It took a while... and even now, this will be cut down and less involved than I'd like to write simply due to not enough hours in the day to commit to it.... but I did want to write some notes on my feelings and opinions of the Harbeth sound in hopes that it makes it more clear for others to know what to expect with them...
I will likely resort to using some bullet points and half sentences to make it easier... I tend to write stream of consciousness as if I were speaking... so take it in that fashion and hopefully it isn't too jumbled...
first things first.... each Harbeth model has a different sonic presentation, even if they all have an overall "house sound" characteristic that overrides and presents them in similar light...
1) the little P3ESR is actually my favorite of the models for rock music as it's sealed mini monitor box seems a bit more punchy and excitable within the confines of it's lower frequency response capabilities...
2) the C7s are often referred to as the "all arounder" in the group.... they do equally well with all kinds of music.... because they are warmer sounding than other models, they do tend to make everything that is played through them sound a little bit more "pretty" than it really is... again, they are more on the warm side of neutral than the other models in the lineup. They tend to do things via errors of omission rather than commission in that the little touch of extra warmth and pretty tends to mask the extent of how bad a recording actually is rather than laying it bare and making it hard to listen to...
3) The Monitor 30.1 is model that is closest to being a studio monitor and being the most ruthless in resolution, detail, openness, transparency, etc... all without ever forgetting that it is a Harbeth speaker after all.... so more pronounced "sssss" and letting more sibilant notes through, but never to the point that it would be so ruthless to make you fatigued or want to turn off the music after a short period of time... the M30.1 also shows the source electronics and how they are affecting the sound the most...
4) the Monitor 40.1 and the 30.1 share a LOT of sonic similarities from 200Hz and up... except the 40.1 is on a different scale as far as the wall of sound it produces with its much larger box and 12 inch woofer making it a true three way (and a more than double MSRP price tag to go along with that fuller ranger response and bigger cabinet manufacturing costs). The M40.1 has waaay more weight and depth than the others. The bass response, like a great sub, tends to open up the rest of the soundstage and present things on a larger scale and dimension in all directions...The M40.1 is the most finicky of all the models about electronics to make them sound their best... they absolutely demand a certain amount of power to come alive and sound their best.... they also don't show as well as the others with less than reference electronics... the 40.1 shows that the electronics aren't letting them show their best....of course, if you never actually play better electronics on them, you don't know that and they seem amazing as is
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5) the model with the most recent updates, the Super HL5 Plus model (SHL-5+), is more in the vein of the C7 sonically than the M30.1, yet retains the clarity and detail qualities of the 30.1. It's got more resolution and detail retrieval capability than the C7, has a bigger soundstage and throws a bigger wall of sound, has a heftier, weighter bottom end due to tuning and box involved, yet mimics the C7s ability to make the music a bit prettier sounding than it actually is in reality... basically a slightly more forgiving, prettier, warmer version of the M30.1 with a much bigger sound overall that scales and fills a room with less effort.... more in the vein of what the M40.1 does versus the M30.1 with the woofer underneath, but doesn't have the same scale and resolution capability of the big boy in the lineup... it's just about the perfect compromise, imho.... you can get it in a package that is still has great WAF, can be placed in the room easier than the M40.1 big boys, and saves you enough money compared to buying them that you can buy some REL subs and still have money in your pocket, or you can go all out and upgrade your electronics, too at the same time... but if you want the best, the M40.1 is still king....
everything above is entirely subjective, open to interpretation based on the source electronics used, room size and construction, speaker placement in the room, etc... I can make each of the models sound wildly different by swapping cables and amplifiers, and DACs/players/servers. All of the speakers, including the supposed prettier sounding C7s and SHL5+ do show differences in the gear in front of them quite easily when you change it that can easily be picked out in blind tests.. but it always sounds like a Harbeth on the end no matter what you use in front of them...
generic description of Harbeth sound: relaxed, never trying to push any one part of the signal to the forefront, except a bit of a highlight in the vocal range to let them be highlighted a touch without having to exert yourself to hear into the mix to find the vocal at the expense of the rest of the presentation masking or covering it up... there is a purity of tone with vocals that makes them oooooh so real and present sounding, and with some models making them a bit more romantic sounding than reality... never forward, bright, etc. (although if you use really bright electronics in front of them, it can't work miracles and will let that brightness through, especially the M30.1 will! Midrange is colorful and rich.... acoustic guitars have the right kind of resonance to them so that the wood body of the guitar seems to resonate in the presentation just like it would if the guitar was in the same room with you... seems simple enough but an extraordinary number of speakers just can't get an acoustic guitar to sound truly the same as it sounds in the same room... we've all gotten used to what we think is the real sound... but having years upon years of my early life be spent in kitchens having a beverage and someone playing a guitar and singing acoustic, it's one of the things that I focus on when evaluating... a well damped room from so many people piled up in the kitchen singing along with the player
means I tend to like something a bit more fat and rounded than thin and shrill
Harbeth gives just enough richness that it sounds more real to me without going too far into fat and syrupy... treble is overall more laid back than aggressive and pronounced...
the new SHL5+ is kind of like having a M30.1 and adding a small REL subwoofer to it with the volume slightly raised on the sub so it blends perfectly and you can't tell the sub isn't part of the main speaker, but the overall bottom end has a bit more juice to it -*
* - the effect of adding a world class subwoofer to a system is something I've been falling in love with again since I picked up REL Acoustics Ltd. a while back. For years with our home theater side of the business, I would build custom subwoofers for customers to get them the most for their money. But at home in my two channel music listening systems, I often went without subwoofers and just listened to what the speaker could do by itself run full range.... I just couldn't find a commercial subwoofer at any price that blended perfectly like I wanted... the brand collector dealer in town had REL for years and years and years and weren't about to let htem go.... when they did, I couldn't jump on them fast enough... it's like they were made for Harbeth speakers... the way a truly great, fully blended subwoofer just completely opens up the sound of a speaker and makes it so much bigger and more well rounded is addictive. The SHL5+ has a bit of that going on all by itself without a sub compared to listening to each of the P3ESR, C7, and M30.1 models by themselves... some of that is the larger cabinet on the SHL5+ allows that kind of tuning... but just that extra bit of weight and scale is something only the 40.1 did before...
the new Radial 2 woofer brings all the improvements that happened with the other models that were updated... more openness, more clarity, more detail retrieval, more resolution.... but never going too far...
Harbeth won't be the #1 recommendation from someone looking for the nth degree of bass pitch and definition, super iron grip, and hyper detail in those lower registers... it tends to be a bit thicker and more rounded than reality.... there is still detail and it's *not* "one note" *AT ALL*... but part of that reputation for smooth and rich tends to make the lower registers a bit peaked in the midbass region compared to others... the net result is very good extension for the driver employed and the box construction, but not super iron grip and lean and super quick decay.. I rather enjoy it and like the effect on upright bass and even how it fleshes things out a bit more for electric bass in rock.... and I certainly can appreciate and enjoy super low Q bass as well...
ok... enough rambling... time up for now..... hopefully that helps a bit???? in describing the speakers and my thoughts... they are very natural, relaxed and inviting speakers.... they will do the audiophile gymnastics if called upon to do it.... but that is not what their primary purpose is... natural vocals, great on acoustic instruments, yet will rock when called upon. I listen for much longer in one session with Harbeth than with any other speaker I've ever owned... other speakers eventually tend to fatigue me and either give me a headache or just make me want to turn off the music... I've never ahd that experience with Harbeth...
