What Is So Special About Harbeth?
SLike probably all of you, I just received notice from Audiogon of a 20% discount on Harbeth XD. I clicked on the tab and found that the sale price is about $2700. I have read so many glowing comments here about Harbeth — as if just saying the name is the password for entering aural nirvana. I admit, I haven’t listened to Harbeth speakers. But looking at these, they just look like smallish bookshelf speakers. I’m not questioning how good others say these speakers are, but HOW do they do it out of an ordinary-looking box?
Is it the wood? Is it the bracing? Is it the crossover components? Is it the cone material? What is the reason why these Harbeth’s are such gems compared to other bookshelf speakers? What is it about the construction or technology that makes these speakers a deal at $2700 on sale versus the $800, 900 or $1,000 that others normally cost? What is the secret that makes audiophiles thrill to get such a costly bargain?
Will I buy harbeth speakers again?-No .I found them limited Why I bought them?because I got interested in them reading various positive posts abaut them here on audiogon and elsewhere 11years ago.Creating such posts might be one of the ways of hidden agenda-secret marketing tool.It cost nothing- just time:) Is there better speakers with midrange bloom,better dynamics,same price?yes it is:) |
@extravaganza, you make a very good point 👍 |
Thanks again for the responses. Obviously, there are differing opinions on the Harbeth “sound”. I see repeated comments that the pairing of Harbeth’s with the right electronics is key. Hegel in particular was recommended. I wonder how Harbeth’s would sound when paired with my Parasound A21 amp and Schiit Freya+ preamp? Would the purchase of Harbeth necessitate replacing my amp and pre to gain the full benefit? . . . can get expensive. I received an e-mail from The Music Room offering a 60 day trial period with the model of my choice. I am tempted to give it a try, though not sure I even want to spend that kind of money just now. |
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 heard the recent P3ESR being driven by 200 WPC MOSFET monoblocks and could not believe how impactful, loud and impressive they sounded. With my SHL5+ at home I have never experienced any issues with respect to compression, dynamics or sheer SPLs. Distortion from cabinets resonating is a controlled way is relatively benign to the ears as opposed to higher frequency driver distortion which is acutely audible and irritating. Harbeth crossovers manage their drivers extremely well and the ear test proves it. |
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.
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