Alternative to my P3ESR

stephenjess

Based on what you are looking for (more mid-bass and bass), you'd probably need a bigger woofer. Here are some recommendations for you:

(1) Philharmonic BMR large stand mount speakers can be bought new for $1,950 to $2,100 depending on finish. They have a ceramic 6" woofer, a 2.5" mid, and a RAAL ribbon tweeter. Bass extension to 36hz. Best speaker under $2,000 I've heard, excellent mid bass and bass too

(2) Buchardt Audio S400 MkII (Not the MkI) can be found used for around $1,500. It has a 6" long stroke woofer, and a 5" x 8" passive radiator, with a .75" tweeter in a round waveguide. They claim to go down to 33hz, but I think 38hz is more realistic; still great for a small stand mount speaker......I've owned mine for about 3 years, excellent speakers

(3) Mofi SourcePoint 8s - $2,100 per pair, 8" concentric driver with 1.25" tweeter. Excellent sound, but I've only heard them twice at Axpona shows.....so I'm going off of memory

If you could stretch to $3,000

(1) Fritz Carbon 7 SE MkII - $2,900 per pair, and are brilliant speakers for the money. 7" carbon/paper woofer with 1" dome tweeter, go down to 38hz; very easy to drive as well; incredibly well thought of speakers

(2) Revival Atalante 3 - $3,100 per pair, and again are brilliant speakers....some of the best stand mounts I've heard. 7" woofer with a 1 1/8" tweeter, and claim to go to 44hz.....but they sound like they go deeper

Best of luck

I doubt you will find anything "better" than the Harbeths under $2k. Different, of course.

lack of mid bass is likely from something like a desk reflection causing the bass null...try adjusting your boundaries if you can. The Harbeth's should be strong down to around 70hz. 

Try raising the crossover point of the REL T5...that will help fill in the hole.

If you require a high subwoofer crossover point....especially above 80hz, the REL T-Zero will do better in that 80-130hz range. 

A measurement mic will really show you what's going on. You may just be a mid bass head ;-) 

Some great insights and suggestions in here! My P3esrs sound better driven by my Wyred4sound 100w class D amp than they did with my sugden a21se sig (which sounds sublime over the Atalante 3 in my main system - those speakers are probably too big for your application though). Maybe sell the speakers and put the proceeds toward one of the P3 XD models and/or buy a more powerful SS amp to try. Something about the sound you get out of that diminutive P3 format that would make me reluctant to switch from that model altogether!

Selling my P3esr’s was one of the few times I’ve regretted selling my gear. It’s hard to describe but there’s something special about the sound these little guys produce. My suggestion is to buy a beefy SS amp. The P3esr’s will scale further.