This is an interesting thread, many of you out there will have a problem with my two cents worth, but here it goes:
I'm not saying this to sound superior, but I have the blessing of being a professional musician. I teach music all day, five days a week, and am performing or rehearsing with a variety of musical groups most days of the week (I'm a trombonist, and you don't get paid by anyone to play this instrument if you don't have a very discerning ear-I've been blessed with this as well). The point I'm trying to make here is that I'm exposed to the sounds of real musical instruments all day, every day, and my Harbeth speakers (Compact 7 ES-2's and Monitor 30's) reproduce the subtleties of these sounds as well as anything I've heard.
I'm a member of the Harbeth User Group, and I get the impression that many of the folks who own these speakers attend live musical events on a regular basis and are very familiar with the sound of real instruments being played in a real acoustical space-they fall into the category of music lovers. The other broad category of folks who are into this hobby are audiophiles, and hey, there's nothing wrong with this at all. Here we have people who enjoy listening for the differences between various pieces of gear, playing around with cables, etc. If this brings you enjoyment and relaxation, go for it! Harberth speakers, however, may not do it for you. I've found that these speakers sound great with low powered tube amps, high powered tube amps, low powered solid state. I often have my Monitor 30's (85 dB sensitivity) hooked up to a 12 watt Aleph clone Class A solid state amp and the sound is glorious. The speakers sound good with a variety of relatively inexpensive wires-so I'm just not thinking about this stuff anymore, I'm just enjoying the music.
Harbeths are for people who have more going on in their lives than just audio and they'll allow you to get off the audiophile merry-go-round, if that's where you'd like to go. If I could do it all over again, I'd dump 80% of my money into a pair of Monitor 40's and use the rest for source and amplification-this sounds crazy, but trust me, it would work.
If you've not heard these speakers, ignore the specs, ignore the box (which, by the way, is highly engineered)and check them out if you can find them. Take them home for a trial, if possible. You may find that the entire way you think about audio and listening to music will change dramatically.
I'm not saying this to sound superior, but I have the blessing of being a professional musician. I teach music all day, five days a week, and am performing or rehearsing with a variety of musical groups most days of the week (I'm a trombonist, and you don't get paid by anyone to play this instrument if you don't have a very discerning ear-I've been blessed with this as well). The point I'm trying to make here is that I'm exposed to the sounds of real musical instruments all day, every day, and my Harbeth speakers (Compact 7 ES-2's and Monitor 30's) reproduce the subtleties of these sounds as well as anything I've heard.
I'm a member of the Harbeth User Group, and I get the impression that many of the folks who own these speakers attend live musical events on a regular basis and are very familiar with the sound of real instruments being played in a real acoustical space-they fall into the category of music lovers. The other broad category of folks who are into this hobby are audiophiles, and hey, there's nothing wrong with this at all. Here we have people who enjoy listening for the differences between various pieces of gear, playing around with cables, etc. If this brings you enjoyment and relaxation, go for it! Harberth speakers, however, may not do it for you. I've found that these speakers sound great with low powered tube amps, high powered tube amps, low powered solid state. I often have my Monitor 30's (85 dB sensitivity) hooked up to a 12 watt Aleph clone Class A solid state amp and the sound is glorious. The speakers sound good with a variety of relatively inexpensive wires-so I'm just not thinking about this stuff anymore, I'm just enjoying the music.
Harbeths are for people who have more going on in their lives than just audio and they'll allow you to get off the audiophile merry-go-round, if that's where you'd like to go. If I could do it all over again, I'd dump 80% of my money into a pair of Monitor 40's and use the rest for source and amplification-this sounds crazy, but trust me, it would work.
If you've not heard these speakers, ignore the specs, ignore the box (which, by the way, is highly engineered)and check them out if you can find them. Take them home for a trial, if possible. You may find that the entire way you think about audio and listening to music will change dramatically.