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Harbeth Super HL5 plus Break-in

The following is an excerpt from the Harbeth User Guide:

"After exercising your new Harbeths for just a few hours they will be fully ready for a lifetime of enjoyment".

After going to the Harbeth site it pretty much said the same thing as the user guide but added that the supertweeter would take a little longer to break-in.
My new Harbeth's sounded the same after I put on around the first 100 hours so I believed the above until around the 120-150 hour mark I noticed (or so I think) the midrange sounding more realistic to the point of more enjoyment! I don't know if I'm actually hearing an improvement or I'm just getting used to the Harbeth sound since the 5's are my first experience with Harbeth in my listening room.

I would like to hear others that have owned or still own the Super 5's and whether or not you have experienced the same thing as me or something else.
routeman21
prof
3,435 posts
 

Note that Harbeth speakers are designed to have the grills on. Most speakers designed to have the grills on are more accurate and smoother with the grills.


Audiophiles are conditioned to search for ever more "transparency and detail" so "why would I want grill covers between my ears and the drivers?"


They take off the grills, now the frequency response changes a bit, usually a bit of a peak in the higher frequencies and then it's "wow, listen to that new air and detail!"


But I find this is almost always at the expense of smoothness, neutrality and coherency.  It's a more "look at me" from the upper frequencies/tweeter" sound.   But...if you like it better you like it better.
rrcpa
37 posts
 
@chorus

I didn't metion any other brands because I'm not familiar with them.
avanti1960
1,405 posts
 
@prof 

With the Harbeth speakers I have owned I can listen with the grilles on when using solid state amplification.  
With tube amplification there is absolutely no way, grilles must go in the box.  
prof
3,435 posts
 
With tube amplification there is absolutely no way, grilles must go in the box.


Ok, looks like our experiences differ.

I auditioned the HL5Plus using solid state amps.   And on my Conrad Johnson Premier 12 tube mono blocks, the Super HL5plus absolutely sang - open, airy, realistic, no problems at all suggesting the grills needed to be off once I used tube amplification.



big_greg
6,554 posts
 
For the most part, I've left the grills on my Super HL5 Plus, mostly because they are in a somewhat high traffic area in my living room.  I keep the grills off my P3ESR, they are in pretty safe spots.  I love the way both sets of speakers look with the grills off.  I don't notice a significant difference in sound either way.  And I use tube amps with the HL5s.
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