DSJR
Major Contributor
Will you people PLEASE come up to date here?????
Sure, Harbeth have been around since 1977 and the tonal balance, as well as basic driver designs, has/have been altered a number of times since then. The BBC did buy a handful of M30's to drop-in replace the LS5/9's which were getting very tired by this time and also I believe, some P3's which even in original form, are demonstrably better than any LS3/5A I've ever heard (and I directly compared both at the factory on one notable visit).
My own SHL5's from 2007 are from the 'Warm, Natural Sound of Harbeth' era and exhibit/suffer a full-on bass (down to 50Hz or more) which thunders along in this sitting room - not boomy as such but maybe rather under-damped, a recessed sounding but still uncoloured upper mid and lower top (maybe more dispersion than on-axis frequency response issues here although there is a lower kHz dip I remember from Stereophile tests now gone in favour of the Plus version) and despite the twin metal dome tweeters, the top is very sweet indeed. The boxes don't 'thrum' here much at all really and are far far better than my Spendor BC2's which feel as if they're going to shake apart if played over moderate levels (they were always like this so not a fault with my 1974 pair). The C7-ES3 is a real fruitbox and I bloody hate them, although lighter framed timber frame rooms seemed to lap them up and they were solid sellers I remember (one reason for my comments in another thread about 'professional monitors' maybe being too much for some domestic listeners who like a nice warm tone).
Around ten or so years back, Harbeth revised the 5's into the 5 Plus version, which tautened the bass (not sure if a response sweep shows it, but a group delay test might?), seemingly livened up the upper mids and highs into a very different and more 'modern' sounding speaker. The 30.1 tilted the response nearer to 'flat' as well and the 10khz region ended up being lifted around 3dB at least compared to the original M30 measured here (plots are around the web for any interested parties) - listeners around the world loved the changes and this has continued with the other models I feel. Sure the dispersion may well need more work, but domestic listeners aren't as anal as many posters here (including me by the way). The current XD series has been a further refinement (the C7-XD is a bloomin' positive transformation and revelation in my opinion and now sounds like a smaller SHL5-XD - I love 'em both to bits), the subjectively clearer tones a much needed transformation to me (I played and very much enjoyed some Yello tracks with a huge happy grin on my face), but the negative thing now for me is much higher prices, although such is their market it hasn't stifled orders one bit! For domestic use, the XD models I've heard and whatever any Klippel test would show, just sound so easy to hear through, the lack of 'smear' and 'easy subjective clarity' most inviting - I've spent some hours on several occasions over the last year listening to music through these while doing turntable work and I've really enjoyed it! For passive speakers, I'd say these new XD revisions (and probably the 40th Anniversary ones too, although I've only heard the 30.2 Anniversary)
People here would probably prefer high tech from KEF, Revel and the most up to date monitors out there (I'm hungrily looking at KH310's if the grilles don't take too much away and herself can re-adapt to 'boxes on stalks' - she'd take ATC Classic 20SL's though, so there's hope), but don't look at Harbeth as some relic from a UK idealistic old 1970's dream as I feel they've left their roots well behind, as well as price comparable re-imagined relics by Graham Audio, Rogers and Spendor which nod too much to the past.
Harbeth have said that any change from now on will be to a very different kind of speaker, as the current boxes are basically as far along the road as they can reasonably be. There seems to be money available for careful private research here, but I doubt we'll see anything for a good while yet and to be honest, for their dealers and clients, there's currently little need for a major model change just yet. Let's face it, JBL, Revel or Neumann/Genelec/Kii/D&D parties won't find much to take their interest really
Having been there since Dudley brought the first HL's to the shop (he was a lovely gentle-man), it's been an interesting journey with this brand.
Sure, Harbeth have been around since 1977 and the tonal balance, as well as basic driver designs, has/have been altered a number of times since then. The BBC did buy a handful of M30's to drop-in replace the LS5/9's which were getting very tired by this time and also I believe, some P3's which even in original form, are demonstrably better than any LS3/5A I've ever heard (and I directly compared both at the factory on one notable visit).
My own SHL5's from 2007 are from the 'Warm, Natural Sound of Harbeth' era and exhibit/suffer a full-on bass (down to 50Hz or more) which thunders along in this sitting room - not boomy as such but maybe rather under-damped, a recessed sounding but still uncoloured upper mid and lower top (maybe more dispersion than on-axis frequency response issues here although there is a lower kHz dip I remember from Stereophile tests now gone in favour of the Plus version) and despite the twin metal dome tweeters, the top is very sweet indeed. The boxes don't 'thrum' here much at all really and are far far better than my Spendor BC2's which feel as if they're going to shake apart if played over moderate levels (they were always like this so not a fault with my 1974 pair). The C7-ES3 is a real fruitbox and I bloody hate them, although lighter framed timber frame rooms seemed to lap them up and they were solid sellers I remember (one reason for my comments in another thread about 'professional monitors' maybe being too much for some domestic listeners who like a nice warm tone).
Around ten or so years back, Harbeth revised the 5's into the 5 Plus version, which tautened the bass (not sure if a response sweep shows it, but a group delay test might?), seemingly livened up the upper mids and highs into a very different and more 'modern' sounding speaker. The 30.1 tilted the response nearer to 'flat' as well and the 10khz region ended up being lifted around 3dB at least compared to the original M30 measured here (plots are around the web for any interested parties) - listeners around the world loved the changes and this has continued with the other models I feel. Sure the dispersion may well need more work, but domestic listeners aren't as anal as many posters here (including me by the way). The current XD series has been a further refinement (the C7-XD is a bloomin' positive transformation and revelation in my opinion and now sounds like a smaller SHL5-XD - I love 'em both to bits), the subjectively clearer tones a much needed transformation to me (I played and very much enjoyed some Yello tracks with a huge happy grin on my face), but the negative thing now for me is much higher prices, although such is their market it hasn't stifled orders one bit! For domestic use, the XD models I've heard and whatever any Klippel test would show, just sound so easy to hear through, the lack of 'smear' and 'easy subjective clarity' most inviting - I've spent some hours on several occasions over the last year listening to music through these while doing turntable work and I've really enjoyed it! For passive speakers, I'd say these new XD revisions (and probably the 40th Anniversary ones too, although I've only heard the 30.2 Anniversary)
People here would probably prefer high tech from KEF, Revel and the most up to date monitors out there (I'm hungrily looking at KH310's if the grilles don't take too much away and herself can re-adapt to 'boxes on stalks' - she'd take ATC Classic 20SL's though, so there's hope), but don't look at Harbeth as some relic from a UK idealistic old 1970's dream as I feel they've left their roots well behind, as well as price comparable re-imagined relics by Graham Audio, Rogers and Spendor which nod too much to the past.
Harbeth have said that any change from now on will be to a very different kind of speaker, as the current boxes are basically as far along the road as they can reasonably be. There seems to be money available for careful private research here, but I doubt we'll see anything for a good while yet and to be honest, for their dealers and clients, there's currently little need for a major model change just yet. Let's face it, JBL, Revel or Neumann/Genelec/Kii/D&D parties won't find much to take their interest really
Having been there since Dudley brought the first HL's to the shop (he was a lovely gentle-man), it's been an interesting journey with this brand.
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