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Harbeth 40.3's. Should I buy them?

I've owned a lot of speakers. I've just finished auditioning a pair of Alta Audio Alec's. Not good at all in my system. I own a pair of Spatial X3 open baffle speakers. I really like them and my wife doesn't. I recently bought a pair of Buchardt S400 MKII's for a second system. I say second system because I have a dedicated 2 channel room 15' x 19'. Upstairs in a much larger room, the Buchardt's were anemic, fine, 2 Adam subs solved the anemia. Then just for the heck of it (and because audio is a hobby) I moved the Buchardt monitors downstairs in the 'big guys' room. The Buchardt's loved that room and my wife loved the Buchardt's except they are to small for the listening room and our listening tastes.

I'm tired of buying and selling speakers. I've been to a hundred audio shows and have "favorites". Harbeth have always sounded great, not a show stopper, but, at shows, they've been totally inoffensive, warm and engaging in the same way I like Audio Notes AN-e.
We play all types of music. My wife especially likes classical, leaning towards female singers but too, she'll rock out on Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Keyes, Journey, you get the idea. Me, classic rock but anything that soothes my soul works. I like to play loud. My wife - louder, but not teenager loud.

We have an awesome front end to work with. Allnic T2000 30th integrated (60wpc in triode 150wpc in pentode), Allnic H5500 phono and Allnic D10000 DAC.

Why wouldn't we happy with this speaker?

desalvo55

Showing 1 response by avanti1960

avanti1960
1,573 posts
 

Definitely risky with your room and amp. Your amp is very nice but has a 120 watt rating at 8 ohms 1Khz. Full bandwidth is more like 70 watts and probably no more than that at lower impedances.

The Harbeth 40s really need authoritative control of their large woofer or the bass will lag and be tubby sounding.

To get the best out of them requires a robust solid state amp stable at low impedances. Not that the Harbeths have low electrical impedance but the 12" woofer demands a solid reign.

Last time I heard them they were driven by Vinnie Rossie L2 signature MOSFET monoblocks and they sounded fantastic.

Time before that they were driven by a Parasound a21 and sounded bloated as heck.  

 

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