Clear difference between Harbeth 30.2 & Super HL5 Plus?

Hello rja,

I am the Harbeth dealer in the Dallas area and can expound on this some.  When it comes to their lineup, I view them as an extended family.  You have the only child in the P3ESR.  Then you have brothers in the 30.2 and 40.2, and yet another pair of brothers in the C7ES3 and SHL5+.  They are all cousins and share a familial resemblance, but there are some differences within each nuclear family.

In reference to the 30.2 and SHL5+, the 30.2 represents more of what I think of when I hear the name Harbeth.  It is a warm speaker and because of that, its hard to get a bad synergy with them.  They are more efficient than the specs would lead you to believe, are an easy load for an amplifier, and excel at near-field or semi-near-field positioning.

The SHL5+ is much more linear in tone and can take a little more effort in synergizing.  They need more power than the 30.2 to 'open up' but when you get that right, they can fill a larger room with sound with ease. You get better bass response as well.

I hope this helps you some.

Cheers!

Skip

Thanks Skip! These are the helpful responses I enjoy from dealers.
FYI, I have not listened to them side by side.

This may not help but I have heard 30.1 and SHL5+ in two different rooms. They both are quite different. SHL5+ has more range and you can hear it especially at the lower end of the spectrum. Everything sounds a bit larger with SHL5+, more towards neutral than 30.1, to me at-least. 

Of-course if you have listened to smaller speakers mostly then you will tend to like 30.1/30.2(I am guessing) like me.

I decided not to go with Harbeth speakers since they are just not neutral to the source or don't even try to be. They have a voice of their own. If you like that then you can't go wrong with the line up. Just go higher, you will definitely get more.

Thanks geek! Appreciated.

rja,

I listened fairly extensively to the Harbeth line before I decided at one point to get the Harbeth Super HL5plus.

I think the HL5plus is an amazing speaker (and I disagree with geek101 on this: I think they are quite neutral!  In fact, they are among the most 'even handed' speakers I've heard).

I was seeing if I could replace my big Thiel 3.7s with a smaller speaker.  I had the HL5plus for about a month of listening or more.  I only sold them because I realized I couldn't give up the scale and quality of the much bigger Thiels.  But the HL5plus was superb.

Some thoughts I've written before on the Harbeths:

When I’ve heard the smaller Harbeth Monitor 30’s I found they had a clear, rich, punchy mid-range oriented sound - the Harbeth magic. My main qualm is they didn’t go very low in the bass and they had a somewhat “darker” or shelved tonality that tended to remind me I was hearing reproduced sound (engaging as it was). Though some would just term it the mid to back concert hall sonic perspective, I guess.

The Harbeth HL Compact 7ES-3 is voiced to give a bigger sound, richer in the bass region and it satisfies in scale and drama in a way that the Monitor 30 didn’t quite match. It is both beautiful sounding, fun and could boogie. However, the added bass isn’t to my ears quite as refined as the rest of the range, a bit of bloat and overwarmth to get to that excitement at that price point.

For me the Super HL5 Plus is the “Goldilocks” of the line where everything clicks into place. There is the added bass extension and scale you don’t get from the Monitor 30, but the bass is distinctly more refined with the pitch control compared to the cheaper 7ES-3. There is also an opening up and extending of the top end - a deliberate new design choice from Shaw - making for a truly realistic “un-canned,” airy tonal balance that gives me that “this could be real” sensation. All that while keeping the Harbeth glory in the midrange.