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A move from Harbeth to... Wilson?

Hi gang, hoping for some thoughts. 

I'm very happy at the moment with my system, but getting a slight itch for an upgrade. So many options and directions I could go, but the one I'm pondering at the moment is moving from my Harbeth C7ES-3 speakers to Wilson Sabrinas. (The Sabrina X is now out, which may bring the Sabrina down to my budget... maybe.)

My room is approx. 10'6" x 15'6" with the speakers along the short wall and my listening chair is about 2/3 back from said wall. The C7s plus their stands are just about the right size for this room, and the Sabrinas on their floor spikes are similar in "overall" size, though obviously the speakers themselves are bigger.

Current amp is a Pass Labs XA30.5 which doubles down at 4Ohms (plus lots of headroom) and comes just within Wilson's "recommended" amplifier power. The room is on the smaller side, and I don't listen loud; I've never "wanted" for more power with the C7s. (Though every once in a while I wonder what a pair of XA60.5s would sound like in here, but that's an entirely different thread.)

Eh? Any thoughts?
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larry5729's avatar
larry5729
1,008 posts
 
I think the Vienna Acoustics with their soft dome tweeter would sound less harsh.  I noticed they had a lot of bass and sounded best when listening to classical.  I did think they sounded great and I think you would get less fatigued listening to them.  I think the Wilson's sounded a bit harsh in the highs.  However, I needed to listen to them for a couple hours to determine what I was hearing.  I thought the Motion 60 Martin Logins sounded great, but when I went back and listened to them for a couple hours the ribbon tweeters seemed a bit harsh.
snackeyp's avatar
snackeyp
455 posts
 
@yogiboy stated that Harbeths sounded "boxy".
Can you define what boxy means?
My imagination tells me that it would sound like the music was coming from inside of a box, but this does nothing to describe the sound. If the box were a closed box the sound would sound muffled. Am I right?
If the box were open but the source was deep from inside the box the sound would be cavernous, or hollow. Or perhaps, like music coming through a megaphone or horn, which would be harsh or brittle. At least this is what I imagine.
I have had several models of Harbeth speakers over the past 14 years and have never heard them sound boxy in any variation of the term that I can imagine. Thanks for elaborating on this. I am eager to learn.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,653 posts
 

@snackeyp
To me, boxy means that the sound was ’small’ and you can tell exactly where it’s coming from.  This was my experience in my room with those other Harbeths that I have owned.  In my room the little P3 sounds very similar to a QUAD ESL. I am not putting down the larger Harbeths. They just did not work out for me!
aj523
362 posts
 
@snackeyp
@yogiboy

Definitely possible tp sound boxy if not set up right. And definitely the 40x’s are not image monsters, but set up right and you will be rewarded with the most musical speaker with the most beautiful tonality that I’ve ever heard.

chorus
976 posts
 
Other thoughts:

-Open Baffle from Spatial would be a different approach.

-If timbre is your hot button, try Tannoy. The 10" to 15" Dual
concentrics. Nelson Pass voices his amps with a tweaked Tannoy
dual concentric. They are efficient. The Wilsons will need a lot more
power than you currently own.

-The Sonus Faber Suggestion also makes sense to me.

Keep us posted please!

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