What Is So Special About Harbeth?

I love my Harbeth’s, but would not recommend them for hard rock, they are in my opinion, not ‘fast’, they do not “rock”, by which I mean AC/DC sounds polite. Amazing for vocal, acoustic, classical, blues, jazz, but if Pantera or Ghost is your cup of tea, I’d suggest other speakers. They don’t sound bad with hard rock, but I have heard much better with other speakers for that type of music. 

During the lock down I saw a special offer from the local dealer for the 40.2. Because of the Harbeth hype, I spent 12K without auditioning them as they were sealed / new pair. At home, I discovered it was very limited in its abilities no matter the electronics or the set up. For some types of music they excel and for some others, is difficult to endure. Make sure you audition with all types of music and various volume levels. No experience with other Harbeth models.

Harbeths are very precise, a little bit too relaxed at some points, but when you have them well placed, away from the wall and not toed in too much, they can be quite fantastic. However, I have had as much fun or more with Klipsch Cornwalls, sometimes a bit of colouration is a good thing.

It's dreadfully difficult to design dynamic speakers. Specifically the cross overs. I pretty much listen to classical exclusively, so for me Quad electrostatics are best. I think it's safe to say, that designing electrostatic speakers is much less of an accomplishment to designing a great sounding pair of dynamic speakers.

op

plenty has been written harbeth on this forum

the search bar above is your friend

like any successful, enduring make of hifi gear, it appeals to a certain audience that values certain attributes

good stuff is rarely cheap, harbeth is no exception, especially bought new