Has anyone ever switched to Harbeth

Missioncoonery wrote: "I personally dont think Dynaudio has a "house sound"..."

I suspect that is a bit like a reference to accents. Most people don't describe themselves as having an accent. Rather the word is used to refer to others who sound different. Plenty of comedy routines have been based on a character declaring "I don't have an accent!"

I certainly find Dynaudio to have a distinct house sound, one that is fairly neutral but with a shade more coolness that I ultimately like.

As far as "out-performing", that is entirely dependent on what one is measuring. To use the well-worn auto example, one can claim a car with 10% more horsepower "out-performs" another make, but that doesn't mean much if the second car's overall design is more to my liking.

Only the OP is going to be able to decide which speaker he prefers and he's going to have to hear them to make that call.

Well, if its just that you are bored at least you will be trying something significantly different sounding from what I have heard.

Here's a link to a system thread here where the owner switched from a nice pair of Dyn Confidence to Harbeth that drew a lot of interest. Check that one out.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1176687829&read&keyw&zzdyn%20harbeth

I have not heard Dynaudios, but I understand they have excellent dynamic capability, some models better than others perhaps. I loved the Harbeth SHL5's but needed a speaker that could handle heavy music without breaking up. If that's an issue, it might not be the right speaker for you. If I only listened to instrumental, jazz, and some orchestral music at lower volumes I would have gladly kept the Harbeths.

I'm a long time Dynaudio fan / owner that recently switched to Harbeth on a whim. Made the move from Dyn. C4's to Harbeth M-40.1's. Both are great speakers with the Dyn C4's having the advantage in aesthetics, transparency, resolution and "wow" factor. The Harbeth's have a very simple, plain Jane appearance and excel over the C4's in their ability to sound good at low to moderate volume levels, and they just sound more "right" to me. I compare the Dyn C4's to an exciting high performance sports car, whereas the Harbeth M-40.1's are more of a comfortable luxury car. Of the two, I'd say Dyn's are a more neutral audiophile speaker... and the Harbeth's are more colored having a more sweet, organic house sound. Both the S3.4's and Super HL-5's are good choices, albeit different sounding.

taters will have to spend 10k plus to wind up in the same neighborhood.