Please your ears- Harbeths Please the wife- with Rosewood finish
New house, wife reveals she hates my Maggies- looking for stand mount speaker suggestions
Just closed on a new house and as we were walking through and discussing furniture, my wife revealed she has always hated my Maggies and wants them not to make the move. I have had a semi-dedicated music room, so they were kind of out of sight at our old place, so she never complained. So a bad news but good news (new speakers!) situation.
Present set up is near field, room perhaps 10x10,but partially open, angled ceilings for some pretty good acoustics. Should be able to set up similar size near field space in new home.
Amp is Primaluna HP with 8xEL34, Conrad Johnson ET7 tube preamp, PS Audio Direct stream DAC and Naim Uniti digital ripper/hard drive. I listen to lots of different music, but always come back to acoustic guitar or piano with female or male vocalists, or acoustic jazz. Big soundstage, vocal warmth and detail (guitar strings plucking) are what I enjoy.
My Wife liked (the looks of) my old Rogers LS3/5a back in the day, or my Reference 3a Royal Masters. So I figure I will be looking for a stand mount monitor. But my budget is $5-10k, used or new, so I suspect I can do better than the LS3/5a.
i have always loved the Joseph Audio Pulsars, but you never see them used and the new graphine ones are out of my price range. Looking for other ideas: Sonus Faber are easy to look at, but I have never listened to their monitors. The monitor versions of Raidho and Focals are ugly enough to fail the WAF test.
so help me out here- what should I consider?
Showing 4 responses by goldenways
Had detail info then lost it. I’ve had this happen to me before. On IPad switching to something and or walking away for the moment lost it all. Harbeth Super HL5+ XD Be careful of model numbers for there are variations over the years. Very easy to mess up. Looks the new ones on their website are XD2. I’m sure mine were the latest before for XD2 Audiogon, The Music Room and US Audio Mart have them listed. TMR will work with you on price - consider sales tax though. If you’re entertaining the thought of studying Harbeth again study the model numbers. Hitting the send button now before something comes up. |
@ericsch ”I think the SHL would be too much of a good thing” Well said. 10x10 seems to be near field. @meiatflask I’d review the thought of P3esr. Was that in your current system you heard them? Sterophile has a 2024 write up on the XD |