Harbeth 30.1 ? The Ultimate Speaker under $5K ?

@murphythecat

It’s clear you have an obvious bias for Harbeth being that you own the SHL5s. I’m sorry you get so easily offended, but I hear what I hear and in my opinion, Harbeths are the least natural sounding of the BBC derivatives. My first experience with the brand was buying a pair of C7s - against my dealer’s recommendation as he too prefers the other brands despite selling a lot of Harbeths. He said they’re one of his best sellers because people don’t even bother to audition the competition - they just drink the Harbeth Kool Aid and insist on buying them, just as I did in the beginning.
Even after I went with a different brand I continued to give other Harbeths a chance, but they just don’t hold a candle when it comes to tone, microdynamics and inner detail. People often refer to them as BBC speakers with a "modern" sound. I’d agree with that because I find them just a bit fatiguing as I do many modern speakers. I’ll admit they throw a wider soundstage than the others, and I like their appearance the best - sort of ironic considering Spendor manufactures their cabinets.

BTW, there's no way in #€(( the SHL5s go clear down to 30Hz, and you certainly woudln't know buy listening to them in your tiny space. 

Have nothing against Harbeth speakers, I listen at a dealer for a few hours to a pair of 30.1 that I had lusted after for years, left the shop very disappointed and confused. A year later I bought Graham Audio ls5/9 unheard as I wanted to own a bbc speaker once in my lifetime, having read a lot of reviews and user experience on the differences of the two speakers I took the chance.
I find the difference to be quite big, the 30.1 was too much in my face, very detailed and the tweeter was notably in the picture, the Graham’s have a lot of detail, but somehow for me seam more coherent in there sound, also I like the bass of the Graham’s more.
Somehow seeing how many Harbeth owners like to use tube amps with their speakers make sense to me.

@helomech
How would you describe "don't hold a candle"? Are Harbeth speakers muddy in the upper bass/midrange? My references are ATC and Tannoy large models which I would describe as quite the opposite of muddy. Interested to complete with a BBC derivative just to be able to compare the sound. 

helomech, im not in the least offended.

my experience with harbeth is different then yours. i dont consider myself biased because i bought the graham ls59, and the harbeth shl5plus. ive lived with both for over 6 months. i found the harbeth more natural, engaging and musical then graham. the graham also have a measurable bbc dip of about -4db between 1.7khz up to 3.8 khz. maybe what you call natural is actually a bit colored (bbc dip)?

the graham ls59 also have a weird 2-3db peak around 6khz. all my measurements were confirmed by graham. i thought the graham were great and very similar then harbeth.

im not married to harbeth but to call them the least natural is the exact opposite of my experience. i wont even talk about spendor as ive not liked one spendor speaker ive audition. even d7 was imo coloured and unnatural

what im tired of seeing from you is in every thread mentionning harbeth you come in and claim the superiority of every other bbc conpanies. your only real experience is with the c7es3. i think the c7es3 is the worst harbeth model there is. id even take p3esr plus sub over c7es3.
so you base your entire narrative about harbeth having owned only one model. seems a bit weird and dishonest.

i also find the 30.1 much less good then shl5plus. the 30.1 coloration in the bass is subtle but a bit obvious.

look at stereophile measurements of the shl5plus. its flat down to 40hz and -6db at 30hz. with room gain it easily hits 30hz when well placed.

@gosta

I wouldn’t call the Harbeth bass "muddy," but it’s definitely not as punchy or dynamic as ATC. - that goes for all the BBC derivatives. What bothered me about the C7s, especially, was their cabinet was very easy to localize in the sound "picture." They didn’t perform the disappearing act very well. The bass was sort of like what I find in stock automotive speakers - overblown in the upper bass. It’s hard to describe, other than to say it sounded like the cone was working a little too hard and the cabinet needed a larger port. That wasn’t the case as much with the SHL5 but it was with the M30s.

The Harbeth midrange is pretty good but they just don’t resolve as much of the music as the competition. They have a brighter treble and upper midrange, which I suspect may be mistaken for greater detail by many listeners. I think the inherent benefits of a plastic cone are lost on Harbeths, because to my ears, they sound like what I associate with ceramic-coated aluminum drivers. It’s as though their goal of creating a very stiff plastic cone resulted in negating the inherent dampening properties of the plastic - so they sound almost like a metal cone. That’s just how I hear them and it goes for the whole range, from the P3s to the M40s.

I’m reluctant to provide these opinions because as you’ve probably noticed, their fanbase is an extremely sensitive and defensive bunch. As I’ve said before, this isn’t to say they’re bad speakers in the grand scheme of things, but I strongly feel they are over-hyped. I can only guess their popularity has to do with their much larger distribution network (in the U.S. anyway), their greater presence at hi-fi shows, and Alan Shaw’s subtle but effective prowess in content marketing. I also have to wonder if some of the audio rags are on their take. Tone Audio wrote a comparison piece where they claimed the C7s were a much better speaker than the Stirling Broadcast SB-88s. I couldn’t have disagreed more with that review. IME and opinion, the reality is quite the opposite. The SB-88s are the better speakers unless one judges them solely on expanse of the soundstage.

Being that you’re accustomed to ATC and Tannoy, I don’t know that you should bother with a BBC type speaker unless you want something a little warmer, in which case I’d recommend either the Grahams or Spendor Classics.