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The Harbeth phenomenon

In my search for a new pair of speakers, I've gone through many threads here and noticed that many owners or fans of Harbeth have almost a love-like connection with Harbeth speakers. It is almost as if the speakers cast a spell upon them. I know many audiophiles love their speakers but Harbeth owners seem especially enamored with theirs. I am extremely puzzled by this phenomenon because on paper Harbeth speakers look average at best and lack many of the attributes that generally make a great speaker.

Their sensitivity of generally around the 86dB mark makes them rather inefficient and therefore, at least in theory, not a good match for many lower powered tube amps, or any amps below 100wpc. Their frequency range is simply inferior to most high-end speakers since they don't go below 40 Hz. This alone should, again at least in theory, disqualify Harbeth speakers from consideration as top high end speakers. And yet I've never heard anyone complain about their bass, while people complain about lack of bass in the Gibbon Nines from DeVore, which is a fantastic speaker. Their cabinets look like a cheap DIY enclosure (disclaimer: I've never seen a Harbeth up close, only pictures). The 7ES-3 is rated B-Restricted, while the smaller and cheaper Usher Be-718 A-Restricted in Stereophile but garners nowhere near the same amount of admiration, praise and following among audiophiles.

So what's going on here? Is this a big conspiracy plot by the company that paid off a few hundred of people to infiltrate audiophile internet forums and a few reviewers? I am of course joking here, but the question is serious. How can speakers so average on paper be so good in real life? I know the opposite is often true, but you rarely see this phenomenon.

Please speak up.
actusreus
pdreher's avatar
pdreher
828 posts
 
Mmike84's comments mimic my feelings on the subject.

Most of my time as an audiophile has been spent with Dynaudio speakers,
including the C2's & C4's, both of which are exceptional. However, I found
myself tiring of having to crank up the volume to get the Dyn's to sound their
best.

So, I sold my C4's for the less expensive Harbeth M-40.1's on a whim, as I had
never seen or heard them. I've found the Harbeth's to be more musical (albeit
less exciting than the C4's)... and to me, the 40.1's are more satisfying & sound
great at low to moderate volume levels. Great bass, midrange and fatigue free
highs... and the flat impedance curve makes them easy to drive with a 75 WPC
tube amp.

YMMV, as it all comes down to personal taste.
semi
646 posts
 
Musical. How do you measure musical?

Speakers that measure flat and neutral do not sound musical, people are not attached to them. Speakers with personality like Harbeth and Sonus Faber leave people mesmorized even though they are far from neutral.

Wilson, YG Acoustic, and others go to great length to minimize cabinets vibration because cabinets should not have a sound. And Harbeth's cabinets do what?

Magical midrange, I know lots of speakers that do magical midrange and still relatively neutral. You can have your cake and eat it too.
nolitan
865 posts
 
Its hard to go wrong with harbeths. They do so many things right than most speakers.
mmike84
309 posts
 
Semi-

Here's how I measure musical. Speakers that make me quit analyzing the sound. I bought more music in the 2 months I borrowed them, than I had bought in the previous 6 months. I simply quit analyzing and listened, and for the record the Harbeths are the only speaker I've ever had in my living room that did that to me.

And I don't think neutral has to be the way. There are more roads that can achieve the same general goal. I've owned some designs you would call neutral, and while they were all more dynamic, eventually they left me bored. The Harbeths did not. I still miss them. If the were efficient enough I could run them on 8 wpc I'd probably have bought a pair of 12.1's.

This hobby is about enjoyment, and they offered that to me.
mlsstl
694 posts
 
Their sensitivity of generally around the 86dB mark makes them rather inefficient and therefore, at least in theory, not a good match for many lower powered tube amps, or any amps below 100wpc. Their frequency range is simply inferior to most high-end speakers since they don't go below 40 Hz.
Disclaimer - I have Spendors, not Harbeths. But they are from the same BBC lineage.

Try this perspective; the vast majority of natural musical sounds we hear are in the midrange, and they are not super loud. The fundamentals of the human voice primarily reside in frequency range of roughly 100 Hz to not much more than 1,000 Hz. Very few instruments have fundamentals above 4,000 or 5,000 Hz.

Everything above that is pretty much harmonics. These are certainly important, but if you don't have the critical midrange right, then all the bass, upper highs and extra volume won't fix the lack of naturalness.

Speakers are like any other product. Think of the old debates between car owners. Some people like the power and acceleration of an old school muscle car and others are more taken by the nimble suspension of a road-tuned sports car. Each group likes what they like and no amount of rationalization from the other side is going to change their minds.

The only thing you can do is listen to a set of Harbeths and see what they do for you. You may be enchanted, and then again, you may not.
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