What Is So Special About Harbeth?

All but the largest Harbeths struggle when pushed. Seems their mid-woofers simply aren’t designed for high power handling. Their similar competitors often sound better and can play louder before compression sets in. Similar to Focals, their midrange tone sounds unnatural and slightly smeared to my ears (another listener called it "glassy"), the main reason for which I don’t understand the hype surrounding the brand and its Radial material. They do manage to have excellent driver integration, and as such, decent imaging. If coherency is top priority, they may still warrant an audition. I honestly feel Harbeth is one of the most over-hyped brands on the market concerning overall performance, especially at current retail prices. But Harbeth is becoming the Bose of British speakers -- they’re such a powerhouse in marketing that you can tell folks that there are better alternatives until you’re blue in the face -- doesn’t matter, they’re going to sell droves of them regardless.

As for listening to Harbeth, the only local high-end audio retailer specializes in big projects, like wiring houses for complete audio-video systems, though they probably carry some individual speakers. I feel a bit uncomfortable going there just to hear the equipment with no plans to purchase. Might just bite my lip and go in. 

Just call ahead and explain that you want to experience what all the fuss is about. They've almost certainly had similar inquiries. 

Putting it in perspective, Harbeth is a tiny company with 15 employees. Here is their UK business filing (link). Their budget is shockingly small to me (but I work in the tech industry). Hardly what I would call a "powerhouse in marketing".

I think it's the marketing prowess of the distributors more than Harbeth as a company, but effective marketing doesn't require an army of marketing majors. It really only takes one person who understands the market and what drives sales. 

@avanti1960 

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I have to disagree on the urban legend notion, unless Harbeth has made a relatively recent unpublished revision to their woofers.

The C7s really struggled to keep the music together at anything higher than moderate levels in my large room. Sounded almost like a voice coil bottoming, like one hears from an underdamped driver with a low x-max. Contrast that to my Stirling SB-88s which had zero issue playing to uncomfortable SPLs in the same room. The latter have a significantly larger woofer diameter but smaller cabinet.

The P3ESR SEs I demoed also sounded compressed above moderate levels (~ 85db). That was in a smaller room. 

A quick search around the web reveals a few reports of busted Radial drivers. Of course, it could be that those owners were simply careless, but I'm not surprised by the pics of cracked cones and disbonded suspensions based on my auditions. All I know for certain is that I would be very cautious of the SPLs if I owned a pair. 

12:14pm

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

Vandersteen 1Cis and Magnepan .7s are two speakers I would much rather own than the 3X costlier C7ES3s. The Vandys with the caveat of attenuating their treble by 1db (adjustable on the rear panel). The Vandys had as good a midrange with less cabinet coloration and deeper, tighter bass. The treble was smoother on the C7s but only by a smidge. The Magnepans are not as resolving in the highs as the C7s and other Harbeths but their midrange is a class above -- with a textural realism I haven’t heard matched by any of the BBC derivatives, and they can play louder.

I have a pair of $3100 Revel Performas in a secondary system that have superior bass and treble to all the Harbs below the M40s, though admittedly, they do fall short in midrange presence and realism. Still, on balance, I feel they’re a superior speaker for a dual HT/Music setup.