advertisement


Radial Failure

@Yank As mentioned in STF: I have had 10 pairs of Harbeth speakers with the 8" driver even older ones from the mid 90th. and have never had a brockenone even if I played louder but if you push them too loud you hear the distortion and if you still push further...

There's a point where they get "shouty", I always turn down a notch if it gets to that point

I've never managed to measure more than 5V AC at the speaker terminals at what I considered a "loud" level in my room.
 
There's a point where they get "shouty", I always turn down a notch if it gets to that point
I've never managed to measure more than 5V AC at the speaker terminals at what I considered a "loud" level in my room.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to blame you. I was only wondering how people without a technical degree in moulding inject without any further background knowledge knew for certain that it was the fault of the manufacturer or come to the conclusion to avoid Harbeth because that is ridicules IMO.

I don't know if your main source is vinyl and if so, if you have got a rumbling filter. I have seen heavy cone movement even at low volume with singer songwriter music only because of rumbling or because the recording engineer didn't recognize low bass noise or distortion.
 
Most likely, I have had several pairs of Harbeth speakers and this happened to a driver on my first pair; the result of a domestic incident.

If so, he managed to do it without tearing the grill cloth.
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to blame you. I was only wondering how people without a technical degree in moulding inject without any further background knowledge knew for certain that it was the fault of the manufacturer or come to the conclusion to avoid Harbeth because that is ridicules IMO.

I don't know if your main source is vinyl and if so, if you have got a rumbling filter. I have seen heavy cone movement even at low volume with singer songwriter music only because of rumbling or because the recording engineer didn't recognize low bass noise or distortion.

My listening is evenly split between CD and LP. Well, that and leaving talk/news radio going all day on weekends. The Audio Research preamp doesn't have a rumble filter, but there are multple cap-coupled stages of amplification. https://www.arcdb.ws/Database/SP9/ARC_SP9MKIII_manual.pdf

Considering the number of hours these speakers are run per day, I get my money's worth out of them even if I have to replace a woofer every two years.

Since no one has asked, my amplifier does 150W/channel, and I'm pretty sure I've never been anywhere near clipping it.
 
I have seen your setup at SHF so I was very certain that your Threshold amp didn't caused the problem. Therefore I didn't asked.
The driver should last 20 years easily IMO, even if played many hours a day.:)
 
Another hint pointing toward a cat-induced failure - the crack pointed straight down.

But I never remove the grills.

I suppose I should check the other one...
 
Maybe the cat removed the grille, carefully cut the cone then put the grille back on?

These guys?

pmYUozv.jpg


They may be sneaky enough to do as you suggest, but they aren't clever enough.
 
I discovered recently that a certain piece of music (John Luther Adams' Lines Made by Walking - superb btw) was driving my Siamese cat nuts. He gets really agitated when I'm playing it, but I didn't twig what was bothering him until he jumped on top of one of the speakers. As soon as I turn it off, he settles down again. Strange cats, Siamese.
 
some 10+ years ago when I had my HL-C7ES MkII speakers I read somewhere that there were problems with the cone material causing a crack/split, but things easily disappear from the net after so many years due to e.g. limited server capacity of sites. however, of old BBC-type speakers like Spendors it was a much common case
 
Hi, expensive brand ??, i always thought woofers were weaved carbon fibre ish, or paper weaved again, that looks like a cheeep plastic cone, never seen anything like that before, could be old thin plastic, gone brittle, keep away from that brand, :eek:

Have a read about Harbeth’s proprietary RADIAL cone material - not your bog standard polypropylene. Surprised to read about these failures.
 
I have seen your setup at SHF so I was very certain that your Threshold amp didn't caused the problem. Therefore I didn't asked.
The driver should last 20 years easily IMO, even if played many hours a day.:)

Indeed, and Alan Shaw makes a point of selling these speakers as long-term investments.

Curious as to how much they charge for spare drivers?
 
Indeed, and Alan Shaw makes a point of selling these speakers as long-term investments.

Curious as to how much they charge for spare drivers?

In the US a replacement 8" woofer is a whopping $490!

It has no more content than drivers that sell in the speaker DIY market for $99, apart from the proprietary cone which necessitates hand-assembly in the UK. I bet AS could send his stockpile of cones to SEAS and have whole drivers assembled by them for a fraction of the price, but he would never let that happen. I believe that motor parts for the Harbeth woofers are supplied by SEAS.
 
No, injection molding is an expansive process compared to vacuum forming. Also the basket is made of RADIAL 2. You don't get such drivers in the DIY market.
 


advertisement


Back
Top