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Harbeth Monitor 40.1

I've never done a direct comparison. I've heard various ATCs enough times to be fairly sure in my opinion. I've only heard the M40.1 three times at shows, under less than ideal circumstances, so I'm not sure how valid my impression is.

That said, my impression is that the Harbeth sounds more relaxed and a bit warmer than the ATC 100A, which would be the equivalent model. There's a lot of guff making the rounds on forums that the ATCs have midrange distortion. That may or may not have been true 20 years ago, but the current version is superbly low in distortion over the entire frequency range. A German magazine, stereoplay, has done measurements on a version of the 100AT which are pretty convincing. Haven't seen measurements of the Harbeth.

The ATC is really, really good in bass and midrange but not perhaps as well resolved in the treble region as the Harbeth. The Harbeth is really, really good in midrange and treble but perhaps not quite as well as resolved in the bass. Neither would dictate the type of music you listen to.

All not very helpful. At this price level, a home demo is a must. The speaker/room interaction will be more important than differences between these two speakers, I suspect. Why not contact your nearest Harbeth dealer, or even our own hifi_dave, about a home audition for the Harbeth, and contact ATC about which dealer could arrange a home demo of the 100A for you (IIRC Musicraft Derby have mentioned in the trade announcement section here that they have the 100A on demo, for example). I'd love to hear how a direct comparison would turn out for you.
 
darryl, I know what your gonna say the former for ATC aka Bub and the latter for Harbeth?

The latter is my present abode although the former is what I hope to do on extending my home that is blighted by floorboards with a hollow place below which I am informed is a deathknell for good acoustics?

Pluto ( hifiwigwam and here I think ) likes both too but has the 40.1 and has kindly said I can come down and listen to them when I am next in London.

I don't want to turn this into a ATC thread but I would love the ATC active 50s provided my home can handle the sound and even 100s like Bub but the room is only 20 x 12 and may not be much bigger even after renovation although I hope to have bare boards rather than in-betweenie carpets and soft furnishings as present.
 
I hasten to add that Bub has also extended a kind invitation to north of the border too as has Paul Ransom with his 50s further south although after our arguing on the bicycle helmet thread I' m hoping that Paul dosen't realise it's me!

Paul said he felt he had never heard a drum from a speaker until he heard Bub's 100s.

That is the last word on ATC.
 
A £6000 speaker should be versatile enough to deal with any music, room size and treatment (except extreme examples).
 
i agree with markus (as usual).
i'd take up the invites to have a listen , i'd probably lean more towards atc actives.
but that depends on the room , what amp you already have and the kind of precision you want or if you want a slighty more relaxed outlook.....
 
BlueEyes said:
Paul said he felt he had never heard a drum from a speaker until he heard Bub's 100s.
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Paul also probably never heard an Altec 416 in a proper Onken enclosure, or a TAD 1601 in the recommended 170 l enclosure. ATCs aren't the only speakers with good bass. Another speaker will great bass is the Canton Reference 1.2, for example, which does drums rather well, too.
 
One of those little things that I'd never thought about but made sense when I finally realised what question to ask, was that Harbeth's primary pro market is for broadcast monitors as opposed to recording studio monitors.

I have no direct experience of either workplace but I understand enough about the differences in working environment and equipment requirements to be able to see what AS is on about when he explains what he is trying to get a Harbeth monitor to do.
 
Coda II said:
One of those little things that I'd never thought about but made sense when I finally realised what question to ask, was that Harbeth's primary pro market is for broadcast monitors as opposed to recording studio monitors.
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This is key IMO as they are optimised to sound right at Health & Safety approved BBC studio levels, not the ear-bleeding / hearing damage levels of many commercial recording studios. I suspect this is one reason I like Harbs so much as I listen pretty quietly.

Tony.
 
The pro Quested studio monitors are positioned somewhere between the ATCs and Harbeths. Their new V3110 3-way active speaker is really fantastic, quite small and the older VH3208 is used by lots of studios around. They are generally as resolving and controlled as the ATCs, but a bit less listeners fatigue, even when used at a very high sound level. They are not as warm as the Harbeths, but almost and just a bit warmer than the ATCs. So can be a good compromise for few people and the price seems right too.
 
Markus,

Quick, Joe, get your order in and beat the price increase from Jan 1.

Come to think of it, you could buy the Harbs and get your dealer to throw in some slippers.
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Of course, but the trivial matter of where I will locate $12.5k Cdn remains, less the amount a pair of new slippers would cost if I can get them thrown in as part of the deal.

Joe
 
endust4237 said:
The pro Quested studio monitors are positioned somewhere between the ATCs and Harbeths. Their new V3110 3-way active speaker is really fantastic, quite small and the older VH3208 is used by lots of studios around. They are generally as resolving and controlled as the ATCs, but a bit less listeners fatigue, even when used at a very high sound level. They are not as warm as the Harbeths, but almost and just a bit warmer than the ATCs. So can be a good compromise for few people and the price seems right too.
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Those Questeds look like excellent vfm.
Do you (or does anyone else) have any experience of the JBL 6332?
http://www.jblpro.com/catalog/general/Product.aspx?PId=26&MId=5

They're not active, but they are 3 way with a 12" LF driver and from what I've read (FWIW), they're very good with a wide variety of music at varying SPLs. They also go loud (which is one, of several facets, that's important to me). If this turns out true, they seem to be exceptional value for money @ c.£1,900 (ex VAT, ex delivery), made to order by JBL USA (as confirmed to me last week by a UK dealer). Note: this would be order and supply in the UK.

I realise that cosmetically speaking they wouldn't suit all domestic environments, but regards Swiss Army knife performance (i.e. across different types of music at varying SPLs), I'm very keen to hear from anyone who has used them in a pro setting (or domestic).
 
The spec of those Questeds is interesting. They claim the 10" long throw driver will "outperform other 12 inch-based monitor designs". The Class A/B and D amps pack a combined 1000w per channel :)
 
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