A move from Harbeth to... Wilson?


Hi gang, hoping for some thoughts. 

I'm very happy at the moment with my system, but getting a slight itch for an upgrade. So many options and directions I could go, but the one I'm pondering at the moment is moving from my Harbeth C7ES-3 speakers to Wilson Sabrinas. (The Sabrina X is now out, which may bring the Sabrina down to my budget... maybe.)

My room is approx. 10'6" x 15'6" with the speakers along the short wall and my listening chair is about 2/3 back from said wall. The C7s plus their stands are just about the right size for this room, and the Sabrinas on their floor spikes are similar in "overall" size, though obviously the speakers themselves are bigger.

Current amp is a Pass Labs XA30.5 which doubles down at 4Ohms (plus lots of headroom) and comes just within Wilson's "recommended" amplifier power. The room is on the smaller side, and I don't listen loud; I've never "wanted" for more power with the C7s. (Though every once in a while I wonder what a pair of XA60.5s would sound like in here, but that's an entirely different thread.)

Eh? Any thoughts?
don_chisholm

Showing 4 responses by twoleftears

I auditioned several models of Daedalus before getting Harbeths.  The Daedali (?) are very good, very even-handed, so to say, but none of them produced the 40.2 magic.
Move up the Harbeth food chain.  If you really like their sound, moving to Sabrinas may not be the best change.  If you want to try something different, check out the Vienna Acoustics Liszt.
The few times I've listened to Vandersteens, they struck me as having a rather "forward" presentation.  By this I'm not referring to tonal balance, which was fine, but rather to where the plane of the sound stage started, which was well in front of the plane of the drivers.  Tastes will differ, but I prefer a more "distanced" presentation, where the front of the sound stage coincides with the front plane of the speakers or even starts a little behind them.  The Harbeths are 100% satisfactory in this regard.