Harbeth 30.2 XD Vs Triangle Magellan Duetto 40th anniversary

I auditioned both in my standmount speaker’s odyssey. Both are very fine performers with very different sonic signatures in my personal experience. Hence, a more careful system synergy matching exercise in final selection is strongly recommended IMO.

I chose the HARBETHs .….

My personal experience in MY system ( emphasis added) [ REGA OSIRIS integrated amp, REGA ISIS VALVE cdp/dac, MOON 280d MIND2 network player/ streamers / dac, PHILIPS 673 fm tuner, all CARDAS CLEAR cables loom]

-Both speakers crave high-end upstream electronics to perform at their  max. Both will graphically expose any warts or compromises 

-The DUETTOs are comparatively more forward and top-end brighter. The 30.2 XD’s are  smoother  with a sonic and musical coherence of the 2 drivers that is exceptional, with a class-leading midrange . Since about 80% of your music resides in the midrange , if you get the midrange right, everything else will fall into place. Get it wrong, and all the king’s horses…

- It may not matter much in a near-field listening arena, however otherwise standmount speakers are limited by physics in reproducing the frequency response bottom octave . In a larger listening area venue, consider Introducing a quality high-end sealed subwoofer with high-end inputs worthy of the HARBETHs ( think bottom firing ATC C1 MK2 ) 

- Speaker cables: I don’t drink any of Alan Shaw’s KoolAid that cables don’t matter .I started out with my incumbent Ag-over- Cu NORDOST FREY that were now too  bright for me with an annoying emphasis  of digital “edge” or “glare” . A worthy upgrade fix was met to an all-Cu CARDAS CLEAR loom.

TAKEAWAY :. Some drive Fords, ….Some drive Chevys ….choose wisely.

POST SCRIPT ;

(1) Without prejudice to anything higlighted above , check out the harbeth p3esr xd review for near field arena listening 

https://youtu.be/22BwUQZ50eQ

https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-86-harbeth-p3esr-xd-loudspeaker-and-nelson-subwooferstand

(2) If the DUETTOs sonic signature really stirs your drink, then think an upgrade to ELECTROCOMPANIET or YBA as terrific and best of breed upstream stablemates IMO.

 

May I ask why just these two justifiably well-regarded loudspeakers? Have you considered Revel PerformaBe M126Be (or the small floor standing F226Be), KEF R3 or Reference One, Arendal 1528, or Philharmonic BMR? Or active speakers (Genelec or Neumann)?

Edited to add Fritz loudspeakers.

Thank you, @akg_ca . This is super helpful and more on point than i could have reasonably hoped for.  (I’ve been thinking about the integrated DAC/Streamer Electrocompaniet, too….)

And @hedwigstheme thank you as well; Fair questions. The Revel F226Be may be a better size, in fact for the space, which turns out to be a bit bigger than i had thought; more like 15’ x 25’. And also, sad i think about it, more than 1/2 of the listening would be done from about 12-15’ away.  I’m adding it and the ELAC Vela 408.2 to the mix.

15x25 is a pretty good sized room and opens up more options than just monitors. That's the size of my dedicated listening room and it will support very large speakers.

Thanks again @hedwigstheme . One of my favorite local dealers has the Revels on the floor so i can go see and listen to them.  Going to do that tomorrow!

I’m veering away from the Triangles as it seems from reviews and comments on here and elsewhere that Class D amp (even good ones) is not the best match for them (although a dealer out of town offered to sell me new Cellos for 10K plus shipping, which was a hard offer to turn down!)

My final thought:

If you choose the 30.2XD’s and feel a subwoofer is preferred, I would strongly recommend the model I went with . It bested all contenders and pretenders at the up to $5K strata price point.  It is seamless 30.2XD extension integration and disappearing act using high-end speaker cables inputs with a class-leading tight bass with a sealed bottom-firing design.

https://atc.audio/hi-fi/loudspeakers/subwoofers/c1-sub-mk2/

Good to know, @akg_ca!  Thanks very much.

It looks like, for a variety of reasons (aesthetics, cost, performance, ease of availability), I am headed to choosing between Revel Performa 226Be or ELAC Vela VFS 408.2. I do have a little REL T/7x in that space that connects over (i think) a proprietary wireless frequency (not WiFi, as I understand things) to the amp via the REL Arrow unit); and as i can’t have cables running around in that room and there’s no room for a bigger sub, i think that set up for the sub is the best i can do. (At least for now.)

@kirkwallace - I'd suggest auditioning those Revels with your amp since their beryllium tweeter can be a bit ruthless with Class D amplification, similar in that respect to the Triangles.

Good point @bill_k    
The dealer had them hooked up to a slightly older  Class D NAD that’s  meant for home theater, but still pretty comparable sonically to my c399.  The C399 should be a little more neutral if anything.  
Those Be tweeters are bright and assertive for sure.  On the whole they sounded ok to my ear — I’m used to ELAC JET tweeters —  especially once one was >8ft away, as we will be most of the time.  The whole sonic presentation was very good though. Such seemless transitions from lows to mids to highs. (I’m more used to 2.5 way speakers; I felt like the dedicated midrange driver was a really nice feature for these, and the base extension was ex excellent, without a sub even.  
I’ll have them in my space tomorrow so fingers crossed! 

Good luck @kirkwallac, hope you find your grail!

Thank you @bill_k . IItvmaybe too much to hope for for this particular room. But maybe given the price I got those Revels for, if need be, I could look to just use the C399 as a streamer//dac/pre-amp and find a friendlier amp.  
 

Any suggestions as to which solid state amps (ion the 5-10k range (new or used)) play best with those Revels and their Be tweeter? 

Not really sure what amps to recommend, maybe some others here have more personal experience for specific suggestions.

A speaker that masks upstream problems is not a good speaker. Now there is a difference between accurate detailed treble and strident reproduction. I have not heard as many good sounding tweeters made of more exotic materials than traditional silk domes.