How do they differ from each other?
Well, this will take some explaining
, and I also want to take time to listen more (I had the M105 for 2 weeks now) and do some measurements with REW - I have measured the Harbeth before but I will redo them since I now have a different speaker stand, and I want to compare the 2 speakers like-for-like.
But for now, my subjective observations are:
- the M105 are no doubt a more 'complete' speaker vs. the Harbeth. They sound better with more music genre, which is no surprise to many.
- the M105 are more dynamic, and this does not apply only to rock and classical. Even with small jazz ensemble the percussion sounds more distinct, and more realistic. Instrument separation is more convincing with the M105 then the Harbeth.
- as some have noted with the M105, the high / mid / bass are better integrated with this speaker. The P3esr are very good in fooling me with with a slight bass hump around 175Hz in my room, to hide the fact that they don't go low, but when I listened to the same song while swapping between the 2 speakers the difference is clear.
- the mid and treble are surprisingly similar between the 2 speakers.
- on some songs the M105 are magical. One of my reference track is Dire Strait's "You and your friend". I used to listen to this song on a friends high end system with a pair of Martinlogan Quest, and the way Mark Knopfler's voice floats in the middle has always been my own reference for holographic sound stage. Well the M105 is the closest to replicate that experience out of all the box speakers I have ever listened to.
- I will say 80% of the time the M105 sound better. But there are a few songs that still sound best on the Harbeth. One album I recently discovered is by Japanese singer Hideaki Tokunaga called 'Vocalist Vintage'. Hideaki has a very high voice, and on the Harbeth his voice has a little more weight to it that sound mesmorizing, whereas on the M105 his voice sounded 'correct' but is on the thin side and just a little less convincing. I hope to understand why this is a bit better after doing some in room measurement.
- the M105 produces more bass, that I don't need to mention. However in my small living room it is boomy and slightly overpowering. I am doing a few things to deal with this, currently I have extended the basis reflex port with a piece of rolled up paper to tune the resonance frequency and it's doing a good job at the moment. I just ordered some pipe insulation (to reduce the port diameter) and I want to play with that and see if there is further improves. Before anyone ask, I am streaming music from my DAS to my DAC via wifi, which means it's not possible to run software room correction filters to tame the bass. I might eventually buy a Minidsp one day but for now, I am trying to avoid the expense and adding another component to the system.