Amplifiers in use with big Harbeths (Mon 40 series) that work very well

my intent in this thread is to garner responses from users of mon 40’s only

i have super 5s and compact 7s they are rather different kettles of fish

I think I heard that the Swedish Moonriver have been using the BBC family’s of speakers in the development of their amps, could be worth a try!

I had extremely good results with the original Monitor 40’s using a Pass Labs 250.5 and an Audio Research Ref 3 preamp. The Pass brought out the best qualities of the 40’s, articulate bass, wonderful midrange and extended treble. I tried a few combinations before but the Pass/ARC combo really worked best for me.

My room was 13 x 21 x 9 and had a large opening into the dining room behind my listening chair. I sat about 11ft from the speakers.

I don’t know how the Pass works with the newer 40 models so I am not sure if this helps. Good Luck!

responds well to tube beauty but with the big woofers you will certainly give up something on the low end in the trade

@jjss49 Just so you know, this statement is false. The size of the woofer has ***nothing*** whatsoever to do with how a tube amp will drive it (this is however a common myth)!


The **impedance** of the driver is what is important, as is the low frequency cutoff of the amp (which, if too high, introduces phase shift which robs the amp of impact; this is why we made our tube amps go full power to 2Hz, so there would be no phase shift at 20Hz). As long as the amp has a good interface with the woofer, it will make the woofer play bass easily. This is very easy to demonstrate both technically and audibly.

@voodoochillin +1

If you've tried the combo, please report on AGD Audions with the Harbeths.