New Harbeth compact 7's... Quite good

Steve, just write em a check and buy them. They'd give you a good deal
and you know you will want to keep them forever.

 

I'm pretty sure the model 2's have the radial driver also

 

No problem. That would suffice, I suppose.

 

I would not use the word "ruthless" to describe any Harbeth speaker, not even their more revealing Monitor series.

If anything the old C7ES2 erred on the polite side.
Musical but sometimes a bit too nice.

 

Jeff, so they should sound as good /the same as the old 40's?

 

Remember that the 40's are about 10k a pair...

I did get to hear the new ones and they are fantastic. But the
new 7's offer up a pretty good helping for a lot less money.

My room is 16 x 24 and even in that space these have decent bass response.

Again, you can't play brain damage rock at concert levels, but they
are amazingly accurate tonally and image like crazy. The new model
three is a complete redesign and not as "polite" as the speaker it replaces.

Definitely worth a listen if this fits your requirements.

 

Sorry, Jeff dont mean to get off track too much here. But when you are talking about not being able to blast these are you talking about the 7's? The 40's should be able to rock out pretty hard though .. right?

 

I just checked and yes, you're right. It's the tweeter on the 7ES-3 that's completely new.

 

If you're looking to rock out, then maybe Harbeth isn't for you. Or Spendor, or Quad...

 

Among other forms of controlled noise, I absorb tons of rock 'n' roll. I've the Harbeth Super HL5s, which I preferred over the 7ES3s and the M30s in my room. With the correct stands and room set-up, I often can't image anything sounding better. In short, there's lots of bass with the 8" driver; for me the Harbeth offers a complete and honest sound. Goosebumps, really.

 

What height stands are you using?

So far I've heard the best balance of bass and imaging with
19" stands...

 

19". Man, it wasn't easy finding the right balance.

 

Move along Dave, nothing for you here.

"These aren't the droids you're looking for."

Dave, stop kidding yourself: the Harbeth 7's are not for you.

 

lol.

 

[removed by Gary]


Speaker size and bass performance do not go hand in hand. That's where engineering comes in.

For instance, I owned a pair of Spendor SP100s for almost a decade. Big heavy 3-way speakers with a 13" woofer. They measured flat to 45 Hz.

I now use a pair of Devore Fidelity Gibbon Super 8s which probably have about half of the internal volume of the Spendors. These are two-ways with a 6" woofer. They measure down to 38 Hz. And they sound much bigger and play much louder than the SP100s.

I just reviewed a pair of small bookshelf speakers with a 7" woofer--the Sonics Argenta. They're even smaller than the Gibbons. And they go down to 38 Hz as well.

And what about all those huge single-driver designs, such as Lowthers and Rethms and such? Giant enclosures, and yet many of them can barely reach 60 Hz.

[Removed by Gary]

 

I'd have to ask but these were on pretty low stands at Acoustic Sounds. Maybe they were 19" but I'd have guessed a bit lower. They were really beefy stands. I'm not at all sure. I was surprised at the low height. The imaging was just great. They were plenty loud with great bass and I didn't get the sense the amp was half-trying. I don't recall what was powering them.

 

jstraw-- you say they were plenty loud.


Do you think i could listen to something like The Who's - Who's Next in a 15'x12' room thru a Mac 240 pretty Loud?
Or Art Pepper's + Eleven , which i always feel compeleld to turn up loud.

I am very interested in getting a pair of Harbeths.
I would love to hear some first but that might be difficult to do up here.

I listen to a lot of JAZZ lately but do like to blast The Who/Beatles/Moby Grape/etc

Thanks.

 

Like I said, I don't remember what was powering them so I can't really say what another amp might do. I'm really not familiar with enough amps to comment on your 240. All I know is that these speakers can produce SPL to rock out to. I'd say the room they were in was similar in size. Doug's been there too...maybe he can offer more insight.

 

I would also be interested if anybody has tried to pair Harbeths with a McIntosh 240. Would this be enough power?

 

Yes.

 

I've been running the set we have with a Mac 275 with great results....

And yes, the 19" stand is what you saw at Acoustic Sounds. This is the optimum stand height for this speaker according to the folks at Harbeth.

 

Are you sure they're not the 17" stands that are specifically for the 7's I see on the Harbeth site?

 

Has anybody had the opportunity to compare the Harbeth compact 7's to the bigger Super HL-5's? If so, I would be interested in your thoughts.

David

 

I've compared the Super HL-5s to the Compact 7-ES2s, but not the 3s. The HL-5s are a bit more extended in the treble, but can also get a little bright on some recordings. The Compact 7-ES2 was a little warm in comparison, and more forgiving. The Monitor 30, for me, was the best of both worlds.