AudioNervosa
Systemic Development => Speakers => Topic started by: jimbones on January 09, 2018, 05:47:48 AM
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Anyone here have any experience with Harbeth products? I remember hearing them at a show one time and was surprised that out of all the fancy speakers at the show this plain jane box seemed to best them in performance. Please share your thoughts/opinions. Thanks
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Thin wall, solid-wood box construction is designed to flex and sing along with the drivers, in a controlled way, rather than try to fight the back wave with heavy highly damped box construction like other speakers. Polypropylene-like material used to make the midrange driver cones have controlled flex, so they sound a little softer and smoother than rigid cones or paper.
Harbeth is considered an easy to listen to speaker, sacrificing a little detail to avoid harshness. Warm and safe sound, typical of the British hifi sound. The Compact 7 and the M40 are the best of the lineup, imo.
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my recollection from a ways back was that they sounded really good for what they looked like. I was going in and out of rooms with $30,000 speakers and here as a conventional 3 way box speaker that sounded very natural. I haven't heard them in a long while. I am hoping I am not off the mark. I may consider a pair
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Yeah, they sound good, but good and bad are relative.
All of the plastic midrange drivers sound a little dead and boring to me. Some of the natural tonal edginess is filtered out, and that's what excites me as an audiophile. But they are one of the few manufacturers that still voice a speaker for a music lover who wants more melody, harmonic bloom and less sonic tricks, as opposed to audiophiles who want detail, damping and sonic stimulation.
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Rich, I am struggling a bit with my design/build of my OB speaker. i was misinformed about some technical details during my design and the only way to correct is (1) totally redesign the OB speaker (2) live with the anomaly in the Fr (3) put the existing drivers and XO into a sealed box. (BTW they are basically the Kairos. Do you think the would be in the same class as the Harbeth?
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Sorry to hear that Jim. DIY speakers quickest way to the poor-house or the looney-bin. I occasionally buy some commercial speakers just to take a break from DIY, like now.
Post the details in your speaker thread maybe we can figure a way forward. I can imagine what might be wrong, maybe driver swap or some line level EQ can get you back on track.
Or just say fuck it and listen to some Harbeths for a while. :D
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ha ha yea right.It's true that you need a break once in a while. Always nice to have what i call a "benchmark" to keep your sanity. I did make some progress tonite. I'll message you with the info.
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It's been several RMAF's ago that I wandered into the Harbeth room. After all the esoteric designs, my expectations for a box speaker were low, but my evaluation of the sound was quite favorable. I remember that all things were done well in moderation. Nothing really stood out, but there were no obvious flaws. At the time, I though they were a pretty decent to good sound... until I looked at the price, which I thought was over their performance level.
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Yes they are expensive for what seems to be a modest box with a couple of drivers. But like i said I heard systems costing 6x,7x as much and they were no where as good. Now this is going off of memory, its been a while so if I demo them again i may/not have the same favourable reaction. So, should price be based on how well it performs? After all isn't that what we are after?
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If you are a DIY guy, why not build any of the excellent designs or kits that are out there? There is something available for just about every style, taste, and price point. I'd match the designs by Dennis Murphy, Danny Richie, or Rick Craig against a factory Harbeth... and I'm sure I'm leaving out multiple excellent designers. You like horns??? Look at Pi Speakers by Wayne P-something. They have that warmth that appeals to many and are quite inexpensive (comparatively). But I can't see a couple of grand for a 6" two way speaker.
Or get AJinFlorida to build you something better than Harbeth at half the price.
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I come from the if you don’t have anything nice to say school... Having said that, I have heard various Harbeths at shows, and always felt they were just boring. But as everyone says, shows are no place to judge. My two cents.
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I am a fairly experienced DIY speaker builder and engineer. So I like make my own creations. I do however feel that the H frame woofer was so good that I made that the beginning of my system and decided to build from there. I have some areas to work on before I make any purchases.
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I am a fairly experienced DIY speaker builder and engineer...
Which measuring system are you using? I've used the Clio system for probably +- 50 designs and have been quite happy with it. The old one died several years back and I've been eyeing this one https://www.parts-express.com/audiomatica-clio-pocket-personal-acoustic-measurement-system--390-900
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omnimic v2
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That looks interesting. I like that it's half the price of the Clio. Do you recommend it?
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Man Jim I feel for you that your beautiful DIY design has a flaw. Regarding Harbeth there is a dealer out in LI that I don't think is too far from you. Sorry if you knew this already. Best of luck.
https://www.eastendhifi.com/
Address: 1007 Skyline Dr, Coram, NY 11727
Phone: (516) 318-8076
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That looks interesting. I like that it's half the price of the Clio. Do you recommend it?
It's very good. It's beyond most of the stuff I have time to measure (or have time to learn to do). I do the basics. But I assume the more expensive Clio does more (and is probably more sophisticated)
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Man Jim I feel for you that your beautiful DIY design has a flaw. Regarding Harbeth there is a dealer out in LI that I don't think is too far from you. Sorry if you knew this already. Best of luck.
https://www.eastendhifi.com/
Address: 1007 Skyline Dr, Coram, NY 11727
Phone: (516) 318-8076
Thanks Dean! Actually it wasn't a design flaw ha ha, at least not on my part. My numbers were spot on. I won't publicly call someone out but it is what it is. I have options once the spring comes. But I must say the result is not horrible. I have made some adjustments to compensate and gets me closer to what I need but technically not there yet.
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Sometimes it better not to reinvent the wheel.
I kind of took a lesson from Greg Roberts and improve a known speaker design. Greg took the Klipsch design and re-worked it into the masterpieces he has. I kinda followed the same lead using an old Cerwin Vega H15 as a base. New drivers, crossover, modifying the bracing, baffeling etc. The latest version sounds pretty darn good for a tinker like myself. CV like Klipsch, put a lot of effort into getting the cabinet design about right. It was just of matter of refining it and using new state of the art drivers and crossovers.
You might call it cheating, but it seems like the best way to go if you are after good sound from an old box design.