Harbeth Monitor 40.1 are home !

[magoo]

Originally Posted by Jerome W

Thank you guys.






Overall, the Harbeths are by a large margin, the most natural speaker I ever had. They sound like huge and energized LS3/5a's. The music is both lifelike, vivid, and very easy and not aggressive. They do not have much to envy to the Wilsons in terms of dynamics and they produce much more low bass.
I may spend A LOT OF TIME with those before getting back to my Wilsons.

.

Firstly, and by far the most important, best wishes to you & your wife in what sound like troubled times! I hope everything resolves itself.

It sounds like you've discovered the Harbeth magic already thou, if I had just one word to describe even their baby brothers, Natural would be that word! And it's a quality I find they retain, whatever type of music you play. Huge congratulations!!

May you find peace to enjoy life & these new arrivals with your full heart again ....all the best, Matt

oh, and ps.....far be it from me to tell your wife she's wrong about their looks....but, um, she's wrong

[antipop]

Jérôme, I agree with your wife. They won't win beauty pageants

But that's not why we buy them, do we ? They look like big, no-nonsense, there to play music type of speakers. I see that you're already in audio bliss so congrat's to you and finding your speakers. I know you've been looking for them for quite some time.

For the rest of the story, stay strong and remember that AA is more than just an online forum, we're a community

[magoo]

For stands, maybe consider Sound Anchors? Another very popular match with Harbeths generally is Something Solid, a UK company. While I cannot claim any experience of your speakers, the overall consensus with Harbeths is to get the tweeter precisely at ear height, it made a big difference with mine, and for the cost of two granite chopping boards under my stands

Originally Posted by Jerome W

David, Cyril : thank you for the Acoustic Revive recommendation. I read the article with a rather interested mind until I found the price. 10500 US dollars.
I wonder what Alan Shaw thinks about putting a 12.5k speaker ( that may sounds indeed like a 50k one ! ) on a 10k stand.
I also wonder what my friend Wladek Skr%#^$>*£$> ( sorry buddy your polish name is really too complicated for me to memorize ! ), boss of Pro Audio Bono, would think of all this.
I know what my wallet already told me about them : NO WAY !

Fair enough. Well these are the 'stands' i'll be using under my S5's...

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by magoo

Firstly, and by far the most important, best wishes to you & your wife in what sound like troubled times! I hope everything resolves itself.

It sounds like you've discovered the Harbeth magic already thou, if I had just one word to describe even their baby brothers, Natural would be that word! And it's a quality I find they retain, whatever type of music you play. Huge congratulations!!

May you find peace to enjoy life & these new arrivals with your full heart again ....all the best, Matt

oh, and ps.....far be it from me to tell your wife she's wrong about their looks....but, um, she's wrong

Thank you Matt !
I'm sure the look will grow on her. One of the problemi s that I cannot leave the grilles on : the cats are incredibly attracted by this fabric and they will destroy it. All those screws on the front baffle + the big black drivers annoy her I guess. She would prefer them with the grilles on.

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by magoo

For stands, maybe consider Sound Anchors? Another very popular match with Harbeths generally is Something Solid, a UK company. While I cannot claim any experience of your speakers, the overall consensus with Harbeths is to get the tweeter precisely at ear height, it made a big difference with mine, and for the cost of two granite chopping boards under my stands

Matt, thanks !
The tweeters are at my ears height right now with the Skylan.
Listening to orchestral classical symphonies, the bass is well textured and clean. Perfectly balanced. For modern music where the sound engineers have had a fat hand on the lowest octaves during mastering, the Harbeths really overload the room. That was the case this morning with Eric Bibb's Jericho Road.

[Ritmo]

Jerome,

First, wish you and your wife the best.

Glad you are enjoying the 40.1s. As always, many here in AA have very good suggestions in how to address the vibration issues with the stands.

Take care!

[magoo]

Originally Posted by Jerome W

Thank you Matt !
I'm sure the look will grow on her. One of the problemi s that I cannot leave the grilles on : the cats are incredibly attracted by this fabric and they will destroy it. All those screws on the front baffle + the big black drivers annoy her I guess. She would prefer them with the grilles on.

This made me laugh, as my own journey to Harbeth came about because I took pity on a neighbour's cat during a heavy storm, had to go out & left him seated happily on a sofa.....in my absence I strongly suspect he used my ML Vantage panel as a handy scratch board as I returned, put the system back on & one panel just hissed at me!! I decided someone was trying to tell me something & that the time had come to retire the wonderful but too big for my space Logans and downsize.......6 months on I reckon the cat did me a favour And yes, I still let him in!

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by magoo

This made me laugh, as my own journey to Harbeth came about because I took pity on a neighbour's cat during a heavy storm, had to go out & left him seated happily on a sofa.....in my absence I strongly suspect he used my ML Vantage panel as a handy scratch board as I returned, put the system back on & one panel just hissed at me!! I decided someone was trying to tell me something & that the time had come to retire the wonderful but too big for my space Logans and downsize.......6 months on I reckon the cat did me a favour And yes, I still let him in!

Matt, nice story ! Thanks for sharing ! What's his name ?
But do you let the grilles on your speakers ?
I do not remember seeing a pic of them here. Could you post one or point me towards the link ? Thanks !

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by Ritmo

Jerome, First, wish you and your wife the best. Glad you are enjoying the 40.1s. As always, many here in AA have very good suggestions in how to address the vibration issues with the stands. Take care!

Thank you Mike !