Harbeth 40.3 XDs

Heard the 7.2 at an audio show and thought they were the definition of coherent.

One of the greatest speakers on the planet REGARDLESS of price!
 Angle them in to cross just behind the listening position & acoustically treat the walls to the sides/front of the cabinets..Give them at least 100wpc...I heard them with the SimAudio Moon 340i & Hegel H190..I preferred the SimAudio..You can't scimp on cables either but you don't have to go insane..The system I heard was Nordost Red Dawn LS but I think you could probably get away with Purple Flare or similar..

I’ve got HARBETHs so I can pass on some important thoughts on speaker positioning .and cables experience.

i would STRONGLY recommend that you consider moving them farther out from the side walls, and if need , permit a bit more leeway in moving them a bit closer to the back wall.

My personal experiences directly match what the OEM user manuals reflect: I have them set up toed-in about 1m-in from the sidewalls and 0.75m-out from the back wall . It’s the best set-up I’ve  found so far ,

per HARBETH user manual 

“ …. Positioning

A sonic compromise should be reached between placing the speakers near walls or positioned farther out in the listening area. When a loudspeaker is close to a boundary wall (floor, wall, ceiling or corner) the speaker becomes ‘acoustically coupled’ to the surfaces, just as if it is attached to it. The speaker would then no longer operate in free space with a predictable frequency response, but with a sound output that is elevated in the low-mid frequency range. Well stocked bookcases behind or beside speakers can greatly improve the quality of low frequency as can an asymmetrical placement of the speakers in the room.
 

Some listeners say that the most natural sound-stage is achieved when the speakers are somewhat closer to each other than they are away from the listener (above) – please experiment for yourself to see what sounds best to you.

Optimising your speakers in your room needs experimentation but the general rule is the more absorption in the room, the less the room influences the overall reproduced sound. Parallel surfaces such as opposite walls, floor, and ceiling encourage and sustain certain musical notes. Flexible plasterboard walls and wooden floors over cavities such as a basement or garage may resonate and cause a boom.

Echoes or reflections can be readily identified by moving around your room and loudly clapping your hands as you listen to the sound decay into silence. In the middle and upper frequencies, soft-fabric treatments are an easy solution to damping a ‘live’ room. Progressively add absorption and listen again until there are no obvious acoustic issues; don’t overdo sound damping – add just enough to tame reflections and no more!…”

PS : speaker cables …MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE JOURNEY 

HARBETH  claims to be speaker cable agnostic , but I found them to be quite the opposite.

I first tried with my prior incumbent NORDOST FREY (full loom) with a puzzling new irritating and fatiguing overly “sharp” , “ glaring”, and “ brittle”  performance in the  top- end Im guessing it’s the NORDOST Ag-over-Cu materials build .

i upgraded to CARDAS CLEAR REFLECTION all-premium OCC CU build , and presto …….outstanding audio  improvement and top-end glare etc, gonzo with added slam and dynamics across the spectrum. The HARBETH legendary class-leading midrange soars.

FWIW ,,

Addendum :

(1) Upgrade selection of speaker stands for HARBETHs

HARBETHs (,,,all models …) are a different design breed with thinner speaker box  walls, that need measurable open space and airiness to perform properly as designed,  and to perform at their maximum.

That is the segway provided by  Tontraeger speaker stands - bespoke “ open design” speaker stands with minimum direct contact points with the speaker at its four points ….. specifically a bespoke size is available for each HARBETH speaker model and it’s box dimensions.

Check out the extended tenons and recessed Tonebeds on each TonTraeger speaker post .below, Read up on them first (… they ARE recommended by HARBETH …) and I would suggest that you do budget for them ….. they do matter …big time.

https://www.tontraeger-audio.com/lang/en/reference-stands.html

Sample picture ( Note: the “open design” concept is the same on the beefy 40.3, but the post-legs height will be shorter and look more “squatty” because of its large bespoke larger speaker dimensions )

(2) PostScript Addendum: why HARBETHs need “open air” distance placement away from both sidewalls 

Simply put, they are arguably more sensitive to this than many other speaker choice options. They flourish and disappear in a crafted soundstage if they are properly placed catering to their design, and thus also able to tame the strengths and warts in  points of reflection .

Choose wisely 

To my ears a very pleasant and very colored speaker. The smaller the model the better they sound, simply due to reduction in the size of the very resonant cabinet. I would not buy without listening at length. If you like a more neutral sound stay away. If however you find some of the more modern designs like Magico thin and lifeless it may be your speaker. The 40.3 are my least favorite in the line. They do transition well from one driver to the next.  

Enjoy your new toy.what else do we have to do. I buy used or open box but if it's a good price do it.celebrate America and the 4th.

I owned 40.2s and sold them a few months ago. They need plenty of breathing room and must be at least three feet away from all walls to sound their best. Otherwise, they can get a boomy. But if you position them properly and feed them with high quality SS watts, you will be rewarded with one of the most beautiful midrange and vocals. Good luck. 

FYI, I vaguely remember at one time that the importer recommended Skylan stands as a cost-effective stand.

Thanks everyone. This was all really helpful. Will try to maximize the space around them. The matter is that we will likely be moving to a bigger place in the near future, and this is an opportunity to get the speakers now (and hopefully enjoy in the meantime). For the time being at least, I will be using a Hegel 190 to drive them...