What Is So Special About Harbeth?

Quite simply if you care about the sound of music and can hear the differences between speakers at their best you will pick the ones that sound best to you.  

In my case after listening to hundreds of speakers at home, friend's places, dealers and audio shows my Harbeth model sounds the best to my ears regardless of price.  I would love to spend less but unfortunately the sound I like comes at a price and below that price the results diminish greatly to my ears.  

Guess I did not directly answer the question- really it is how they sound that makes them special but how they get there is the answer.

They use a lossy tuned cabinet resonance design that gives them a controlled richness.

The proprietary midrange driver material is important to the tonal accuracy.

The overall voicing is extremely important. Harbeth "voices" their speakers via the crossover components to give them a sound they want- through lots of iterative testing. What you hear is not the result of designing crossovers with simulation software and calling it a day. The crossovers are designed to make the speaker sound accurate and pleasing to the ear, not a computer program.

The crossover design also incorporates circuits to assist the drivers in sounding as good as they can by eliminating distortion, frequency peaks and making them easier to drive.

Lots of art expertise and back and forth testing goes into Harbeth speakers.

They walk that fine line between detail and forgiveness like no other speaker on the market.  

@helomech 

@lemonhaze 

Harbeth woofers struggling to keep up and becoming compressed seems to be online urban legend rather than how they truly sound in practice- at least the latest versions.  I heard the recent P3ESR being driven by 200 WPC MOSFET monoblocks and could not believe how impactful, loud and impressive they sounded.  With my SHL5+ at home I have never experienced any issues with respect to compression, dynamics or sheer SPLs.  

Distortion from cabinets resonating is a controlled way is relatively benign to the ears as opposed to higher frequency driver distortion which is acutely audible and irritating. Harbeth crossovers manage their drivers extremely well and the ear test proves it.  

For those that say they are overpriced I would be interested in which less expensive speakers sounded better to you.

For those that have moved on which speakers did you move to? 

The sound of my SHL5+ goes across musical genres with ease.  Rock guitar and vocals have presence and clarity that sounds real.  Drum skins have pop and snap. 

When I listen to Klipsch for example the sound is fun and dynamic but overly colored and vocals are nasal.  This is kind of distracting to me.  Sounds like listening to a band on a bad PA system. 

another thing - Harbeth speakers are special because they never sound irritating!

never a harsh note, startling shout, edgy glare or cringe moment. the best speakers for walking the fine line between forgiving and detailed.

choice of amplification also determines whether they will sound slow, polite or boring.  

an explosive preamp and amplifier can get them moving on a dime- example pass labs class A, vinnie rossie MOS FETS, Cary Audio solid state power amps.    

I had the opportunity to buy the SHL5+ or the XD and chose the +.  The XD model was too smooth and laid back to my ears, more like the 40.2.  It did have excellent bass.  

The 5+ is clearer and more detailed yet still a smooth, warm speaker overall.  

The tweeter is very well integrated with the woofer and never bright or harsh. 

I love the sound of the 5+ .   

@jjss49

i heard the exact opposite as have others.