[Weirdcuba]

I'm spending the week working here in Belgium and that usually means an audio experience in the Brussels area with my partner. He's an avid audiophile, which makes it fun to talk about music and systems, and dangerous to get together in the presence of audio equipment for sale. Last time it was in Antwerp, and today, it was in Ghent, a small town about thirty minutes away from downtown Brussels. I'm really impressed with the range of audio dealers in and around Brussels - there seems to be an active audiophile community here.

Widescreen Audio in Ghent was having a Harbeth 40th Anniversary event, so we decided to make the drive over and have a listen. My partner/friend is a relatively recent Harbeth convert, moving from Estelon speakers which can be amazing in their detail and presentation, to the smoother sound of the Harbeth. He's on his second pair, after his first SICK office system of an Accuphase DP720, Accuphase E600 and Harbeth 30.1s - it was too difficult to get work done in the presence of that system in the office, so he's moved most of its parts home. He upgraded his Harbeths for home to the HL5+ and is, of course, eyeing the larger 40.2s.

WideScreen is a nice shop with a wide selection of equipment. See widescreenaudio.be for more information. The focus of the day was the Harbeths. We listened first to the HL5+, which was quite nice. As described by my partner, they're never going to "blow you away", but they have such a nice cohesive presentation and wonderfully smooth mid range. I also like the aesthetics of the line, although it may not be to everyone's liking (but nothing in this game is). You could listen to these speakers for a long time with the right source and not have a hint of fatigue whatsoever - quite musical and quite pleasant.

We then moved over to the Anniversary Edition of the larger 40.2, which added more body to the presentation, more bass and more of the good stuff. These aren't particularly sensitive speakers (86dB/1W/1M), but the clear winner of the day at driving them (to my ears) was the Accuphase E600. Even though only 30W/channel, the Class A power really worked well with the larger Harbeths. I think they may have benefitted from better placement/room, but sounded great considering switching out of all of the equipment, etc. I was particularly impressed with the Chord Dave DAC and the presence of TIDAL in Belgium (seems to be everywhere these days). Even though the 40.2s are smooth and non-fatiguing and so strong in the mid-range, I think they do a great job of avoiding slow and mushy - I really liked them. Particularly if considered for the sound quality to $$ ratio, Harbeths are well worth the listen for those in the market.

We had great support from Hank (owner of the shop) and his team, including Igor - the shop dog!! (see pictures below). We spent some time moving around the audio world in a conversation with Hank. Lots of wonderful music and wonderful equipment. If you're in the area, the shop is well worth the visit and if you're in the market for speakers from small desk top monitors to larger units capable of filling a good sized room, Harbeths are worth the listen.

Of course, one can't even get beyond Ivan's influence when you cross the Atlantic. I was in a conversation with a very knowledgeable customer who readily admitted his tube sickness (and the fact that he owns about 800 tubes) and when he learned I was from the states and had an Accuphase/TAD based system, he said "you know, there's some guy there named Ivan who's a dealer and operates an online forum." It was an interesting small world moment. Interesting also that the cabling seemed to be principally, if not exclusively, WireWorld.

Apologies for the bad iPhone photos. I had my nice camera at the hotel, and just totally forgot it.

weirdcuba