Harbeth 30.2 or Falcon Gold Badge


I started my speaker search convinced I should was going to get the Falcon Gold Badges (Madrone 50th Anniversary) been waiting for over a month, which left me too much time to think about other options. Now considering the 30.2 XDs from Harbeth. 

I wanted to get some opinions from the experts here on which you would recommend. To give you an idea of my listening habits, it's mostly classic Jazz and Blues, acoustic music. I sit about 8 feet from speakers, have a Sugden Integrated, a Rega P10, Hana Red Cart. I am auditioning Phonos stages so thats undecided.

 

Let's hear it!! 

 

jc51373

I heard all these speakers at Deja Vu (I don’t work there).  I have heard JM Reynaud speakers a while ago and liked them a lot too.

My favorite speakers are high efficiency horn systems or systems using fullrange drivers as wide range drivers in multi-way systems.

For a point of reference, my other in-house speakers (in addition to Harbeth) are Volti Rivals, Fleetwood Deville SQs, and Studio Electric M4s.  If someone finds the 30.2s boring there is something else amiss in their system.

@badgerdms

Safe to say you are referring to my post and safe to say you didn’t read it. No need to get defensive, every speaker you own isn’t necessarily for everyone else.

Nothing amiss since I plopped the JMRs and they sound glorious. I wouldn't be the first to accuse Harbeth of sounding boring. My system isn't a high watt A/B system, it's pure class A. So as I mentioned and you might have missed, they probably needed more power, though no other speaker I've owned including Wilsons sound as clamped as the Harbeths. 

I have Harbeth 30.2 Anniversary powered by Hegel H390 - to my ears, in my room - they are sublime: punchy, musical, engaging beyond words. They do something very few others do in my room - there is an airy ambient presence - almost like Maggie’s - very very “live” sounding. They don’t produce the slam of big floorstanders of course, nor are they analytical with detail, but as another said earlier, I too auditioned a lot - up to $20k - and chose the 30.2. 

The 30.2 XD are a step up in dynamics and scale from an LS3/5a speaker and are world class.  

The only caveat is that they might be a bit too smooth sounding with an overly smooth amplifier like a Luman.  I demoed them with the new Luxman L 507z and the sound was golden and euphonic and a touch too smooth overall.  

Good news is that the sound is still exceptional and can be made to pop simply by removing the grilles.  Recommended.