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Harbeth 40.3's. Should I buy them?

I've owned a lot of speakers. I've just finished auditioning a pair of Alta Audio Alec's. Not good at all in my system. I own a pair of Spatial X3 open baffle speakers. I really like them and my wife doesn't. I recently bought a pair of Buchardt S400 MKII's for a second system. I say second system because I have a dedicated 2 channel room 15' x 19'. Upstairs in a much larger room, the Buchardt's were anemic, fine, 2 Adam subs solved the anemia. Then just for the heck of it (and because audio is a hobby) I moved the Buchardt monitors downstairs in the 'big guys' room. The Buchardt's loved that room and my wife loved the Buchardt's except they are to small for the listening room and our listening tastes.

I'm tired of buying and selling speakers. I've been to a hundred audio shows and have "favorites". Harbeth have always sounded great, not a show stopper, but, at shows, they've been totally inoffensive, warm and engaging in the same way I like Audio Notes AN-e.
We play all types of music. My wife especially likes classical, leaning towards female singers but too, she'll rock out on Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Keyes, Journey, you get the idea. Me, classic rock but anything that soothes my soul works. I like to play loud. My wife - louder, but not teenager loud.

We have an awesome front end to work with. Allnic T2000 30th integrated (60wpc in triode 150wpc in pentode), Allnic H5500 phono and Allnic D10000 DAC.

Why wouldn't we happy with this speaker?

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Showing 2 responses by bassdude

bassdude
456 posts
 

Have the Harbeth 40.2’s and 30.1’s and both are grand for classical, jazz, vocals, all things acoustic... sound a lot like Quad ESL 57’s - which is the best for these types of sounds. Harbeth’s sound best with great SS electronics - Harbeth usually shows them with Hegel - I drive mine with the Hegel H590 - which is superb. Though, it seems like the .3 versions sound better with tubes than the prior versions.

But... if... I were really into rock... I’d either learn to love "all things acoustic," or maybe consider something like ATC 100’s (or so) - if I were going to invest that much. They will do both well - just as the piece was recorded - since they are designed as studio monitors for sound engineers.

Though - if you don’t mind the size of speaker... the Legacy Audio Aeris or Focus SE’s is very hard to best, by any speaker - they also do all types of music very well. The only reason I don’t have these is because of their size / weight... and... because I have a house with a crawl space / suspended floor, which acts like a drum with loud music (hard to damp).

And... if you don’t mind saving some money... and have enough room for positioning the speakers... the Klipsch Heritage line of speakers will do all types of music very well - the La Scala, Cornwall, or Forte all sound superb and are very easy to drive - a very "live" sound.

The only reason I didn’t mention the Linkwitz LX521, which is the best... is... because you’re wife probably wouldn’t like their look.

If you can’t demo all of these at your local dealers... then go to YouTube and listen to demos of each speaker and you will very quickly learn how each performs with various kinds of music with various types of electronics. Those who say you can’t tell anything by listening to your computer or earphones on YouTube... simply aren’t listening - you can most certainly discern the differences in the sounds of various systems. You will not hear the sound as you would in your room, but you can certainly tell the differences between systems.

Here are the Klipsch Forte’s with tube electronics...

 

bassdude
456 posts
 

@avanti1960

... is correct - the Harbeth 30 and 40 series require a good SS amp to bring out all their capabilities and sound their best - just as Harbeth "suggests" - they typically show them driven by Hegel SS amps. As I noted before, mine didn’t sound great, until I got the H590 to drive them properly. Now they do!

Though, I like their sound with "all things acoustic" - I don’t listen to rock much. As I noted, with the "all things acoustic" they are superb and sound very much like Quad ESL 57’s - which are the best there is with that type of sound (when set up and driven properly).

Though... as I noted previously... if... I had the right room for them (and could manage them physically)... I would have the Legacy Audio Aeris, or Focus SE / XD’s - which do it all as well as it can be done - Superb! They may not sound as much like the ESL 57’s with the 57’s "rich, liquid sound"... but... the Legacy’s are the next best thing for a wide range of music, bass, percussion and dynamics... when you want that!

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