Your tube amp related Harbeth experience.

@arafiq

My Harbeth SHL5+ can sound a bit on the bright side with SS amplification. I tried them with Luxman 590AXII, and as good as the pairing was it did tend to sound a little bright on some recordings. Moving to a tube amp -- Audio Hungary Qualiton a50i, took care of that issue.

if i am recalling correctly from early on when you started posting here, you were/are dealing with a listening room with lots of glass and other hard surfaces, so if this is still the case i am not surprised you need to tame the highs of the super 5s... in general though, i would say most owners of super 5’s would not have that issue, in fact most are trying to get the speakers to have a little more top end energy and marginally improve the jump factor of the speaker

just another real life example of how forums and their advice can only get one so far... folks who want the ideal sound have to work on it in their own space and situation

@fjn04

my further input to you is as follows as you decide in your own case

1. with c7’s on proper stands, a key variable as you probably know is how they are placed in the room w.r.t. room boundaries and boundary bass reinforcement - this aspect in my experience with all harbeths (other than the teeny p3’s) is really important to dial in to get the best possible presentation and relative balance of bass and mid bass in relation to treble and midrange

2. c7’s are also a pretty benign 6 ohm load, so most decent tube amps will drive them to reasonable volumes... the issue is the quality of sound that is produced, and specifically the overall sense of transparency and sufficiency of bass grip/impact

3. i have always felt that all but the best tube amps (in my book, the higher audio research ones) left the harbeths bass slow soft and sloppy, so thus i have ended up always using top solid state amps that have vastly superior bass control (and sweet sound up the range)... also the better ss amps bring the c7 treble response forward some, which is to my liking - once again, my ears my room my taste

4. more traditional sounding tube amps to me entirely mirror and accentuate the c7’s nature - midrange lushness, treble reticence, full midbass and somewhat weak/slow deep bass, so to me, they bring negative synergy - but i could see such tube amps working if one uses powered subs to augment (i tried this, i have a pair of rels, but i still felt the midbass, while rich and full, lacked my desired level of definition and speed)...

hope that helps, good luck

@fjn04

i was just reporting my own experiences, as you asked, those were not recommendations

within your budget and as an actual recommendation, i would recommend a modest hegel integrated (h90, 95, 160 and so on) as an outstanding mate for harbeth c7’s - outstanding bass control/prat, uber clean treble that accentuates great imaging, and pure midrange that takes advantage of the c7’s greatest strength... if you want some tubey goodness, run an mhdt nos r2r tube dac upstream

i have paired the following tube amps over the years with the c7, super 5 and mon 40

cj prem 11a

ram modjeski rm10

vac ren 30-30

primaluna dialogue hp prem

linear tube audio zotl40 ref

audio research vt60, vt50, vt100-2, ref 75, ref 110

only in the case of the higher arc tube amps and the lta did i feel the sound quality was to my liking... in most cases i felt the bass to be too muddy, mid bass too plump and slow, and highs need more definition

i found happiness moving to high grade solid state amps, such as class a models from pass, belles, and hegel amps (not class a), along with the agd audions most recently... primare odyssey and naim units were also good, but not as good...

my taste, my system, my experiences and findings, hope that helps