What Is So Special About Harbeth?

UNTIL... I found the right electronics to drive them - which are the amps the designer demos them with - the Hegel amps.

I find that so amusing, as only a few years ago Alan Shaw was quoted as saying that his well fettled 1970’s transistor amplifiers were good enough for product development and that he didn’t think any worthwhile improvements would be made by upgrading. Something must have happened to clear away the fog.

Next thing he’ll be buying decent speaker cable..

Alan Shaw is obsessed about accurately reproducing the human voice, and he brings up the topic regularly on Harbeth's forum. Shaw's reasoning is that our hearing developed from millions of years of evolution to be hyper sensitive at picking up subtle nuances in the human voice. Therefore speaker performance is especially critical in the human vocal range where our hearing is most discerning. He has talked about using recordings of spoken speech during their engineering development and how it highlights qualities that may not be apparent from music.

This focus explains the strengths and weaknesses of Harbeth speakers. If you can get the human voice right, a lot of things come along with it. It is the reason for the famed Harbeth midrange and why it is particularly good at reproducing unamplified acoustic instruments. However, they haven't given the same attention to reproducing electronic sounds and dynamics such as in rock music.

It is obvious these folks are hurting.

On the Harbeth forum, Alan Shaw said they were careful about negotiating Brexit and the pandemic, and he says the company remained financially solid. Actually one of their biggest problems is meeting demand (already presold for half of this year). Like other businesses they are having problems in the supply chain. They lost one of their local cabinet makers and had trouble finding a replacement that meets their standards.

They lost one of their local cabinet makers and had trouble finding a replacement that meets their standards.

May I ask when did this happen? I noticed few complaints on the cabinet of the Harbeth on another forum. Fade marks and uneven blotches on the cherry wood veneer of the SHL5+ and 40.1 or 40.2.

However, they haven't given the same attention to reproducing electronic sounds and dynamics such as in rock music.

and it shows. While I can admire many things about Harbeth speakers I could never own a pair. I prefer ATC’s blend of compromises at the relevant price points and feel they cover more bases in terms of musical genre. In particular, I believe Harbeth trail ATC in PRAT, which Alan Shaw openly declines to recognise as a valid musical/design concept.