Harbeths and Tube Amps

Tomryan- The Harbeth's never really struck me as all that hard to drive with tubes (my current Usher CP 6371s seem like a tougher load). Other than Plinius 9200 and a Jungson JA88C, never tried any other solid state- maybe something like Bryston would give a different perspective.

The Granite Audio monos are excellent- I have a pair of the 861s upgraded to what they are now calling the 864 model. Nice build quality. They have a well-balanced sound- neutral in a good way. Fast, very detailed, good bass, and touch of midrange warmth, but still tansparent. They work well driven direct by a source, but I recently added a Dehavilland Ultra preamp, which has made a definite positive improvement.

I was considering the 7ESs and heard that the Audiomat Arpege(tube, push pull) is a good match, 50 w/ch i think, and also the Naim NAC 112/ NAP150 is even a better match(ss, 50w/ch also

An excellent solid state amp that goes reasonably and is very, very good is a Spectral DMA50 and DMA80. Wonderful solid state amps with great bass and a wonderful midrange and highs.

I would recommend the Leben HiFi CS 600 Integrated valve amplifier ( 32 watts Push Pull) or the Leben CS 660P stereo amplifier (40 Watts Push Pull) to match with the Harbeth C7ES-3.

As a more power valve option I would recommend the Air Tight ATM-2 stereo Push Pull valve amplifier at 80 watts a channel in to 8 ohms.

Push Pull valve amplifiers are a better match with Harbeth speakers than Single Ended Triode designs.

Jason Parmenter.
Harbeth audio distributor in New Zealand.
Parmenter Sound

The ARC vsi60 is great with the 7's.
For less money the Naim Nait 5 is amazing.

Disagree with using Leben. Boring. Pair the Leben 600 with Harbeth 5's, that's another story. Wonderful.

All about the synergy.