from Harbeth 30.1 to SHL5+, an upgrade or lateral move?


Hello,
I have a pair of 30.1 for a while and think it’s time to upgrade. I wish to upgrade to 40.1 but the budget does not allow. What I can afford is SHL5+. However, considering the price difference between the 2 pairs is very small but the specs show that SHL5 can go quite much lower, I wonder if moving from 30.1 to SHL5+ is an upgrade or lateral move?
Thank you!
Huy.

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Showing 3 responses by quanghuy147

Thank you for your valuable advice. I dont have chance to audition, all I can is read comments, reviews and order from audiogon, ebay... that's why all your answers are of great help to me. So for now,I guess I will buy a sub or upgrade amp, source for 30.1s. I the future when my budget for audio is bigger I will think about 40.1s :). 
Thank you again!
To Rossb: The type of music I listen to is classical , jazz, vocal, pop. I agree with you that 30.1 has a very refined and natural  midrange. However, I feel the urge to upgrade because the soundstage of 30.1 is not wide (it could be due to my small room: 12 x 15 feet) and contrabass in jazz sounds weak and thin, which makes the song does not have the necessary bass. 

Do you experience the same on your 30.1 pair? I am using Quad 99 and 909 for it. 


Hi all, this is a follow up after 1.5 year using 30.1 .

To recap, I had problem with bass of 30.1, it was 'thin' and 'weak', i was disappointed with it and wanted to move to other speaker (SHL5+)
However, last week, a friend suggested me to use power conditioner in my system. I never believed in the power conditioner of any kinds but I still bought one because this friend has long been sensible in choosing audiophile equipment.

After getting a power conditioner from eBay, I put it in the system. I played tracks that I usually played to see if there is difference brought by the power conditioner.

Here are the improvements that I notice:
- the bass is noticeably stronger, more defined- musical instruments are separate, also, their positions on the stage are more pin pointed.
- the background is darker- the mid bass is revealed, I never knew I missed this range of frequencies and did not  much understand when people talked about "mid bass" 
The music is now more musical, especially the guitar is more romantic.

Everything is just like I have upgraded to a better amp or better DAC. Or to put it simple, the difference is like when you view the same picture in 720p and in 1080p. Everything is sharper, more beautiful. Now I have no complain about the bass of 30.1 anymore. Together with the marvelous mids and highs, I know I am going to keep these speakers for a long time. :)

FYI, the power conditioner I bought is a used Richard Gray Pole Pig, I used it with a RGPC High Tension power cable. I paid about $600 for these.

I believe there are other power conditioners that can make the same improvements, if it's possible, please share your experience with your power conditioner so we have more options to choose regarding the power conditioners.

Thank you all.

Best,
Huy.