Amp choice for Harbeth (SHL5)

At the LA audio show last weekend, the room with Harbeth SHL5+ driven by Naim amplification sounded great. Definitely on the euphonic warm side of life, but so smooth, great depth, imaging and layering. Probably not perfect in the technicalities, but I didn’t care. Truly a sound that just makes you enjoy the music.

Aside from that, I must say the Pranafidelity amp with the Class D Ncore modules in Steve Norber’s suite at the show was a winner. Although he was driving his own Pranafidelity speakers (which I liked better than the Harbeth), I can imagine the amp performing very well with Harbeths and producing a still smooth but more neutral final sound.

PS someone mentioned the Vinnie Rossi, and I heard that as well at the show.  Although the speakers in that suite were very meh, it was clear to me that the amp unit was very much worth a second listen.  

I am using Croft integrated phono with my Harbeth 7 and since last week with 30.1.Croft is hybrid design with 1 EC83 in pre section and 2 in phono.Love the result.

I tried many amps with my Harbeth SHL5s but found the Luxman 505ux to be a synergistic choice. 

I tried lots of amp/preamp and integrated with SHL5s. I listen almost entirely to classical music. I bought a Rogue RP1 tube preamp with a Channel Islands E-200S class D amp. The combination sounded better than many more expensive systems I tried, including all tube.

The best advice is to try some of the recommended amps to see which one will suit the SHL5s best in your system, to your ears. I can understand your remark of not wanting the SHL5s to sound any warmer as they do have a thick and warm sound. The SHL5s do sound a bit warm, thick and dull with most common solid-state amps but are capable of sounding lively and dynamic with few select amps. Some of the amps which are reported to bring the Harbeth to life are the Sonneteer Orton, Croft and LFD. I only have experience with the LFD. I now use higher-level Naim amplification with Chord cabling throughout (yes, the cabling also brought a relatively good improvement to the system).

In summary, what I think is if you can find the right amp for the SHL5s, the transformation can be an eye-opener. Music will just pour out from the speakers and sound very engaging, dynamic and full of life. (*a note is the source is also equally important)