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Quality of construction on some speakers- namely Harbeth

I have been doing, the what I am sure is impossible, looking for a great consencus speaker to try.  Because of my tinnitus and some suggestions- I am looking at cloth or other soft tweeters that emphasis mid range.  Harbeth and quite a few other BBC sound speakers are highly thought of and seem to fit my needs.  While looking at used speakers out there, I couldn't help but notice that besides being a lot of ham handed owners, a lot of these box speakers are coming apart at the the corners and their veneers are cracking.  My question is, English moist country made and then living in drier climates doom these to seperating or is it just knocking them over causing it?
mocktender
speakermaster
738 posts
 
It is related to speaker care and maintenance not a quality of construction issue.
pokey77
1,266 posts
 
I've been around Harbeth's quite a bit and never noticed construction problems. The 30.2s are midrange oriented but still have nice bass and good upper-end extension without being fatiguing. Play them with a tube integrated and you'll be very happy.
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,134 posts
 
Very disappointing ,Al the owner of Harbeth hung up on me about 8 years ago because I called him out on the Subpar cheap Xovers parts 
look at 6 moons in one of the  reviews it shows the Xover .
I located these shiny gun drop maroon caps they are from Taiwan , and cheap ceramic resistors ,for a speaker this expensive ,a huge markup for profit. I even mentioned Clarity caps made in the U,K
much better ,why not use U.K  capacitors ?  The phone ☎️ hung up. Great midrange driver everything else decent ,at best .
thsts why I refused to buy one ,but know several friends who have upgraded theirs ,with my assistance  with several speakers.
mschott's avatar
mschott
132 posts
 
You called to tell him you think he cheaped out on components and he hung up on you. I’d have done the same. 
mlsstl
1,436 posts
 
There are some audio manufacturers out there that have strong opinions about various issues that run contrary to popular audiophile received wisdom. This may involve design decisions, component choices and so on. Alan Shaw is one of those contrarians on several levels and doesn't wish to waste time debating his choices. If you like his speakers, great, buy them. If you don't like them, go away.   

I've owned Spendors and heard Harbeths many times and think both brands are excellent and very musical sounding. I never had any trouble with the cabinet quality of the Spendors I owned which included two of the classic models and two of the S series. 
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