Harbeth 40 speakers


R. Green of TAS is forever raving about these speakers.If the are as good as he claims why are there so few dealers,and when they come up for sale on Audiogon they really don't sell that fast. Has anyone heard them and I would like your opinion.
arf
Harbeth are a relatively small manufacturer, even in my home country of the UK, with relatively few dealers. I wouldn't read too much into the number of dealers carrying a particular company: Bose has loads of dealers, as do JVC, Pioneer etc etc.
I have never heard anyone say a bad thing about any of their speakers from their HLP3 through the monitor 40 .... all you hear are superlatives. Whenever Harbeths are compared to Spendors the harbeths ALWAYS win.
I must admit that the 40s are well out of my price range, and I have never heard them, but I thought I'd share my opinions ... hope you don't mind.

As for taking a while to sell I'd make the same observation of Epos and KEF ... neither seem to sell well used in the US, but both make great speakers IMHO.
They are great, indeed. the 40s are fairly big, personally I like the 30s and Super HL5 better (space-wise.). Harbeth recently changed US distributors, so availability was spotty until now. They made their re-entrance at this most recent CES, I was helping them out and have to say the sound was better than I would have thought possible in a hotel room. Fidelis in NH is the new distributor, I think they have maybe a dozen dealers or so? Check with Walter Swanbon if you want a pair: info@fidelisav.com or 603-894-1306.

They sound way better than they look like they have a right to.... what with big boxes, not slim baffles, pro-style construction, etc. They are worth a listen, for sure.

-Ed
Just bought a pair of Monitors 40 and they are amazing! I have them on 12 inch sound anchors in a large room and sound absolutely gorgeous.

I had Spendors for a long time that I loved but these are a class above.
would those of you who own the Harbeth 40's care to share your amp and preamp choices with us. That would be very helpful because I am seriously considering getting a pair and would love to start thinking about amplification. Thanks in advance for you help.