"Disjointed", Forward Bass | Harbeth Monitor 30.1


Caught the audiophile bug a month ago. 

Sold my venerable Kef 103.2 bookshelfs and bought a pair of Monitor 30.1s.

Speakers are quite an upgrade in many ways. Beautiful imaging, lovely timbres, sweet highs, etc.

But the bass feels rather "disjointed" from the rest of the sonic presentation. In the column of sound, it is sitting a fair bit more forward than the mids/highs, and is much more "in your face". This is rather distracting, especially because of the open or transparent nature of the mids/highs. In short, the top end and the bottom end of the sound do not feel sufficiently integrated. 

Admittedly, I live in a condominium without the best room...but no amount of adjusting has fundamentally altered the sonic picture. Is this a characteristic of the Harbeth presentation - or is it my room?? 

Amplifier is a JVC AX-Z1010TN. Cables are thick, unknown brand that cost me $100 from 10 years ago. Mostly playing vinyl. The old KEFs did not exhibit this issue. 
pupil

Showing 1 response by timo62

pupil ,

Do you have any other speaker cables you can use to compare? Your speaker cables might be adding that unusual bass issue.  You should not be experiencing a bass distortion like that with The Harbeth 30.1s. 

I own a pair of The 30.1s and the bass does not sound like what you are describing on mine. They are beautiful sounding speakers. Proper placement does help.

If I add a warm speaker cable like Cardas Golden Cross , it will over emphasize the bass.

Did you buy The M30.1s new , or used?