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Finally heard Harbeths

My Harbeth P3's courtesy of Martyn Miles :D have been nothing short of amazing. I can just listen to them all day, which is exactly what I wanted. The way they deliver vocals is at times simply spine tingling, but I also find them highly detailed and just such a joy to play music through. I have a wide and varied collection (like many on here) and found the P3's handled everything just brilliantly. I tried PMC's but like others, found them to be fatiguing after long listening periods.

I am considering a pair of Teddy Pardo MB100 mono amps and using my UnitiQute 2 Pre. Has anyone else tried or is currently running this combo? I am currently using a NAP100 with the Qute2
 
Best sound I've had out of my P3s is with 8 watts of Eastern Electric Mini Max. I've never felt the need to use a powerful amp with them.
 
@Tigerjones: At witch listening distance and which kind of music and which loudness?

Fairly close 2-3m and generally not that loud. Wide spectrum of music including electronic, techno, dance, blues and classical.

They can sound a little woolly with the Sugden A21, lack bass and won't go loud at all but even this combination has something magical about it.
 
I'll take your word for it. Not too fussed about numbers - they confuse me - but the Eastern Electrics sounded mighty fine and plenty loud enough with the P3s. YLMV.
 
I like the Spendor SP2/3r2 very much; in fact it got me on the search for a BBC legacy speaker again. I'd had a two foot cube monitor speaker (Energy Pro 22) for all of the 90s, so it was something of a homecoming. It was chance that I ended up with some Harbeths, but it was really hearing Bach Cello suites on the SP2/3r2 that sent me back on that path.
 
The preceding discussion of suitable amps for Harbeths puzzles me because it is my understanding that Harbeth designer Alan Shaw claims that his speakers can be driven quite easily by virtually all competently designed amplifiers that were made over the past 30 years....
See an example measured by Stereophile
This is a easy high impedance load, one reason for the insensitivity.
Definitely a nominal 8 Ohm design, nothing like many high end brands, often dipping below 3 Ohms.
http://www.stereophile.com/content/harbeth-m401-loudspeaker-measurements#GshxdoJD07tvDLXi.97
 
I like the Spendor SP2/3r2 very much; in fact it got me on the search for a BBC legacy speaker again. I'd had a two foot cube monitor speaker (Energy Pro 22) for all of the 90s, so it was something of a homecoming. It was chance that I ended up with some Harbeths, but it was really hearing Bach Cello suites on the SP2/3r2 that sent me back on that path.

Yes I agree. In my experience Spendors are more musical and lively than Harbeths. The latter are very good speakers mind you, but to my ears they are a boring listen over a prolonged period.
 
ASpendor SP 2/3R2 can not play, louder, has no bigger bass driver (bassvolume) and isn't more dynamic as a Harbeth HL Compact 7.

I'm talking about a Cornwall as a competitor or a big 3 way design with huge bass drivers, not personal taste. I'm also listening to Slipknot or Metallica with my Harbeth and like them, but still, there a better speakers for this kind of music then classic BBC designs!
 
ASpendor SP 2/3R2 can not play, louder, has no bigger bass driver (bassvolume) and isn't more dynamic as a Harbeth HL Compact 7.

Yes it can and yes it is.



I'm talking about a Cornwall as a competitor or a big 3 way design with huge bass drivers, not personal taste. I'm also listening to Slipknot or Metallica with my Harbeth and like them, but still, there a better speakers for this kind of music then classic BBC designs!

It's true but SP2/3R2 is still better with Metallica than Cornwall with jazz trio or solo piano...
So, the "winner" is.... :)
 
Yes I agree. In my experience Spendors are more musical and lively than Harbeths. The latter are very good speakers mind you, but to my ears they are a boring listen over a prolonged period.

I didn't say that at all, so let's not have any illusion of agreement. I said I really liked the Spendors, and clearly I also love Harbeths. Why this should be like some kind of Rangers v Celtic derby is beyond me.
 
Yes it can and yes it is.

It's true but SP2/3R2 is still better with Metallica than Cornwall with jazz trio or solo piano...
So, the "winner" is.... :)

I know I should not not discuss with fanboys, but why should a SP2/3R2 be more dynamic than a Compact 7? Can you verify this with facts? Otherwise it is only your opinion.

Have you listen to a Cornwall for a longer period? The Cornwall can play a Jazz Trio or a solo piano in realistic size and are far more close in dynamic than every Harbeth or Spendor can. Big drivers, high efficiency vs. natural timbre.
 
Have you listen to a Cornwall for a longer period? The Cornwall can play a Jazz Trio or a solo piano in realistic size and are far more close in dynamic than every Harbeth or Spendor can. Big drivers, high efficiency vs. natural timbre.

The Klipsch speakers really excel with wind instruments and percussion, so if you listen mostly to instrumental '50s/'60s jazz you'd never want for more. To my ear they fall down on human vocals and massed strings. They can get the power of a piano right, but I'm not so sure about the tonality.
 
@Yank: You said it. But that also depends on the amp, with the litte Unison Simply TWO LAE, the tonality seems to be much better then with most of the other amp which I tested. But finally I bought the Compact 7 after the Cornwall, I'd love to keep both, because both have their strength, but the Harbeth is more universal for me. Because the Cornwall need some loudness to get alive, too much for me over a long period, with Spendor or Harbeth you can listen at a very low loudness level and loud enough for my taste 90% of the time.
 
I'm a low volume listener and one of the things I like about Klipsch is they have that high-efficiency good at low levels thing (as do Harbeth). They are odd things in some respects and certainly have quirks (e.g. no one should ever consider they have heard Klipsch if the amp used was solid state), but they have certainly taught me the 'thing' that horns can do and nothing else does. When I owned Harbeth Compact 7ES and Klipsch Heresys the comparison was fascinating as they each did things right the other got wrong. All speakers are compromises.

FWIW I think there is a staggeringly good speaker in the La Scalas somewhere trying to get out; every now and again they floor me with a level of clarity, dynamic integrity and believability I've not heard from anything else, then I'll stick something else on that makes them sound remarkably odd and coloured (some of this is down to a compromised installation, they are in a second system with less than the best source and amplification). The bizarre thing is it is acoustic music they get the most right - I grew up in a house with a grand piano and the La Scalas are one of exceptionally few speakers that, given a great recording, can get that 'thing' that makes a piano sound like an actual piano rather than a hi-fi playing a piano or a digital sampling keyboard or whatever. I'm convinced it is a combination of real dynamic freedom and efficiency and a mid horn that covers such a huge range (400Hz to 6Khz). The little Heresys were surprisingly good at this too.

They do that 'thing' that single-driver speakers such as Lowthers can do and no two way speaker can. It's a note-shape/envelope/freedom thing. Not many three-way speakers can do it either. With La Scalas it does come at a price though; the horn-loaded bass though lightening fast and articulate is very limited in extension (drops like a stone at 50Hz) and there is an annoying cabinet resonance from, I tnink, the bass-horn walls. Klipsch designs are brilliant IMHO but seem spoilt by more than a bit of penny-pinching. Some cabinet bracing here and there and I suspect the La Scala would be truly exceptional. Ive already got fancy third-party crossovers in mine (ALK Universals). If cost were no object I would unquestionably have huge no-compromise horn speakers. That much I do know. My project for this year is to try and get rather more out of my La Scalas. I've got a little Decware SET on the way - frightening to think that 2.3 Watts equates to about 111db headroom.
 
Maybe the Heresy can play good at low levels but the CW 3 needs a level over 80dB to come alive (I was in a German forum where several owners of a CW3 including me have recognised that.) You can also use a solid state amp with Klipsch, it only has to be the right one. The Cornwall sounded also very good with a Naim Nait XS.Basscontrol was much better then with tubes. Also the record quality must be good, the CW 3 was much more picky then the Harbeth which is more pleasing. You still here the records bad quality, but you can listen to the music, without a problem.
 
Maybe the Heresy can play good at low levels but the CW 3 needs a level over 80dB to come alive (I was in a German forum where several owners of a CW3 including me have recognised that.)

I've never heard Cornwalls. La Scalas are certainly decent enough at low levels. I've never actually turned them up to be honest!
 
Cornwalls are just superb, they don't need to be played loud; stick on some jazz , they make you feel like you are at Ronnie Sotts and that ani't half bad.
 


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