Who's using Harbeth with tubes, what speaker model and how many watts per channel?

• #167

Even tubes can improve the sound of Harbeths with SS amps.  While I prefer the H360, H390, H590 with my 30.1's and 40.2's... I did try my Class D Audio (brand) SDS 470C amp yesterday, and found my Harbeths sounded about as impressive as with my Hegel H590. Though, I was using the Schitt Yaggdrasil R2R DAC (which is superb), and the Audio Research Reference 5se tube preamp - which improves the overall sound quality of the 470C. The benefits of this set up is you get the spacious, airy, holographic sound of tubes, but with the bass and mids control of a powerful SS amp.  

So... a class d SS amp, can drive Harbeths very well... if... you have the right class d SS amp driven by the right sources and preamps.

I should also note that I also have just tried my Audio Research Reference 5se tube preamp in combination wth the Audio Research Reference 150se tube amp driving my 30.1’s and 40.2s... and the sound is sublime.

While the bass slam and control is not as great as with the SS amps I noted herein - the details, air and holographic stage is a bit better, and the organic tone, tenor and texture of the sound is a bit better. And the bass may actually may be a bit more real sounding. Real live bass may not have quite as sharp leading and trailing edges as with the SS amps I noted.

Regardless - all of these amps sound superb with the Harbeths - which have impressed me more than I thought they ever could - being box speakers. They sound very much like Quad 57’s, but with more bass slam - which means with the right set up they sound as good as it gets!

Well... I'm a bit surprised... I got the Hegel H590 to drive my 30.1's and 40.2's, because when I first tried them with the AR Ref 5SE and Ref 150SE tube amps, the Harbeths seemed to lack clarity and dynamics, and had somewhat boomy bass.  The H590 cleared all of that up, and really made the Harbeths sound like they do in the YouTube videos - which is exceptional!

However, I recently decided to try the AR amps again with both sets of Harbeths and was surprised that after some burn in, they began to excel with the AR amps - especially when using the 16 ohm speaker taps.  Amazing actually with a bit more air and bloom than with the H590 - much as you would expect from a Class A tube set up.  And the bass is well controlled, with texture.  Pretty amazing, actually!

I almost think I like their sound better with the AR tube amps, than with the H590.  Will have to switch back and forth a bit and see... but... right now... I'm truly amazed at the sound they're producing with the tube amps!  

 

Oh yes... the AR150SE produces 150 watts into 8 ohms.  Just assumed everyone knew that.  The Harbeths never require more than about 1/3rd of the potential - POT usually is not set above 35/100, which produces a volume level more than most can tolerate.   

I did not expect that the 150SE would drive the relatively inefficient Harbeths so well.  But... the AR does.