advertisement


Harbeth P3ESR XD - Friday Musings...

Low-end compression? Do tell. I’m not hearing that at all. Maybe different model/amp/room/position has an effect?
Found the bass could go surprisingly low in itself in simple music but with more complex, dense stuff it (low end) could feel trapped/compressed in the same space. Un-free. Wasn't expecting them to sound 'big' but this effect stood out, personally. Not talking big room or high levels either.

Cambridge, Croft, and First Watt (clone) amps, and fiend with P3s finds the same with Nait xs and Supernait.

Some may not find this at all though, as you say, depending on room, and also music taste.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTC
I have enjoyed this thread so far, thanks for sharing your experience JTC.

The P3ESRs are very special speakers – they're one of my all-time favourites. They will certainly feel refreshing, lighter, and very entertaining coming from a much larger, and very different sort of speaker. I remember that when comparing Shahinian Arcs to P3ESR. Loved both, but the Harbeths felt so right when plugged back in. They just bounced along and gave me all the sound I needed. They are very easy on the eye, too.

I have always been intrigued to try the Tannoy Legacy (love the look of them, and would love to try this sort of speaker design for a different sort of listening experience), I just fear from reading several threads that they are a bit dark and warm for my tastes, especially compared to the very transparent midrange and natural sound of the Harbeths. I have seen a few reviews and comments about the need to up the treble a bit, but it can take the sound out of balance a bit in doing so.

I am currently enjoying the Falcon LS35/A Gold Badge which have some advantages over the Harbeth P3s – they're a little more open and forward, perhaps a bit more versatile with a broader range of music, but the P3s are warmer, smoother, and deeper in the bass from memory – if that serves me in any way. Both are great, I'd take either. I'd probably vote for the Gold Badge if pushed, just for the sheer insight they bring, but it depends on the room and set up etc.

However, I finally moved home and the living space is more generous – nearly 6m x 4.5m with a high ceiling. The little Falcons are amazing here, but I'm tempted to revisit the SHL5Plus which are probably my all-time favourites to date – delivering the Harbeth natural sound whilst delivering enough bottom end and a very open, airy top end.I do love the idea of trying some Cheviots one day, I think they'll be a good fit.
 
did you ever sell the anj brian ?
did you ever sell the anj brian ?


No they are now reinstalled in an across room location on their authentic stands (after 20 + years) just purchased from Emporium for £200 + £50 carriage - excellent buy. Thanks once again for your support. They spent another period in their boxes before relocating from where I had demolished by bookshelves.
 
The P3s look like nothing compared to those Tannoys!

50705737581_6b5e3eb5f8_b.jpg


I did similar with my LS3/5As! No idea how many pairs would fit in the Lockwood cabs, but quite a few! Remarkable little speakers.
 
Bloody hell! I was thinking my ANJs were overwhelming.

Ha! In reality the Lockwoods actually look bigger and the LS3/5As smaller, the latter being closer to the camera does distort scale a bit!

PS It is a listening room, it has no other purpose, so I really have no issue with the size!
 
Ha! In reality the Lockwoods actually look bigger and the LS3/5As smaller, the latter being closer to the camera does distort scale a bit!

PS It is a listening room, it has no other purpose, so I really have no issue with the size!
Excellent. Negotiating my way round speakers has been a major issue of late. Major influence size 12s shoes, being 80 and religious devotion to red wine. The medical profession uses less appealing terminology.
 
Excellent. Negotiating my way round speakers has been a major issue of late. Major influence size 12s shoes, being 80 and religious devotion to red wine. The medical profession uses less appealing terminology.

One huge advantage of large speakers is no way in hell are you going to accidentally knock them over! Little stand-mounts do worry me in this room as I’d inevitably eventually bump into one reaching the vinyl behind. The Lockwoods are safe as I’ll come off worse in any collision!
 
Found the bass could go surprisingly low in itself in simple music but with more complex, dense stuff it (low end) could feel trapped/compressed in the same space. Un-free. Wasn't expecting them to sound 'big' but this effect stood out, personally. Not talking big room or high levels either.

Cambridge, Croft, and First Watt (clone) amps, and fiend with P3s finds the same with Nait xs and Supernait.

Some may not find this at all though, as you say, depending on room, and also music taste.
Addition FWIW - remembered Exposure amp (2010S2D) used on these too.
 
I see again and again that the Ps3s are described as good for near field listening, but what about in a normal sized living room? I find this focus in the reviews puzzling.
 
I guess a current one not a heritage one. Have you listened to the gold badge version? Some guys are going totally nuts about the gold badge version.
 
I guess a current one not a heritage one. Have you listened to the gold badge version? Some guys are going totally nuts about the gold badge version.

I bought mine second hand here on pfm, I think they are a few years old, but I’m not sure how many. They are late enough to have the longer silver binding posts.

I’m curious about the ‘Gold Label’ crossovers, but I’m also skeptical too. To my mind the whole point of an LS3/5A, other than it being a lovely little speaker, is it is a proper calibrated reference monitor. Any 15 Ohm LS3/5A should in theory at least be identical to any other. You should be able to have a Falcon on one side, and a (mint fully to spec) ‘70s-80s Rogers, Spendor, Audiomaster, RAM or Goodmans on the other and not hear a difference. This is how the BBC used them. If one died or got dropped you got another from the store. Not another pair. The brandname on the front didn’t matter as they were all calibrated to a very rigid spec. As such by altering/uprating the crossover to make a subjectively ‘better’ speaker one could argue the Falcon ‘Gold Label’ is no longer an LS3/5A! That said we now live in a world rammed full of ‘almost LS3/5As’, so really they are just pushing a lead on Stirling, Harbeth, Graham etc who all make very nice contenders that are not actually a BBC LS3/5A. I’d love to hear the ‘Gold Label’ crossovers, but I’m not sure I want to swap mine out from, in theory at least, just being a bog standard pair of BBC studio spec LS3/5As. The gold crossovers are also very expensive! They sound great as-is. They are surprisingly good little speakers.
 
I bought mine second hand here on pfm, I think they are a few years old, but I’m not sure how many. They are late enough to have the longer silver binding posts.

I’m curious about the ‘Gold Label’ crossovers, but I’m also skeptical too. To my mind the whole point of an LS3/5A, other than it being a lovely little speaker, is it is a proper calibrated reference monitor. Any 15 Ohm LS3/5A should in theory at least be identical to any other. You should be able to have a Falcon on one side, and a (mint fully to spec) ‘70s-80s Rogers, Spendor, Audiomaster, RAM or Goodmans on the other and not hear a difference. This is how the BBC used them. If one died or got dropped you got another from the store. Not another pair. The brandname on the front didn’t matter as they were all calibrated to a very rigid spec. As such by altering/uprating the crossover to make a subjectively ‘better’ speaker one could argue the Falcon ‘Gold Label’ is no longer an LS3/5A! That said we now live in a world rammed full of ‘almost LS3/5As’, so really they are just pushing a lead on Stirling, Harbeth, Graham etc who all make very nice contenders that are not actually a BBC LS3/5A. I’d love to hear the ‘Gold Label’ crossovers, but I’m not sure I want to swap mine out from, in theory at least, just being a bog standard pair of BBC studio spec LS3/5As. The gold crossovers are also very expensive! They sound great as-is. They are surprisingly good little speakers.
Playing devil's advocate one could also argue the same about the Silver Label, given the difference for example in the Stereophile measurements between it and an original 1970s Rogers 15Ω 3/5A. You could argue that ageing is entirely responsible for these differences but without a time machine to go back and measure a brand new Falcon FB110 and FT27 against an original KEF B110 and T27, and do the same for the crossovers and cabs, then it's impossible to determine just how closely a drop-in replacement the Silver badge version is for an original 3/5A.
 
Playing devil's advocate one could also argue the same about the Silver Label, given the difference for example in the Stereophile measurements between it and an original 1970s Rogers 15Ω 3/5A. You could argue that ageing is entirely responsible for these differences but without a time machine to go back and measure a brand new Falcon FB110 and FT27 against an original KEF B110 and T27, and do the same for the crossovers and cabs, then it's impossible to determine just how closely a drop-in replacement the Silver badge version is for an original 3/5A.

Agreed. FWIW I don’t trust the 1970s Rogers to be to spec (I’d have been very interested to see a pair matching response). I also suspect (and have mentioned before) that Falcon may have had an issue with early runs of the T27 as the high treble spike that shows on the Stereophile measurement of their very early pair is also present on my JR149s, which also have very early Falcon T27s, but isn’t at all on my later LS3/5As. My guess is Falcon’s drivers have got rather better with manufacturing practice. This also adds a variable to any crossover comparisons unless they are being done in the same pair of speakers.

I know this reads as a criticism of Falcon, it is not intended to. They have pulled off an astonishing achievement in recreating these 1970s speakers in a truly authentic way, which is almost impossible given the technological shift of the past 45 years. The treble spike lies far above my hearing range and also above most recorded content or our ability to discern pitch, so it is not something I worry about.
 


advertisement


Back
Top