Tekton. No, seriously. Harbeth are more subtle nuance than come alive. Tekton are spilling over with come alive. Double Impact you will go wow that’s what I’m talking about! Moab and you will be all mad scientist, "It’s ALIVE!!!"
Other things you can do that will be a big help-
Put the turntable on a Townshend Platform. Put everything else on Pods. These two changes will be huge.
You don’t mention the table but it hardly matters. Put Synergistic Green and Black PHT on the cart. Black is more dynamic/neutral, Green is more dreamy liquid, together they are the bomb! Get ECT and put them on the table, amp, and phono stage. Get HFT and put them on the Harbeth. Study the info and if you have room on your walls get a couple sets of those as well. Get some cable risers to get all your wires up off the floor. Dress them to be spaced apart and touching nothing but the risers.
A tune up like this will cost about as much as a good component, but deliver sound quality very hard to match any other way.
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Duh! Forgot something important. The turntable is Project-Essential |
Okay budget table, probably don’t want to put a $400 table on a $1200 Platform. Even though it would be awesome. Really. You have no idea how good this stuff works until you try it. But okay, I get it. In that case then use Nobsound springs. You will still get a lot of improvement, for sure more than any other thing you can get for $30. And one set will be enough to do the turntable and the phono stage. Get two sets and do your amp and pre-amp as well.
PHT will still be well worth it, and get TA-102 fO.q tape. One sheet, thin, will transform that rig, with plenty left over to help the phono stage and amps. Run a thin strip along the underside of the arm tube. Put some more on the plinth around the motor. Keep it under the platter where it won’t be seen. This stuff lowers the noise floor and kills vibration without killing dynamics, making the sound seem slightly more dynamic.
Try these first. Then once you know this stuff is for real, remove the cartridge and cut a piece to fit between the head shell and the cartridge. This will be a lot of work but you will be surprised how much difference it makes. And for way less money than the stuff designed for this.
Another terrific cheap project is to build a sand box. One inch of sand packed down and covered with MDF or a butcher block is a terrific poor man's turntable platform. Put the whole thing on Nobsound, you won't believe it.
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All that.....and no cartridge post
Amazing!? |
"...Tekton. No, seriously..."
Yes the loudspeakers are holding you back. Doesn't have to be Tekton but something bigger and more efficient. |
Your Harbeths just need subwoofers. They should be up on stands at ear level. With good subwoofers and two way bass management they will out perform any Tekton loudspeaker by a landslide. I would certainly do this before you spend money elsewhere. You can not tell how good your bass is if you do not have any. But, the Harbeth midrange and tweeter are superior and smaller boxes generally have less trouble with resonance issues. |
Harbeth speakers have a great reputation. They have great potential.
What specifically is the problem. Lack of bass? Lack of details… imaging?
What is your room like? What is your speaker placement? Is all the equipment broken in… that is do all the components have at least 200 hours playing.
It is very possible the system is not set up very well, that can make a huge difference.
The system should start by being roughly in triangle you being at the apex and a bit further back than the distance between the speakers.. Start with them toed in pointing at your listening position.
The speakers need to be on solid stands (no vibration) and out of the corners.
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Can you try a more powerful amp?The Harbeths are wonderful speakers but they need power to really come alive. Also those speakers are meant for a small/medium room.Along with a couple of subs in the back corners they will rock.
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Thanks everyone. I do have a good set up. The Harbeths are on stands that bring them to ear level. They are set away from the corners. My chair is centered between the two speakers. The speakers are pointed at the listening position.
I do agree with jtcf1's suggestion that I get a more powerful amp. The Aegir does seem under-powered. |
Please let us know what phono cartridge you have. Also, room size would be helpful. |
Or get another Aegir and run them in mono!
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crn3371 - Its 17x16 and the cartridge is ortofon om10.
grk - Interesting! |
I agree that the Schiit setup is probably holding you back a bit, if you're in a room bigger than a small office. But could there also be an expectation gap here? In one of my systems, I have ProAc Tab 10s, which are close in specs to Harbeth, and I expected the world when I bought them. And they are amazing - super clean, articulate, can hit volumes...but they simply can't produce that depth that allows you to be enveloped by the music. I still love em and have come to terms with their character. I have vintage DLK 1 1/2 in another system for a fraction of the price and the music is "alive". Size does matter. |
The Saga+ has no gain. The Aegir has an input sensitivity of 1.2V, but the Mani output should be about 300mV for a standard MM cartridge. It’s not a big surprise that you aren’t getting much life out of the Aegir. Even with low efficiency speakers it should do okay unless you’re asking for high volume. The dual mono Aegirs might help since you’ll need to go balanced to do it, and most likely use a pre with gain.
i’ve run the Saga/Aegir into 87dB floorstanders and filled a big open room to respectable volume with aplomb. However my DAC outputs 2V. |
I think you have to try to find some opportunity to listen to someone's system that sounds the way you want yours to sound and work from there. It sounds like you're just generally unsatisfied and you're guessing at what it might be. Unless you know what you are trying to achieve, it's impossible for anyone to make suggestions, no matter how well-meaning. I have the Harbeth P3s as well and I would describe the sound as very natural and realistic for their size. With the right recordings, they can sound like live music, but I think that's not what you mean when you say "come alive". |
Are you analog only? If there is a dac too do you feel the same re shortcomings from both formats?
I agree Harbeths are tough on amps ( which is not a great trait for a loudspeaker imho ) although they can sound nice.
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Schiit gear is decent for the money but nothing more. Give your super expensive book shelves a better amplifier.
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I have to agree with church man. Schiit is really good for the money, but they are really budget stuff. If you want to get what the Harbeth’s are capable of you are going to have to significantly upgrade all your electronic components. |
sell schiit and get a croft integrated. |
I might just do that. Thanks.
Solypsa - I do have a Bluesound Node 2i and I am totally satisfied with the sound. |
Dear @wibruin : ""
I have been disappointed with the sound quality. ""
Yes, you can't ask for more. You are with a entry level items almost everywhere, including TT/cartridge.
Regards and enjoy te MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R. |
