Which Harbeth would work in my room?


Hi,

Harbeths have been on my radar screen for a few years now and I am looking for advice from Harbeth owners regarding which model will work in my listening room.

This is going to be a big change from my Thiel CS5's, which I have decided are a bit too big for my space, so I want to aim for the best suited Harbeth model.

My listening space is about 16 foot wide with nine foot ceilings and an open stairway on one side. Due to room logistics and WAF, my front wall is about eleven feet from the listening position but there is another fifteen feet of open space behind me.

My thoughts are that I should consider the SHL5 Plus or possibly a 40.1/40.2.

Can anyone share their thoughts regarding recommended distances between speakers and listening position for the various Harbeth models?

Thanks for real world advice!

Dsper
dsper

Showing 1 response by archguy

Your big task is going to be getting the speakers out from the 'front wall' yet not having them too close to your listening spot.  Very few speakers perform well against the wall and Harbeths in particular are noted for loving free space. 

Off the cuff, I think it's possible that the 40.x models may be too much speaker for your application.  The SHL5+ and 30.x might be right, and I'd consider the C7 models as well.  So far I've only listened extensively to the C7s in a semi-near-field setup (around five or six feet away) and my 30.1s have just arrived.

This means (among other things) that though I may be first to answer, you'll probably get more comprehensive replies before too long.  I will say that the Harbeth C7s have been hypnotic.  I'm obviously hooked which is why I've purchased a second pair (the 30.1s).  It'll be hard for you to go far wrong.