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What Is So Special About Harbeth?

SLike probably all of you, I just received notice from Audiogon of a 20% discount on Harbeth XD. I clicked on the tab and found that the sale price is about $2700. I have read so many glowing comments here about Harbeth — as if just saying the name is the password for entering aural nirvana. I admit, I haven’t listened to Harbeth speakers. But looking at these, they just look like smallish bookshelf speakers. I’m not questioning how good others say these speakers are, but HOW do they do it out of an ordinary-looking box?

Is it the wood? Is it the bracing? Is it the crossover components? Is it the cone material? What is the reason why these Harbeth’s are such gems compared to other bookshelf speakers? What is it about the construction or technology that makes these speakers a deal at $2700 on sale versus the $800, 900 or $1,000 that others normally cost? What is the secret that makes audiophiles thrill to get such a costly bargain?

bob540
arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,682 posts
 

@prof -- well said!

This reminds me of a story where there was a machine failure at a factory which caused the entire line to shut down. This would have impacted hundreds of production orders and caused severe backlogs. Everyone tried to fix it for hours but couldn't figure out how to get the machine to start again. Finally, a contractor walks in, picks up a specific type of screw, replaces the faulty screw, and gets the machine to start again. He later sends an invoice for $1000 to the factory. The manager asks, "Really? $1000 to replace a screw which probably costs $1?" To which the contractor replies, "yes, $1 to replace the screw and $999 to know which type of screw to use and where to put it."

jerryg123's avatar
jerryg123
3,429 posts
 

Love these fables, myths, urban legends.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,316 posts
 

@arafiq good one!

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,935 posts
 

One reason why Jim T and other astute designers use a lot of parts in the filter is to tame the tanking circuits formed by natural resonance peaks of all drivers. Properly executed anti tanking parts are not in the signal path… carry on oh keyboard audiophiles….

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,935 posts
 

@arafiq right on !!!!!

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