Harbeth owners united thread

[GeAllan70]

Originally Posted by SCAudiophile

That system is beeautiful!

[Jdsmoke]

Wow, wonderful looking system. Love the finish on the speakers

[Route 66]

I'll chime in!

I have a pair of C7ES3s on Sound Anchor 4 post stands.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by CGabriel

Ok, let’s not overstate the actual issue with cabinet vibration. I hear it stated many times that the Harbeth cabinets are “intentionally” designed to resonate. That is pure nonsense. I have the 40.2 and the cabinet is quite well damped - for a conventional wooden cabinet type enclosure. I think that statements made by some people have been misconstrued. What I understood about the cabinets is that if they made the cabinets “more” ridged that the secondary vibrations are shifted to a high frequency that is then less musical.

EVERY type of speaker has primary and undesired secondary vibrations. This included encloses of wood, aluminum, concrete, composites and many others. Even the frames of planar type speakers refract and reflect the vibrations of the radiating surface. So, ALL speakers have “colorations”.

The question for me is -how effectively does the designer understand and deal with those secondary radiations. Some designers are better at this “art” than others. I prefer a speaker that has colorations that are harmonically sympathetic to the music. Some (not all), so called, insert speaker enclosures simply shift the energy vibrations in frequency and more importantly in the time domain making them sound less musical than something seemingly less sophisticated like the Harbeths.

The Harbeth has a particularly musical and organic signature that allows you to enjoy the music. This is not to diminish any other speaker or ones personal preference for a different set of colorations. It is all about choices. We live in the golden of audio. There are so many incredible speakers to chose from. I see no reason to pick out one single design parameter to exclusion of all the others.

I've been considering getting a pair of Harbeths for a while now, but have been giving it much more consideration of late. I check the auction sites almost daily for Harbeths that are for sale. Trying to decide betweeen 30.1s or the C-7ES3.

Haven't heard the C-7ES3s (yet), but I've heard 30.1s with entry-level C-J tube amplification (ET-3 and LP66S), and it was one of the most musically-satisfying systems I've ever heard, regardless of price. A good buddy who had never them before was with me on that visit, and his thought was that they might sound, "too beautiful".

[Jdsmoke]

I love my C-7ES3s. Didn’t get to listen to the 30.1s. Would love to get the 40.2s but I’m not sure they would fit in my space.

[GreginNH1]

Originally Posted by Jdsmoke

I love my C-7ES3s. Didn’t get to listen to the 30.1s. Would love to get the 40.2s but I’m not sure they would fit in my space.

What are your room dimensions?

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Jdsmoke

I love my C-7ES3s. Didn’t get to listen to the 30.1s. Would love to get the 40.2s but I’m not sure they would fit in my space.

Yeah, I'd like to know what the (sonic or other) differences are between the 30.1 and C-7ES3, and why one might choose one over the other. Both use the same radial mid/woofer, but I don't know if the tweeters are the same or not. Both are also almost the same dimensions, but the C-7ES3 is slightly larger overall, has a ~24% larger volume.

Regading your space, if you'd like something larger than the C-7ES3, there's the HL-5+.

Maybe some of the Harbeth experts here can enlighten us.

[bradleyc]

Very satisfied owner of 40th Anniversary edition P3ESR. Waiting impatiently for Walnut 40th Anniversary 40.2's to be built and shipped, looks like late July delivery at best...

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by bradleyc

Very satisfied owner of 40th Anniversary edition P3ESR. Waiting impatiently for Walnut 40th Anniversary 40.2's to be built and shipped, looks like late July delivery at best...

Late July is only a week away!

[bradleyc]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Late July is only a week away!

Late July is the best case scenario, but your positive thinking is encouraging! These will most likely be my last and favorite pair of speakers. Never was very good at playing the waiting game, pretty soon game over