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Harbeth Placement

jusphish

jusphish

Enthralled by Naim
After some internal debate, I'm going to go ahead and ask some questions that I probably already know the answers to.

Am considering moving to a pair of Harbeths from my current floor-standers. Part of this entails a room reconfiguration in which the loudspeakers would be placed in the chimney breast alcoves, atop joinery cupboards (80cm high) and thus rather close to the rear wall, about 15-20cm clearance. Obviously a far cry from broadcast-style stands in the middle of the room.

Most of what I've read would immediately suggest I turn back now. Thought maybe someone has had real life experience with these and can corroborate or refute the warnings.

Models in consideration are M30.1 and C7ES-3.
 
Doubt the suggested models would work in such placement, maybe a room drawing could help further advise.
 
jusphish said:
After some internal debate, I'm going to go ahead and ask some questions that I probably already know the answers to.

Am considering moving to a pair of Harbeths from my current floor-standers. Part of this entails a room reconfiguration in which the loudspeakers would be placed in the chimney breast alcoves, atop joinery cupboards (80cm high) and thus rather close to the rear wall, about 15-20cm clearance. Obviously a far cry from broadcast-style stands in the middle of the room.

Most of what I've read would immediately suggest I turn back now. Thought maybe someone has had real life experience with these and can corroborate or refute the warnings.

Models in consideration are M30.1 and C7ES-3.
Click to expand...
I was very happy with my C7ES-3 around 25cm from the rear wall. Can’t remember if I ever had them closer than that. I mean I’m sure the sound was compromised but not fatally, for me. They were a long way from the side walls. Sounded awful without room to breathe at the side.
 
Yes i had harbeth shl5plus fairly near rear wall . It did not like it at all. Not recommended. Very unpleasant.

Make sure you home demo before you buy

P3esr yes ok .Not sure about the others
 
I agree with seanm -M 30.1 s have front firing port so distance to rear wall not much of an issue - but need to be well clear of side walls to sound their best.

Home audition is the way to go prior to purchase
 
hifinutt said:
Yes i had harbeth shl5plus fairly near rear wall . It did not like it at all. Not recommended. Very unpleasant.

Make sure you home demo before you buy

P3esr yes ok .Not sure about the others
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I agree with this. I have some SHl5plus speakers and they would not be good close to back wall. I also have set of P3ESRs and they sound pretty good close to the wall, though ideally should also be further out.
 
While I have struggled with some aspects of the speakers/room, the bass reinforcement from their relatively near-back-wall placement has never been a particular issue for me.

I have 30.1s around 25cm from the wall behind them - the one closer the the corner of the room a couple of cm more, the one with no near side wall a couple less.
 
Forget it, would be my advice. In an alcove and on 80 cms high cupboard? With an M30 that would put the tweeter at 1120mm height; hardly ideal.

15-20 cms to rear boundary is not sufficient for either model.

Side clearance is also important; alcoves unlikely to provide that.

C7ES3 is definitely a no no. You might, maybe get away with an M30 but I very much doubt it, plus you'd have to accept compromises on sound. P3ESR more likely to be more OK, but then I've always found that these are best in free space, as are all Harbeths.

Frankly, I'd go with my initial statement; forget it!
 
As suggested by most here, 15-20cm from rear wall is no good for mid-sized Harbeth M30.1 and up. If you listen at whisper low volume levels then you are alright but I guess you would want to enjoy the speakers at moderate levels or crank it up once in a while.

If the speakers have sufficient space from the side walls, say >80cm, you may get away with 25-30cm distance from rear wall with toe-in. If the speakers have less than 25cm from both side and rear walls, forget it mate.
 
jusphish said:
Fair enough, as expected. Wonder if something like a ProAc D2 would fare better.
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I'd investigate the ProAc Tablette 10 Signature. Use isolation if mounting on a cupboard. Home dem or trial, if at all possible.
 
Actually I have a pair of Tablette 10 (non-sig) in my office setup that I am going to try as an example. My reasons for looking at the larger Response D2 is a fuller sound with more bass extension whilst keeping with ProAc general voicing. Whatever I do in this room is replacing floor-standers.
 
Harbeths will hate alcoves, they really won’t work there, though you might just get away with the P3ESR sealed-box mini-monitor. Very few speakers cope with alcove positioning IME. You can get away with some Klipsch, e.g. Heresys and some others that are happy in corners, some vintage Tannoys may work too, but certainly avoid anything designed for free-space like Harbeths etc. Try the Tab 10s, if they boom and honk expect the Harbeths to be 10x worse!
 
jusphish said:
After some internal debate, I'm going to go ahead and ask some questions that I probably already know the answers to.

Am considering moving to a pair of Harbeths from my current floor-standers. Part of this entails a room reconfiguration in which the loudspeakers would be placed in the chimney breast alcoves, atop joinery cupboards (80cm high) and thus rather close to the rear wall, about 15-20cm clearance. Obviously a far cry from broadcast-style stands in the middle of the room.

Most of what I've read would immediately suggest I turn back now. Thought maybe someone has had real life experience with these and can corroborate or refute the warnings.

Models in consideration are M30.1 and C7ES-3.
Click to expand...

It may work if you used EQ to tone down the peaks and perhaps also plug the ports.
Make sure you keep them away from the corners (at least some 50-60cm).
 
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