Piano Notes On Harbeth SHL 5

Nice theories....

back to the Harbeth 5's. They can be extremely tight on the low end and produce a piano gorgeously....it all depends on what gear you have them paired with, what stands they are, and what room they're in, and even cabling...

to say you know the Harbeth sound because you heard them in one setup is not informative. Try them with different things, and you'll hear what I mean.

(for my two cents subjectively, I would think Krell would be dreadful with them, and I hate Dynaudios-do not sound like music. Different characteristics altogether.)

"so is it only me"
No its not only you,IMO if you like the speed,transparency,detail etc of Dynaudio theres really no way to go with Harbeths.Although Ive never owned Harbeths(and never would)Ive listened to them way too many times and always came away with the same impression as what your saying..So no, your not alone

very strange ,I find highs of SHL5 more extented than on Dynaudio C1 or contour s1.4 I tried krell and shl5 for several times,and found it was not a perfect match.I think piano notes are perfect on harbeth ,but driving them with japanes Technics mosfet amp su-a3000,su-c3000 which sounds much more cleaner and have better midrange(more weight,livelier) reproduction.

Piano strings are in groups that decay in various degrees if sustained...compare a digital piano by muting it during a chord strike and then bring in the volume while it's decaying and you can demo what I mean...an actual piano has movement and harmonic waves during decay, digital piano doesn't. El Fluctuo A Mundo.

I sold some otherwise well regarded speakers due to midrange piano distortion...I listen to a lot of acoustic piano in small jazz trios or whatever and I have to have it clean or it drives me nuts.

I found my Shl5 very sensitive to speaker placement and room treatment as it creates a lot of mid bass around the room. I was having fat undefined bass and too warm sounding mids before room treatment. After placing one ceiling trap and 2 multi-traps at the back wall, the bass is now tight and defined but the mid and highs are almost too neutral to my liking. When moving the speakers a few inches in or out again changes the character of the sound. I found they are much more difficult to place then my Thiels 3.6! Anyway, once placed right, their tones, textures and mids range are very addictive!