Harbeth Owners - I Need Some Help

Your points are well taken, Mark. There is no question that the Harbeth is right and musical in an essential way. As I survey the landscape of our hobby, it is also clear that we get conflicting messages about how desirable this is. I have read many, many enthusiastic speaker reviews that proclaim, as if it’s a good thing, that this or that speaker “will reveal everything upstream and if you don’t have the best ancillary components, you will suffer the consequences.” A reviewer might say, “As a reviewer, these speakers are a great ‘tool’ for me, but if I were ‘just’ a music lover, I might choose something else.” Then they stick it in Class A and audiophiles yearn to own it. I’ll project my own struggles here and suggest that many of us in this hobby want to wear both hats. We don’t want to be denied hearing those differences between upstream components (this is not the J. Gordon Holt definition of transparency, but it is certainly a valid use of the term), but on the other hand, we’d sure like to just enjoy the music.

When I owned ProAc Response 2.5’s, I kept trying to get greater clarity out of them: I *wanted* to better hear what was going on upstream. When a friend loaned me his Thiel 1.6’s, I realized that the ProAcs were obfuscating too much of the playback chain. As much as I loved their musicality, my jones for “the hobby” was being choked. So Thiels it was, and now, two years later, I also have Harbeths in the house. In case it isn’t obvious, this boy clearly doesn’t know WHAT he wants.

I think the speaker you are now leaning towards as your Harbeth replacement will move you a little more in the direction of reviewer’s tool (though not too much). I’ll be curious to see how that goes for you. I expect you’ll find it exciting and exhilarating at first. Later on, you may find you’ve opened Pandora’s box. Then you can join the Church of Audio Angst that tithes so much salary from so many of us. :-)

Dan, I think much of what you say is true--and I will take it as a warning. When folks refer to any component as a good "reviewers tool" it raises in my mind the "great divide" that seems to exist within the community--between those that are into music and those that are into gear. The folks into music see the gear as a means to an ends. For folks into gear the equipment is an ends in itself. What you point up is the degree to which both reside within all of us. Though I consider myself one of the former, I will freely admit that at times a certain obsession with the gear itself begins to crowd out the music lover in me. I try to protect against this because, for the most part, I perceive those who are into the gear as perpetually unsatisfied, in debt and in conflict with their wives (if they have one). As I move forward in my pursuit of speakers to replace the Harbeth's I'm gonna try real hard to find something that retains their musicality but adds deeper bass and better looks. I may never get there but one lives in hope.

I'm rooting for you!

When my wife first saw the C7s she said, "oh my God, they're beautiful!" This is with the grills removed which is how I'm listening.

I'm using Monitor 30's with 24" sand-filled Skylan stands. Absolutely perfect. The consensus -- and this is coming from the designer -- is that an inert stand is best.

Noel recommends topping off two diagonally-oppossed posts and 5-6" in the other two. I followed his advice and haven't experimented again; it all sounds very right.