Harbeth C7- Tube or solid state power?

thank you. Can I know, from your experience, what is the stand height which give the most bass?

tks,
Mark

The "most" bass won't be the most accurate bass. I use 16 inch stands, which are close in height to the 17 inch matching wooden stands that Harbeth used to provide with the speakers. Any lower than that and you may get more bass, but probably some lumpiness. I'd recommend 16-18 inches. Charlie and others, however, use higher stands, and seem to be happy.

To my ears, and confirmed by my in-room measurements taken from a listening position at which higher stands would make sense, the speakers sound thinner in the bass on 21 inch stands than they do on 16 inch stands.

Paul

I use, as Paul said, a 21" stand. I listen in near field and also use a subwoofer. This is an excellent combo.

Charlie

Dear All,

Tks for your valuable advice. I have measure my stand height, and confirm they measure about 24". Is these too tall? I use that for Dynaudio 1.3Mmk2, LS3/5A , proac, Quad 11L and find okay.

Now for the Harbeth, I use Manley Mon0-block with 175W X 2 and still find the loudspeaker bass shy. Is the power rating too low? The Quad 11L which is relatively smaller, give better bass and dynamic.

I have seen many review mention highly of these loudspeakers. But i have yet understand their true strength. Now I am pretty sure the imaging is extraordinary , with very natural bass.

However, after my A-B comparison, i find the LS3/5A mid more liquid(i still own 2 pairs of Ls3/5A),with my current set-up.

Any advice welcome.
Mark

Yeah, 24 inches is too tall. The other speakers you say you put at the same height are much smaller. When you place the Compact 7's at that height, what part of the speakers do you ears line up with? They should be at tweeter level, or a little higher with the speakers tilted backward to fire directly at your ears, (don't listen to anyone who generalizes about this from his experience with other speakers). In an anechoic chamber, or in a room on 16-18 inch stands, the 7's are flat to just below 50 hz, down 6 db at 40 hz. My guess is the "better" bass you are hearing is, at least in part, an enhanced response in the upper bass which a lot of smaller speakers have to give the illusion of having better bass. The 7's don't do that. You may also be getting some cancellations from reflections off the floor or furniture. Do you have a coffee table between you and the speakers?

I have had a combination of amp and preamp that results in lower output at 50 hz and below (high preamp output impedance and low amp input impedance), but if you are not hearing that from your other speakers, then I'd guess that's probably not your problem.

Just using some telephone books, chairs, carboard boxes filled with books, anything, move the speakers down a bit, get all the furniture out of the way, and make sure when you compare speakers that you are using an spl meter to match levels exactly. If you don't think the 7's are significantly better than the other speakers you mention, then they are not the speakers for you.

Paul