Report on Harbeths vs. Vandersteens

I've used Vandersteens with various electronics for 6-7 years, first 2ce sigs, then 3a sigs. They have many positive attributes. Among other things, they reveal all kinds of detail in the source material on the top end. On certain source material, that's fine. Over time, however, for my ears, I was hearing, in an unflattering light, too much negative information about source material that I really wanted to listen to. In that respect, I described that Vandersteens, in another thread, as being somewhat "unforgiving". That didn't sit well with some folks, but I stand by it, and point to Mike Fremer's review of the Quattros in Stereophile for a similar impression.

I tried dealing with the issue with cable and electronic changes (and eventually did like fairly well the Cary SLP 2002 with the ARC VT100 MkIII, pulled together with Cardas Cross cable throughout, with a Linn CD12 front end), but I finally decided to try a speaker change anyway. After much research, I took advantage of an opportunity to make a rather convoluted trade that netted me some Harbeth M30s on Sound Anchor stands instead of the Vandersteens. Based upon all the reading I'd done (and opinions from a few trusted folks), I figured I needed to spend some time with the BBC monitor sound, be it Harbeths or Spendors or possibly something else.

I'm very glad to have made the change. For my ears, this is a very interesting and satisfying direction, and I recommend it as an avenue to explore for anyone who can relate to my kind of concerns.

The Harbeths have plenty of energy in the highs, but their focus is on the mid-range and upper bass. They have less detail in the high frequency range, but lots of detail in the mids. They do a particularly lovely job with strings, massed or otherwise (which was a weak spot as between my ears and the Vandersteens). On some material, they sound rolled off compared to the Vandersteens, but on other material, they don't...and, yes, if it's the "right" recording, they can even be too bright. But I hear the latter far less frequently than I did on the Vandersteens.

I'm by no means the first one to recommend the "BBC sound" direction for a solidly pleasurable, warm and satisfying musical experience with a variety of source material, but I'm happy to join in that chorus at this point in my listening life...and look forward to sampling some Spendors and different Harbeths over the next few years.