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Harbeth P3ESR v Spendor

DSJR said:
Have any of you actually listened to P3ESR's. The bass quality and quantity from those little drivers is quite a bit better than that achieved a couple of decades ago IMO.

Harbeth's main market is in the far east, where they apparently have full order books running into a year or more. They've been down the large UK dealer network path in the 90's and found it severely wanting, as so many dealers used to be agency collectors. Having a very few dealers who genuinely love and support the products is far better for them.

Spendor have the Sevenoaks chain to market their main-market products, the "classic" series being all but ignored for the UK I gather. The SA1mk2 is where you should be looking TBH.

Remember, none of these products are for close-to-wall mounting and really do prefer a good 40cm or more from the back wall IMO.
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Thanks for the information. Now I realise Harbeth's stand. They certainly love their own speakers, and it encouraging to hear that they only choose local dealers who share the same passion in supporting their products.

Yes, I have listened to the P3ESR's. In fact I have listened to the entire line of Harbeth speakers from the diminutive P3ESR to the 40.1's. I agree the P3ESR's have amazing bass for their size and sound quite a bit larger than most speakers in the "small bookshelf" range.

I also concur that the Harbeths need some space from wall boundaries for optimum sound reproduction. My SHL5s are approximately 130cm from the back wall measured from the front baffle.
 
DSJR said:
Have any of you actually listened to P3ESR's. The bass quality and quantity from those little drivers is quite a bit better than that achieved a couple of decades ago IMO.
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Yes, I've owned a pair for about 6 months now. The bass quality is really excellent but when you compare them side-by-side with speakers that have larger drivers the limited *quantity* of bass is noticeable. But it seems that those who have heard P3ESRs and didn't get on with them were disappointed by the bass more than anything else (what else is there to be disappointed by other than SPLs?).

To the OP, the other Harbeth option worth investigating is the Monitor 30, this has a different character to the C7 and oddly enough the Harbeth dealers seem to really like the M30 but the designer seems to be a bit embarrassed about it.

The best characterisation of differences across the Harbeth range can probably be gleaned from posts by hifi_dave and garmtz on the Harbeth forum.
 
robdeszan said:
Harry,
Thanks for your reply, at least it confirms they do exist. Sometimes, even side by side.;)
what were your impressions? How do they compare in their bass extension? Does the front bass port on the harbeth allows a closer placement to wall? Which are easier to position?
is the mids and highs presentation comparable?
Thanks!
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Find a friendly dealer & insist on a good demonstration.

Use YOUR ears, no-one elses; a home dem if poss.

BTW I preferred the Harbeths.

Have fun. H.
 
Im having a very happy reunion with the ls3/5a sound. I bought a pair of 3/5R's from fellow PFM'r JonR and while I cant compare directly since my last pair of 3/5a's are long gone, I can say that the current Spendor produces all the same magic- especially with voice. I will be using them with a kitchen tv/radio system so they are going to prove ideal. At the moment I have them on the end of my main system with valves in a large room and they do the 3/5a trick of throwing a huge palapable soundstage from tiny boxes. What Spendor and Harbeth ( I also use HL-K6es's ) do with 'traditional' ingredients is really a little bit of magic.
 
I have a smallish apartment so I need a speaker to match, adding a sub at a later date if need be Surprisingly enough though, here in NYC it's a real pita/impossible to audition the 4 speakers I'm interested in choosing new ones from.

The Stirling LS3/5A V2's, ATC SCM11's, and ProAc Studio 100's are only possible via a costly mail order process if I don't like them, and for Spendor 3/5R's, with Singer closed, there's no dealer close.

The only upside is that I plan to be in London for a few days at the end of October and I have hopes to audition them all then, and either ship the winners home or try to stuff 'em into a suitcase. :)

As much as I love the midband of the LS3/5A types, since I listen primarily to rock and jazz I'm thinking the ATC and ProAc's will be a better fit. And I wouldn't need a sub.

Does anybody here have any experience with those two speakers? How do they compare?
 
dim_span said:
the P3ESR are the best small speakers I have heard... they are on my wishlist for a 2nd system
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Me too... I had HL-P3s previously and the 'ESRs are a definite step forward.

I have owned various LS3/5as over the years. The little HLs improved on them and the 'ESRs on the HL-P3s.

There is a comment about the bass end here. Yes, it's ' fuller ' than the P3s, and sometimes I use the tilt control on my Quad 34 preamp.

CONCLUSION: The best mini-monitor speaker I have ever heard.
 
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