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Can the Harbeth 40.1's boggie ?????

I am not looking for ear shattering volume - but everything I have read ( and no, where I live I cannot listen to them )but I am considering them. But, can they play some rock and roll and get out of their own way ???? Reviewers and owners have noted that they sound great at low volume levels - and they have an '' organic natural sound '' - that's great but can they play Lynard Skynard, some Allman Brothers and god forbid some Grateful Dead that well - like they advertise -sounds like real music ??? I also listen to Eva Cassidy, The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Pat Methany, JJ Cale and most of all The Beatles ....and why do see so many of them for sale ??? Ummmmm.....
garebear
garebear OP
1,186 posts
 
Airegin...good point made. However, my systems have chnaged as well but the pursuit of trying to re-create the artist's emotional performance has never changed. I agree that some of the music I listen to now is different from what I listened to 25 years ago.....better, that would be subjective and only up to the listener. I have now had the Harbeth 40.1's for almost 2 months now.....and your ears do adjust to the changes that you make in your system. I will say it again....they are different and they can play beautiful music that is one thing for sure.
dkasab's avatar
dkasab
1 posts
 
I'm a Harbeth dealer so take my opinion for what its worth. Yes they can boogie but you need some serious power to do so. Took a long time to figure this out. They also need very very careful room placement. Strangely they are picky unlike any other Harbeth speakerss. Even small movements will change the sound and bass characteristics. When set up right, nothing sounds better. They are simply steallar and will do 20hz in a room. No comparison to lesser Harbeths. They have an effortlesness, transparency and resolution the others do not have. Side by side it's painfully obvious as fantastic as the HL5 is.
jasonparmenter
29 posts
 
Hi I am the New Zealand Harbeth distributor and I have to agree with Dkasab, the Monitor 40.1 is a incredible speaker and when set up properly sounds incredible.

I play all types of music but not a big fan of 60/70s/80s Rock recordings as most has no bass for my tastes and sounds loud thin and just badly mastered.

I play a lot of Reggae / Roots & Dub music, the Harbeth Monitor 40.1 really portray a live like playback with natural bass tone, I also play a lot of male & female vocals and I find the Monitor 40.1 also excel here as well.

Garebear I think you will find with time and room placement experimentation you will appreciate what the Monitor 40.1 speakers can do.

There is a very good report on the Harbeth UK Forum at the moment of a Harbeth 40.1 speaker owner and amplifiers he has used with his Harbeths.

"As a user of the M40.1 for more than one year now, i can confirm that timbre and vocals are fabulous ... but that's not all: somehow they sound very clear , crisp, effortless, coherent while being very communicative at the same time. Very good timing and flow. Bass is deep, fast, tight, yet not overdamped. Cannot understand Jeff day's comments.. i guess it's all down to correct placement, which should not be taken lightly or for granted by even a professional reviewer. Each time i thought there could be a slight margin for improvement, it was down to the recording, or some minor tweaking (toe in, minute placement, rake ...). Never made complex musical lines and musicians's intentions as much sense as through these speakers .... in think i now "get" Coltrane at last.

I tried many electronics ( Naim, LFD, Rega osiris and elicit, YBA, Prima Luna, Audiomat, Manley, Unison, Accuphase ...) with them, and maybe i was lucky because the sound was always at least very good. However, best and incredible results were with LFD (any one of their different integrateds was great) and with Audiomat Opera, wich was very slightly better still, but very similar sound. For convenience (no power valves) i bought the LFD NCSE and use it with EAR acute with nos valves.

The system defenitely betters my full YBA1 + Spendor S-100, and also the YBA1 + Sonus Faber Amati i had tried.... thought also it bettered, but still in a very similar style, a valve mac intosh + Quad 2905 system i tried in the same room ...."

Cheers Jason.
bgeofft-duplicate-0
174 posts
 
NCSE with SHL5's and C7's - wonderful combination. Have heard 40.1's but thought too much cost for perceived improvement over SHL5's. Found SHL5's and C7's to be best buys in Harbeth line-up. The new babies in the line-up are a killer desktop speaker with a price to match.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,327 posts
 
I see that they are now listed for sale. What finally made you give up on the Harbeths?
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