HARBETHS AND STANDS, do they make a difference

[Schnitger]

I'm trying some Monitor 30.1 at the moment, but I've had multiple Harbeths in the house of late. This evening I tried the M30.1 with their own boxes for stands. These are 56.8cm heigh and by chance that seems to me absolutely perfect for these speakers. I think 60cm is a little too high and find that they sound a more detached. Of course I realise it's relative to sofa heigh.

However, cardboard box does not seem to be an ideal stand material. I found I got some pretty serious boom around the port region with this arrangement.

Curiously I was also listening to a pair of C7ES2 on the same cardboard boxes and didn't get this boom. When I had C7ES3 I found stand height critical to get the bass correct because too close to the floor induced boom. The ports on C7s are positioned at the bottom, and this is a significant difference from the M30.1.

Of course the P3s are unported, which eliminates some of these problems, and explains why they have currently been allowed sojourn in S-Man's house.

Interesting. I have always heard some 'boxiness' in the M30.1's sound. They are detailed, even across the frequency range, but can sound boxy or 'chesty' with male voice and piano, especially. I wonder if this is simply a feature of the cabinet dimensions, which resonates in the frequency range needed to create such effects. On balance they are good speakers, but they have their faults.

Either way, stands make a difference!

 

[twotone]

I bought a beautiful stand setup for my P3S from an AOS member which consists of a pair of Black Partington Dreadnoughts, half filled with something or other, 30mm granite plinths and Russ Andrews wooden spike holders for the stands & RA cones for the speaker bases.

The speakers definitely sound better on that set up but they look stunning too, IMO.

BTW, the orginal price for that lot above was about £420, I paid about half inc couriers fees.

Tony


http://theartofsound.net/forum/show...s-Andrews-Granite-Plinths&p=597518#post597518

 

[Elephantears]

Interesting. I have always heard some 'boxiness' in the M30.1's sound. They are detailed, even across the frequency range, but can sound boxy or 'chesty' with male voice and piano, especially. I wonder if this is simply a feature of the cabinet dimensions, which resonates in the frequency range needed to create such effects. On balance they are good speakers, but they have their faults.

Either way, stands make a difference!

Do remember I was using cardboard boxes, so we might expect a somewhat boxy sound!

The chestiness is another thing; I've heard this from practically all Harbeths and I like it. I find the M30.1 superb with cello - really wonderful, and that is in part due to the added chestiness