Potential Pair of Great Bookshelf Speakers for Sale!


What are they? That is the question. I have a pair of Totem Sky's that I really enjoy. But, for aesthetics, I just purchased a pair of Harbeth P3ESR's in Olivewood Ash. They look fabulous! I haven't had much time to break them in yet, but my first impression of them is positive. But I think the Totem's have more realism in the mid and low bass area. I find my ears perking up on certain music and I'm thinking to myself how great that sounds from a small'ish' speaker. And, I'm not driving them with anything spectacular. I use an NAD AVR with 60 watts per channel and that seemed to be more than enough to get that wonderful sound. Anyway, we'll see how the P3's do in the next few weeks. As to the title of this thread, I'll be selling0  one of these pairs soon. Any comments are welcome.

Ag insider logo xs@2xrongvk

I'm in a similar position.  Currently have Wharfdale Jade 3 bookshelf speakers and have been considering Harbeth P3's.  The Jade 3's are really nice in my small room but the P3's shine in the mid-range female vocals that I prefer.  Is it worth switching?  Don't know.  I may have to buy some P3's and live with them for a few months.

Driving the Jade 3's with a Cambridge CXA-81.  Better to keep the Jade's and move to a better amp or DAC?  Just don't know.  PM me if you decide to keep the Totems.

Decisions, decisions! My next step is calibrate my NAD Dirac Live for the new P3’s and listen to them with and without Dirac and see how I feel. I’m hoping the Harbeths are the keepers but so far, I’m not hearing what I used to hear on the Sky’s. ;(

Well, the Harbeth’s run the signal through about 30 POS network components, so long term, they have a ceiling. You’ll never be able to upgrade the network without running it as external. Just not enough room to make a double-sided PCB network rack in there inside the speaker. The super cheap, bottom of the barrel, components are smaller than those that are considered to be audiophile quality. Some would say this is not a problem because the speakers produce a pleasing sound. However, these types of network components have an absolutely undeniable negative affect on the signal. The drivers, in the right hands, have much more potential than they will ever show here as configured by the engineers at Harbeth. But don’t shoot the messenger. Much more well known and respected network engineers have said much worse about what’s behind door numbers 1 and 2 on the Harbeth Show. Of course you remember Let’s Make a Deal?

No speaker is going to sound good thru an AVR . That's the problem . Get Buchardt S300mk2 for under a $1000 and off those other two.

@rongvk    a Rong decision!

A strange way to go about things.  You have the Totems that you like, so you go out and buy a pair of Harbeths.  Now you can't make up your mind which you want to keep.  But if you sell the Harbeths you will do in nearly half the money you just paid.

To see what a bad move this was, imagine you had gone out and bought 9 new pairs of speakers and you are listening to them all with a view to selling off 9 of the speakers you now have.

You can't go back but next time the right way to do this is to go out and listen to a range of different speakers.  When you hear one you like get a loan of it for a week or two to listen in your own room and system.  If you prefer it to your present speakers, buy it and sell the present ones.  That way you will be sure you prefer the new speakers before you lay out your hard-earned cash.