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Lavardin Integrateds.

When I asked John at MAX about the Leben and how it would perform with the P3s I bought from him, he said the Leben would make my Harbs disappear. I was listening to The Eagles’ Road Out Of Eden, and it suddenly dawned on me what he meant. The soundstage is so amazing …..it was as if the music was just there. I’ve owned some highly regarded/expensive amps over the years (I won’t say what they were as I also have the best room I’ve ever had, so not comparing like with like), but nothing got close to the sheer musicality of my WTA Versalex, Dynavector 17DX, Ray Samuels F117 phono stage, Leben 600 and the Harbeth P3XDs.

Peter
 
Mr Magoo said:
Again, my thanks to all the contributors. The room is a dedicated listening room measuring 4m x 3.5 or so. One wall is hidden behind my vinyl collection, another has a large window (Behind me), another a large partition/folding door to the lounge. One solid wall, and it’s behind my system/speakers.

At present, the speakers don’t sound (or feel) like they’re being driven by the A21P, which has about 25 watts per channel Class A. The sound softened a tad when I put the Stereo Coffee LDR pre in the mix. I love what the pre brought to the system with music at ‘sensible’ levels, but it lacks a bit of punch.

Of course, I may find that I end up changing the speakers, but I’d like to stick with the P3s if I can find the right amp. The Leben 600 is still in the mix, but I would want to demo at home if possible. Still not big on output on paper, but I think it would drive the Harbs very nicely. Also, Norma 140 and Audia Flight FLS9, and some other suggestions made here on this thread.

Oh, incidentally, any FLS9 users on here?

Peter
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Hello. I've had the Audia Flight FLS9 and the FLS3 in my living room and I liked the little FLS3 better, it's absolutely lovely. The FLS9 in my rig didn't have the "soul" or flavor of the FL3S, which sounds very close to a good tube amp, but with a very good "PRAT" factor. The 9 seemed a bit "cold" to me next to the small one with Harbeth M30 and SHL5+.
This is not usually the norm for brands, but a professional musician friend also liked the little FL3S better. About 10 years ago something similar happened to me with a Plinius 9100, I liked it better than the 9200.
I suppose that with very complicated loudspeakers of unstable and low impedance and very low sensitivity, the matter can change.
 
Mr Magoo said:
When I asked John at MAX about the Leben and how it would perform with the P3s I bought from him, he said the Leben would make my Harbs disappear. I was listening to The Eagles’ Road Out Of Eden, and it suddenly dawned on me what he meant. The soundstage is so amazing …..it was as if the music was just there. I’ve owned some highly regarded/expensive amps over the years (I won’t say what they were as I also have the best room I’ve ever had, so not comparing like with like), but nothing got close to the sheer musicality of my WTA Versalex, Dynavector 17DX, Ray Samuels F117 phono stage, Leben 600 and the Harbeth P3XDs.

Peter
Click to expand...

Hi Peter!

Happy LEBEN owner here too...
I also ran the RAY SAMUELS NIGHTHAWK Phono Stage for a few years.
It was good value for money and I too thought it was pretty good.
The fact is, that the Nighthawk was actually very easily bettered by other solid state and tubed phono stage designs.
I wanted to let you know that it would be a very weak link in your otherwise superb system.
Don't take my word for it... Try some others. More magic awaits you!
Perhaps you already know this?
Anyways, I hope you don't mind me saying...
 
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I had a demo of Harbeth C7-ES3 with Lavardin some years ago. In some ways the combination was exquisite - with small scale classical voices it was ravishing (appropriately I was using Debussy Chansons and the French amplifier clearly appreciated this). But when the scale got more demanding - a Mozart piano concerto - the Lavardin was not up to it. Harbeths need power for dynamics.

One thing I learned over my years with multiple Harbeth models and amps from £40 second hand to about £5-6k second hand is that you can get pretty good results with a reasonable budget 50W solid state integrated. I think above around £2k second hand you enter serious diminishing returns with Harbeths. They have many fine qualities, but the cheap tweeter limits HF finesse, and this makes going beyond a certain level of budget on amplification somewhat questionable in the return you get. Yes, I did love the SHL5PLus with a VTL ST-150 - that was pretty fantastic - but I still didn't feel the level of expenditure was justified for what I was getting. And at one point I was shocked by how decent they sounded with a budget Kenwood integrated from the early 90s.

There is a Soneteer Alabaster for sale on the forums at the moment. That is magical with Harbeths. Some of the ravishing qualities of the Lavardin but more convincing grip and a wonderful liveliness.
 
Not a regular box swap-er but can offer some experience. I had Harbeth C7-ES3 for 10 years fed by an LFD Zero mk3 with LFD cables. My room is 11ft x 18ft and I found no difficulty with it playing this space. The LFD was very good at low level listening. I replaced the Harbeth with their 40th Anniversary C7-ES3 and found them to have more/clearer bass and clarity. Recently I have purchased a Gato 150-Anniversary and have been impressed with it. It makes the Harbeths the best I have heard them. I do find myself playing at higher volumes than I used to, a bit like when I added a PSX to my Cyrus 2 many years ago. Something to do with less effort to feed the speakers? The Gato can be found second hand for £3k. I am sure it would give the smaller Harbeths the grip and power that some are suggesting they need.
 
Elephantears said:
I had a demo of Harbeth C7-ES3 with Lavardin some years ago. In some ways the combination was exquisite - with small scale classical voices it was ravishing (appropriately I was using Debussy Chansons and the French amplifier clearly appreciated this). But when the scale got more demanding - a Mozart piano concerto - the Lavardin was not up to it. Harbeths need power for dynamics.

One thing I learned over my years with multiple Harbeth models and amps from £40 second hand to about £5-6k second hand is that you can get pretty good results with a reasonable budget 50W solid state integrated. I think above around £2k second hand you enter serious diminishing returns with Harbeths. They have many fine qualities, but the cheap tweeter limits HF finesse, and this makes going beyond a certain level of budget on amplification somewhat questionable in the return you get. Yes, I did love the SHL5PLus with a VTL ST-150 - that was pretty fantastic - but I still didn't feel the level of expenditure was justified for what I was getting. And at one point I was shocked by how decent they sounded with a budget Kenwood integrated from the early 90s.

There is a Soneteer Alabaster for sale on the forums at the moment. That is magical with Harbeths. Some of the ravishing qualities of the Lavardin but more convincing grip and a wonderful liveliness.
Click to expand...
Would you please provide a link to the Soneteer.
 
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