on ESL is insanely good. It shows off the strengthed of statics and does not tax its limitations. I find the quads have great tone and timbre. Microdynamics is also excellent but it lacks macrodynamic contrast. It does a good job with Piano concertos but it does not blow you away.

The sins of Harbeth is mostly of omissions, mainly lack of deep bass and reproduction of nuances. One can argue that by grossing over some useless details, the musical message is enhanced.

Come on, what speaker cables do you all use???

Both the Quads and Harbeths are pretty neutral in terms of tonal balance with the Harbeths on the warmer side.

Quads are more transparent and detailed. Imaging has more depth and more holographic. Bass is about the same on both speakers. It is a higher maintenance speakers in terms of partnering equip and room setup.

Harbeth M30 has a much smoother, linear treble. The treble on the quads can sound edgy & rough. ( The frequency response curve is not smooth at high freq. at all).

Harbeth has better macrodynamics and sounds more substantial. Quads can go loud but the real limitation is in dynamic freedom.

I auditioned ML, maggie and Analysis ( close to apogee). They are different sets of compromises in comparison to the quads. However, they don't rival the quads in purity/transparency for me to tolerate their short comings.

Thanks Drubin for helping me on previous threads, tubes, etc.

Glai,

Hi, perhsaps you can share with the speaker cables you've used with your harbeths. Which harbeths have you used or owned.

Thanks for insights,
Noli