Harbeth again…or other speakers for acoustic music?


Hi!

I’ve been without any decent hifi setup for a few years now but lately had the thoughts of investing in a good system again. Let me tell you little about my background and what I’m searching for. I live in a place far from any hifi-stores, I’ve not so much experience of listening to a lot of different systems or visiting hifi shows, but I’ve been playing music myself, mostly jazz, for about 20 years and have been in many performances both as musician and as audience.

About 5 years ago I first bought a pair of Harbeth P3 second hand along with a Rega amp. Pretty soon I wanted something bigger in scale so I swapped the speakers for a pair of 30.1 and the amp for a Croft 25/7 combo. The sound was really really good in so many ways, best sound and midrange I’ve ever heard before! Even though my apartment back then was not optimal with concrete walls the vocals was very lifelike. But after a while I feeling somehow that something was missing. I’m no bass junkie or so but I was tempted to try something that had little more depth and covered the bass region better, so I was started looking at SHL5+ and C7ES3. I also thought about integration some subs but never tried that route. Swapped the 30.1 for C7 but I was immediately disappointed. I never got them to sound good at my place. I thought they lacked the magic I felt 30.1 had.

 

I ended up selling all my gear, but the sound of 30.1 and Croft combo really etched back in my mind. It was more emotional to listen to music as I ever before had experienced. I prefer listen to acoustic music, jazz, small groups ensembles but occasional big band and some lighter pop, but looking for something that excells with vocals and acoustic instruments. It can absolutely be little on the warmer sound, I can’t stand harsh and cold sound.


So now I’m looking for a system again and would like to hear what suggestions you have. I listen to low to modest volumes. No heavy rock or metal. I need something that can play good on low volume. HE speakers and a SET amp would be an alternative but also is Harbeth. I know there’s 30.2 now and XD. Integrating with subs could be Ok. My living room is about 15x12 feet and the speakers cannot be to big and dominant, ex Quad ESL is not an option. There is a few softer walls and I think 1 concrete wall.

 

Happy to hear your thoughts..

128x128philsons

I went from falcon ls3/leben to harbeth 30.1 with croft/tron and now tannoy /luxman each time  it got better... 

@philsons when you say speakers too big for room do you mean space or that they will be loud? I play my tannoys at lower dB than I did my harbeths... They convey so much more info from huge 15inch tulip driver 

@richdirector Thanks for the input! I think it will be to tight with to big speakers as it must work together in my main living room, I don’t have access to a pure listening room unfortunately, but that’s a wish for the future.

There are quite a number of models from Sonus Faber which would serve you well also - choice dependent on your budget. Apart from the very high end models, they tend to be pretty compact and a good fit for your size of room.

@avanti1960 Thanks for commenting. The past days I’ve been all fired up about getting some good hifi again. Since it’s a lot of money I plan on taking a trip to the capitol city Stockholm sometime during next year and audition speakers, first of all Harbeth range but if possible other speakers that are mentioned here. I can’t deny that 30.1 made a really strong impact on me although I missed some lower frequencies. The midrange, vocals and instruments was more lifelike than I’ve ever heard a hifi-setup sound before. I can’t even imagine how the 40.X must sound with the right conditions!

 

@steveashe Thank you for taking the time to write about your story and impressions, very helpful.

 

@yoyoyaya Good tip, will check them out, thanks.

 

 

I have not tried other amps than my Croft 25/7 I had back then, equipped with NOS Tesla tubes. So it’s gonna be interesting to try different ones. What amps can you recommend working real good? I played all digital and the same will be this time.