Is there a point of diminished returns with amps and Harbeth 30.1s?

All good responses here. My 2 cents worth. If you are happy with the sound quality of the system, just stick with what you have. There will always be something out there which will sound different and/or better than the current gear that you have in your system, whether it’s the amp, DAC or any other component.

Attempt to upgrade or change the amp only if there’s something bothering you ie. some aspects of the sound that you wish to address. If you have unlimited funds and/or are bored and want to have some fun, you can always choose to tinker with the system by swapping amps on the 30.1.

I’m rather familiar with Harbeth speakers and have listened to the M30.1 but do not own it. They respond well to amp, source and cable change. The 30.1s are rather inefficient and require a powerful amp to provide the current and drive.

agree 100% w @chayro

can’t pay attention to alan shaw and his blanket ’truisms’ on amps cabling stands etc for his harbeth speakers, as good speakers as they are...

he just wants you to spend as much as you can on the speakers, don’t pay much attention and just make do with the rest...

cabling and amps, stands too, to a somewhat lesser extent, matter...

can’t pay attention to alan shaw and his blanket ’truisms’ on amps cabling stands etc for his harbeth speakers, as good speakers as they are...

Yes, that’s true. The leader has the support of his cohorts.. It’s a tight-knit clan on the Harbeth forum as anyone who doesn’t share the same ideas or philosophies will usually be cast aside like an unwanted child. Many have left the forum after they find the iron-fist style approach of moderation to be a bit intimidating.

I’m not sure if things have changed now as AS has been recommending Hegel amps for his speakers several years ago. I have not been to the HUG for 10 years now and have no desire to do so in the future.

I would not recommend extremely unbalanced allocation of funds for any given type of component because the results will not be optimal.  But, that is not to say that there is a limitation on the ability to hear an  improvement in a source component or amplifiers because of limitations is a speaker as good as the 30.1s; they are plenty good for hearing the qualities of any amplifier.  I've heard impressive demonstrations of $50,000 amplifiers playing very modest speakers; differences between the amps being compared were very easy to hear even if the speakers were "modest."  Sometimes one does not know how good a particular speaker is until it is played with an amp that it is not commonly paired with because they components are supposedly not in the same class.