Integrated amp recommendations for harbeth 30.2 XD

I'll give you my experience with my 30.2s from a decent amount of experimentation mixing and matching from different systems in my house, FWIW:

Audio Research REF 40 (pre) + REF 75 (stereo amp) was OK.  Not great.  Too much of an understated sound for my tastes, even though I adore that ARC gear on lots of other speakers.  Needed real volume to unfold and bloom.

NAD M33 was noticeably punchier and, for the first few days, I liked it better.  But there is something that bothers me about this amp, on any speaker.  Hard to nail it exactly, but there is a certain unnaturalness, or artifice, to that amp.  And the Harbeth's do not mask anything, so it bothered me most of all with the 30.2s.  I now have it connected to the much more romantic NOLA Contender 2, and that's a better -- albeit imperfect -- pairing.

Prima Luna HP Premium Dialogue integrated was OK.  Occasionally hard and bitey.  And with some glare.  Especially with KT150s.

D'Agostino Progression integrated -- match made in heaven.  Love it.  Been riding this combo the longest.  All the usual platitudes, which I'll spare you for now. 

From that very limited sample, I might agree with the comment about favoring SS over tubes.  Even though the 30.2s stay in the 6 ohm range most of the time and have no big dips, for some reason they seem to get more expressive with more current.  But making sweeping conclusions based on hearing approx .02% of the world's amp offerings is always kinda dumb.  What I am more comfortable saying is that I'm not surprised so many reviewers use Harbeth in their reference systems; they really tell you what's upstream.  A really impressive speaker.  If you actually want to hear differences between cables, cartridges, DACs, etc, use those speakers.  But unfortunately, I think that means one needs to try quite a few amps to nail the particular sound you're looking for.  (On that note, I suspect what Mr Shaw's real position on amps is not that they all will sound equally GOOD, but that the Harbeth's will be equally REVEALING of most amp's personality.  Two very different propositions.)

Steveashe, the Pass Labs keep eluding me for no good reason. When I was selecting the ultimate integrated last year, it was down to the Pass Labs INT-60 and Luxman L-590AXII. I settled with the latter and was extremely pleased with the performance of the amp in my system. I also run Harbeth (SHL5 +) and Marten Duke 2.

Although I have no urge to make any change, I’m still curious about the Pass, particularly the INT-60 vs INT-25 and INT-250. Is the INT-60 a more powerful version of the INT-25? I am waiting for someone to compare the Pass INT-60 to Luxman L-590AXII and share the impressions here.

I have spent considerable time with the following combination of electronics driving HARBETH, and could easily live with it without the least remorse. Especially if you are into jazz and classical. 
A pair of PRIMA LUNA EVO400 MONOBLOCKS, equipped with a matched set of KT150's. Driven by a PRIMA LUNA EVO 400 PRE-AMP.

I'll say no more, but if you have the funds, I strongly suggest arranging an extensive demo. You won't be returning anything. 

Solid state ??- - - - I have always "worshiped" PASS LABS for many, many reasons. Can't afford that.? Take a listen to HEGEL.

I haven’t personally used the devialet integrateds with my 30.2s, but since they have utilized software that is capable of adjusting the sonics specifically to the 30.2 (using their Speaker Active Matching capability), I am very curious. I’ve heard the expert 140 with different speakers and was impressed.

NAD M33. It’s got 200 very clean distortion free watts into both 4 and 8 ohms, an amazing neutral sound, comes with Dirac Live room correction, both M/M M/C phono inputs, and BlueOS streaming. Product of the year from a couple of different reviewers. I love mine, drives my 4 ohm speakers easily.  Only $5k.

Newton if you like the sound you're getting with the Aethos but want to improve on it the Rega Isis seems like an obvious choice. If not as asked above what are you not liking about your current setup?

I own M 30.1's.  I've used an LFD NCSE with the 30.1's - fantastic sound but - no remote.  Sold.  I moved to a Luxman L-507uxii.  Had the Lux for a couple of years, very good with the Harbeth's, not up to the LFD standard but very flexible and nice sound.  Also has a good MC cartridge stage which I need for my system. 

For no good reason (sound familiar?), a few months ago I sold the Lux and bought a Pass INT-25 and supplement with a Sutherland 20/20 phono stage now.  The Pass might be an end game integrated for me.  I was familiar with Pass but from maybe 20 years ago.  The Aleph 3; a fine amp.  Can't remember why I sold that one either.  Damn fine amp.  

In my particular situation, sitting maybe 10 feet from the Harbeths with the Harbeths about 2 feet from the rear wall, the INT-25 is as good an amp as I've experienced.  I listen to lots of acoustic jazz, cello, violin, quartets, piano, classical guitar, lots of live, well recorded music streaming from both vinyl and Qobuz.  It's a special integrated.  

@whipsaw

all good... actions speak louder than words in my view, especially from those who are well versed at marketing :)

all who care can draw their own conclusions, fair or unfair... don’t get me wrong, i really like harbeths, wonderful speakers that sound so true, i have a couple pair... but i think its pretty hilarious about the amps

@jjss49 

That is a bit unfair. Shaw has talked about why he likes Hegel:

My position on Hegel is abundantly clear. It is the only hifi amp I have ever measured in my lab that has what I consider to be a proper gain structure throughout.

In layman's language that means that with a 'hot' source pumping audio volts into the input channel it is practically impossible to clip or overload the input. That indicates to me a mature, pragmatic real-world approach to the circuit design in a market where far too many amps have input stage clipping evidenced by the ridiculously low setting of the volume control (typically 10 o'clock or lower) at which the output clips. Hence a hard, hard, grainy sound. Indeed, I'd suspect that the extreme sensitivity of the volume control (hardly on, really loud) is prima facie evidence of clipping.

I have been playing P3XD over the last days via one of my H390s and with the volume at about 60/99, I have lots of power reserve and a clean, loud, unclipped sound.

just a sidebar, amusing comment...

alan shaw, owner and main man of harbeth, is adamant that his speakers are quite easy to drive, and any ’decent’ amplifier within the wattage ratings provided per each speaker model will do a fine job

on his user forum, any attempt at discussing better or worse amplification for his speakers are shut down by him with an iron fist, as he personally moderates the discussion forum -- with the rationale that the user forum is about users discussing how great his speakers are, but one had better not try to distinguish a better or worse amp to use in driving them - he doesn't want amplifier brands discussed, yamaha vs rega vs denon vs quad vs sugden.... - it needs to be about harbeth

so ok, alan shaw is completely and totally ’agnostic’ about what amps should be used to drive his speakers (all do just a fabulous job) -- then you ask, so alan, in the company, the workshop, the lab, testing room, audio shows, what amp do you use to test and voice and demonstrate your harbeths?

his answer - ’a hegel h360 for many years, and now, a hegel h390’...

ROFLMAO...

I’ve been powering my 30.1 with a Hegel h160, and it works well. Many other Harbeth users are also reportedly happy with Hegel amps.

Having said that, though, as I am now using a (Denafrips) stand-alone DAC, I’ve decided to switch/upgrade to a GATO AMP-150. It is scheduled to be delivered soon, and I’ll give my impressions not long after.

@smrex13 makes a very fair point

i haven’t heard or had the rega aethos myself but from what i can glean from a quick search, it is a substantial effort on the part of rega to build a very good sounding powerful amp, and it should work quite well with harbeths

What is that you don't like about the Rega?  Many Harbeth owners think that Rega amps are excellent with Harbeths, and the Aethos is a very well regarded amp.  Harbeth's designer, Alan Shaw, goes so far as to claim that amplifiers with a flat frequency response operating within their power envelope are indistinguishable from one another in blind testing.  I think that the Luxman, the Simaudio, and the Rega are all powerful enough for the Harbeths.  And they are all well designed integrated amps.  Could you let us know what you're looking for from your amp that the Rega isn't giving you?  You'll get more specific recommendations that way.  Cheers!

I was able to audition them with BelCanto integrated amp class D, I Believe. To me it was one of the finest matches Ive ever listen too !

there are several threads on the right amplification to drive harbeths... much has been covered

search and you shall find

short answer is upper tier refined strong solid state:

ayre, hegel, pass, upper luxman, upper naim and some others like primare i-30, sony ta-1es class a, some musical fidelity... and of course some of the megabuck units like gryphon, coda etc etc

I don't have experience with the Monitor 30's only the 40's and the SHL5 series. The best integrated amps I have heard with the Harbeth's are the Aesthetix Mimas and the Ayre EX-8. The Mimas was what I chose but I liked the EX-8 almost as much. The older Primare integrated i30, was good as well. I think the Belles Aria Signature may be a good fit as well. I personally did not like the Pass amp I had on my Monitor 40's but many users of the combination are very happy. Try to listen to as many as you can for yourself.

I don't like tubes with Harbeth speakers in general though my Mimas is a hybrid and there are many happy Harbeth owners using tubes. I really think SS amps bring out the best qualities of the Harbeth's.

I would however, take the advice of Monitor 30 owners as a better guide than my advice. I have never owned a pair of the 30's, the CS7's or the p3esr.

Good Luck!