System Upgrade

The amp is not the problem. I have one and it is holographic with the right setup. I have also owned shl5’s, they can sound very nice but dont seem to take full advantage of the Leben. Cables and source though are the likely problem. What is your room like?

@mdmdwyer

Something else occurred to me and its probably an obvious thing that you have already checked but you may be experiencing one speaker out of phase.

Please double check to ensure you have your speaker cables wired correctly on the back of the Leben. If you are looking at the amp from the rear, unlike many amplifiers where the speaker taps are "mirror" image, the Leben alternates. So, from looking at it from L to R you will have the right channel positive tap, then the right channel negative tap, then the left channel positive tap and then the left channel negative tap.

You have probably already checked it but its worth a try. Best wishes.

Let me reiterate, the Leben amp and these speakers mate well and I have heard this exact combination sound exceptional.

a few things you might try:

Do you have great headphones? Listen through the headphone port on the Leben to ensure the sound quality is terrific. Report back to the group because this would isolate your issues between the amp and the speakers if it sounds great. If it doesnt sound great, the problem is server, network or dac to amp for the issues. If using roon, check your settings and try disabling sample rate conversion and/or dsp. Are you using a good ethernet cable?

If nothing then try setting your Leben on the 8 ohm setting.

A wildcard to check is your power. What kind of conditioner are you plugged into? Maybe plug the components directly into the wall or even a different outlet. You may be being starved for ac.

Another wildcard. How are you plugged into the Harbeths? On those speakers, there are two posts on each speaker for the positive/negative for low frequencies and the same for high frequencies. Are you using quality jumpers between the respective lf/hf pos/neg terminals? Is it tight? Are you certain you have the positive and negative properly wired in phase? Something else that may work is to plug the negative cable for each speaker to the low frequency negative and plug the positive cable into the high frequency positive.

Do you have any other cables to try. While the Harbeth SHL5’s arent the best speaker in the Harbeth line, there is a synergy with Harbeth and Leben. While the spl of this combo may fail to check your boxes, it should be a combo with some magic that it doesnt sound like you are hearing. Best wishes and good luck.

Everyone take a moment, the OP needs to troubleshoot his system.

 There are too many people using his exact amp/speaker combo reporting exceptional sound.

@donvito


Jeff Day for one. Many more use the amp with other speakers, floorstanding or bookshelf/standmount, high sensitivity or medium sensitivity. The Leben is exceptional. While I also like Harbeth alot, the SHL5 isnt going to play 120db BUT, it should sound three dimensional, layered, etc. The best I’ve heard the SHL5 sound was connected to Leben. Also @donvito you can google Leben and Harbeth and there are many variations on the theme.

I am certain there is a mismatch, a misconnect, a malfunction or a software/digital issue. For once on this site, it isnt the equipment unless there is a need for a repair.

@mdmdwyer

Did you have the opportunity to double check your speaker cable connections to the Leben as I described in the post above? Triple check that your positive and negative speaker cables correspond to the non-traditional Leben alternating layout. What about the connections to the Harbeths as I described earlier? Since the headphone output uses the same amp output circuitry as the speaker taps and it sounded nice, then I believe your problem may be from the back of your Leben to the speakers.

Additionally, unplug your Leben from the Westinghouse adapter NOW and plug it directly into a wall outlet and listen for changes. You may be current limited through the adapter. Keep after it, you purchased great gear and great sound awaits.

Whoa. When you changed the selector switches, were they incorrectly set for the specific tube type installed? The switches should be set for the specific output tube only. Did you buy your Leben new?

Take the Leben with you to your Harbeth dealer and drop it into their system and see what you hear. Its also a good practice to be able to compare against other amp offerings the dealer may have so you can get a proper match to your desired speakers. Obviously something isnt meshing, how unfortunate. Best of luck on getting what you are after.

@mdmdwyer



Now we may be getting somewhere. Which tubes are installed? Do you know how many hours/how old they are? Do you have a spare set of the 6cs7’s input tubes or el34/5881/6l6 power tubes?

When you are playing the amp with the harbeths does it sound great up to half volume and then flatten out or does it sound flat all through the volume range? Are you running your dac gain full or is it backed off? Just a stretch but maybe the input is overloaded. I dont know anything about the output voltage of the psaudio.

Something you might consider is plugging your dac into the amp direct rca jacks. Those inputs bypass the pre section and the volume control is active in order to match gain appropriately with the source. BEFORE doing so be certain you have turned the volume on you psaudio waaaay down.

isnt this hobby a blast? LOL. Hang in there, troubleshooting will either be a learning experience or a confirmation. Both will serve you well in the future, regardless of the equipment you have now.. or then. Peace.



 

@mdmdwyer

I saw where you listed your Leben CS600 for sale at a very aggressive price and it sold same day. Congrats.

What amps will you be auditioning to go with your Harbeths? I have read where Alan Shaw is somewhat amplifier agnostic. Depending on what you are after, maybe a pair of Schiit Vidar monobolcks and a Schiit Freya + preamp might meet your power and dynamic needs. They are really overachievers unless you are leaning toward an integrated. They are also incredibly easy to deal with, place, setup and return in the event they aren't your cup of tea. Best wishes and good luck in your search.

MIT and biamping Harbeths? Wonders never cease but I still appreciate Audiogon!