Harbeth news:

March 26th - Stereonow announce an unbeatably generous trade-up path

Stereonow guarantee that for anyone in the UK buying a brand new or used pair of Harbeth loudspeakers, and priving those loudspeakers are returned in first-rate cosmetic condition and 100% working condition, then 100% of the ex-vat purchase price will be credited against the replacement new Harbeth loudspeakers.

This for example, if a pair of HL-Compact 7ES-3 were purchased at £1,799 inc vat and were traded in within 12 months of purchase for say a pair of Super HL5 loudspeakers at £2,199 inc vat, then the price to change would be just £667.93

March 25th - re waiting list - Harbeth report as follows:

"The Compact 7ES-3 and Super HL5's in Cherry could be built in the first or second week of April. We have the cabinets in stock so its just a case of scheduling them in to production.

We do not have any Tiger Ebony SHL5 cabinets at the moment. We've been caught out by this as lately due to selling far more than usual. I am expecting some more cabinets but not until May. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The M40.1's are currently on back order and we have many orders to for fill. Again, I would expect us to be in a position to build these in May."

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Harbeth Q&A:

Question

I've just bought a pair of vintage Quad IIs and love them. I'm thinking about a speaker upgrade and am considering bookshelf Harbeth or Spendors. I understand sensitivity is an issue with lower power valve amps and note that the smallest Harbeth has a sensitivity of 83. I just wondered if you had a view on this. Love your site by the way, it really does convey your love of this stuff when compared with unit shifting sites.
All the very best. Ian

Answer

Hello Ian. I would really REALLY like to give an uncomplicated answer to this. But it’s beyond my capability. I’ll explain why.

First things first though, like you I am deeply impressed with the Quad IIs. A classic, in the proper sense of the word. I don’t, for commercial reasons, stock Quad. On the other hand, that doesn’t stop me acknowledging a major brand who have throughout their existence demonstrated industry-leading integrity. Superficially there might appear to be a sensible correlation between output power of an amplifier and input sensitivity of a speaker.

Ideally of course, and depending on your sonic preferences, you’d either have phenomenal speaker sensitivity, such as horn speakers coupled with a wonderful Class A limited power design such as a Sugden. Again, a brand I don’t represent but who produce products I thoroughly respect. Or as an alternative, massive amp power (the Musical Fidelity KW series giving literally 5000 watts RMS into 2 ohms I seem to recall,) with medium sensitivity speakers.

The real world, or at least audiophile world sits relatively comfortably between these 2 extremes.

Err, I'm not helping here am I? Okay, given the extraordinary electrostatic-like clarity of all of the Harbeths, this being a common denominator through the range) people usually find that to get the detail they crave, that they listen at lower SPLs (sound pressure levels) than they would ordinarily.

This is very good news for people like you with wonderful yet low powered amps.

So in that specific context I am convinced that the Quads, in a typical UK living room would drive any of the Harbeth range beautifully. But that’s not quite the whole story. One of the wonderful and undocumented aspects of the bass performance of all Harbeth speakers is that they have deliberately engineered into them a variable (per model) Q. Q in this context refers to an aspect of acoustic engineering relating predominantly to bass performance.

There are well-intentioned but seemingly endless debates about the relative merits of a high Q and low Q. These arguments all have merit. Suffice to say that Alan Shaw, the designer of all the current Harbeth range has engineered in a Q that varies per model. This very neatly takes into account the potential acoustic environment of the model in which the Harbeth speakers might be used. A ‘live’ acoustic’ would benefit from one level of Q while a comparatively ‘dead’ acoustic would benefit from a different Q.

I am resisting stating which is the preferred Q simply because these are only guidelines rather than strict rules.

That’s why in demonstrations in customers’ homes I take a couple of pairs of Harbeths with varying Q factors.

This means that (a) not always are the most expensive ones the most appropriate for the room and (b) explains why there appears to be a curious overlap in models that have fairly close prices in the range.

And yes, I still haven’t given you a precise answer yet. Hopefully though, you can now see why me attempting to give you any definite answer would in turn make me either a fool or a charlatan. I hope I'm neither.

The sensible answer would of course be for you to visit here, with your wonderful Quad IIs and experiment during the cuorse of an afternoon. After that, you’d buy your selected pair, on risk-free purchase from, to determine if they were right for your room.

I hope this has helped, if only a little bit.

Regards

Howard.

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Harbeth: Technical information about

Not getting very far with this current. Mr shaw is very heavily involved in finishing touches to the 40.1. Better not to disturb him currently I feel.

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Harbeth: An interview with Alan Shaw (later in 2008

It's on the cards for later this year. What he told me during our meeting last year was fascinating. Is this man clever, or what? He is, to cabinet loudspeakers, what Dr Richard Bews in to audiophile electronics and Arthur K is to vinyl replay.

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Harbeth

In a nutshell …

I only stock one brand of cabinet loudspeakers. Harbeth.

Like the rest of the tiny list of suppliers I proudly represent, they make equipment that I want to listen to in my own free time. To me, that’s the acid test. Every Harbeth model excels in the crucial aspect of credible voice reproduction and, accordingly, the rest of the audio spectrum too.

They’ve had one goal for years, and they’ve never deviated from it. Quite simply, audiophile fashions come and go – and Harbeth remain both disinterested and uninterested in such trivia.

The owner and senior designer, Mr. Shaw, frequently attends live performance of all types of music, and that’s his yardstick – the live acoustic. His objective is to get as close to it as he can. The difference is, he has – to the limit that currently technology and materials science will allow.

The back story …

Again, this stretches back to the days of Subjective Audio in the late 1970s. In those early days, where matters were a little more black and white than currently, I had 3 suppliers of passive loudspeakers. I used the Lentek Monitors for people with classically inclined tastes, the Gale GS401a for those with a more rock inclined point of view and the Spendor BC3 and BC1 because I loved ‘em.

Amplifier of choice was the Lecson AC1/AP1 combination, and then the AC1/AP1X and AP3 Mk1 and Mk2 units. Even today, quite difficult combination to beat comprehensively.

I liked the Monitor Audio MA3, the Chartwell PM400 and some of the Rogers stuff and the KEF R103.2. The thing was though, none of those 4 makers wanted me to represent them. I was "too unconventional"

Now of course ‘rock’ could be played very well on the Lenteks –but without the viscera thrill of the Gales. The Lenteks could go loud, and deep, but not both at the same time!

The Gales played classical musical rather well but unless you placed them vertically, imaging was a bit vague. This didn’t matter to me, but it did for some.

The Spendors, bless ‘em were incapable of producing a mediocre sound. But the BC3s were too big for most rooms with a bass overhang that was, until the Meridian 101b/105 combo came along – nigh on impossible to properly control.

The chrome Gales were visually a bit too flash for some homes and the alternative wooden version never seemed quite as dynamic, although to this day I suspect this was the impact of visual perception on me rather than rational objectivity. And the Spendor BC1s just could not go loud enough.

And then, out of nowhere it seemed (in reality, a lock-up garage in Croydon) came the now justifiably legendary Harbeth HL1 series of loudspeakers. They didn’t have quite the visceral impact of the Gales, but sounded more detailed at lower volumes than the Gales. They had a nicely taut bass too. They had the warmth and musicality of the Lenteks and pretty close to the mid and treble musicality of the BC3s and yes, they went a bit louder than the BC1s. Quite an achievement.

I sold dozens of pairs of HL1s. It was very hard in those days, once these were entrenched in the owner's living room to demonstrate something that in the mind of the owner was significantly superior.

The only way I could do it was with Apogee Scintillas, or Magneplanar MG3a panels, or Meridian M1 actives. I wasn’t a QUAD retailer at that point. That’s how good those early Harbeth HL1s were. A few bass drivers had to be replaced because of incautious use by over-enthusiastic Harbeth owners who wanted ‘Err, just a bit more, Howard’.

I never net Dudley Harwood the founder and original owner. We dealt by phone. He was, I thought, just a tad odd. A bit reticent, or reserved, or something like that. I’d ring up with an order and the first thing you’d here was a slight hissing sound as he sucked air through his teeth, followed by either “Oh dear” or “I see”

Cuddly Dudley as he was known in some circles was not the most effusive of men. But he designed damn fine speakers. And Mr. Shaw carries on in that vein albeit in the cleanest audio factory I’ve ever seen and with a thoroughly 21st century attitude. I am deeply proud to represent his products. In fact, it’s a privilege.

The current range

All prices include VAT.

Stock and lead times vary. Some models are subject to long lead times.

Warranted free of manufacturing defects for 36 months from date of manufacture.

HL-P3ES Cherry £1299 inc vat

HL-P3ES Eucalyptus £1359

HL-P3ES Tiger ebony (special order) £1459

HL-Compact 7ES-3 Cherry £1799

HL-Compact 7ES-3 Eucalyptus £1899

HL-Compact 7ES-3 Tiger ebony (special order) £1999

Super HL-5 Cherry £2199

Super HL-5 Eucalyptus £2299

Super HL-5 Tiger ebony (special order) £2399

Monitor 30 Cherry £2099

Monitor 30 Eucalyptus £2199

Monitor 30 Tiger ebony (special order) £2249

Anticipated in early 2008

Monitor 40 Cherry £7999

Monitor 40 Eucalyptus £8199

How to get a low-cost high-performance system with Harbeth speakers when those speakers rarely come up for sale 2nd hand.

Overview:

Harbeth are very much a company that never over-promise and never under-deliver. This isn’t market hype or clever words. It is in fact the truth. Their production processes and construction schedules are some of the most disciplined I have come across in the audiophile world. So – what does this mean?

Well for a start, your rarely see Harbeth speakers for sale in used condition. Of course it’s true that once an owner has a pair, they are generally very reluctant to part with them. Also because Harbeth choose to have a tiny group of specialist dedicated retailers selling in quantity rather than a large number of retailers selling pair every now and then, supply into the UK market is restricted.

On top of this, although Harbeth represent terrific value, by which I mean the quality of the sound reproduction you get for the price is outstanding, these are not inexpensive. Or put differently, they are niche market rather than mass-market.

So in a nutshell, the challenge is this. How does a person with a limited budget get the benefit of a system that incorporates Harbeth loudspeakers?

The answer is simple, innovative and practical – and this is how it works.

I supply the Harbeth speakers brand new, and the rest of the system in used condition. Examples of this are shown later. The point is, I do all the searching for suitable used items, the matching and the listening too. You buy a complete system, with zero risk. And there’s more.

Guaranteed trade-in allowances

Any of the used components you buy from me as part of a Harbeth system can be upgraded at ZERO depreciation during the first 3 months and only minimal depreciation therafter when buying upgraded components from me.

For example, let’s say you bought in addition to new Harbeths, a used CD player, integrated amp and a turntable too and let’s say those used items came to £500.

If you upgraded these used items (in total or individually) within the first 3 months of ownership, I will give you a 100% trade-in allowance – and that 100% includes the VAT too.

Trade up with the first 6 months and you get a guaranteed 85% trade in allowance and within 12 months a guaranteed minimum of 65% trade in. Simple really.

Here are 3 examples of how the new/used system works:

Example #1 (using Harbeth HL-P3ES-2 loudspeakers)

A CD based system with new Harbeth HL-P3ES-2 loudspeakers. The CD player is a classic Marantz model (a specific model) carefully selected to match the amplifier and the speakers. The amplifier is a Meridian, again a specific model. Total cost for the used items is £660 and the new speakers are £1,299. Total price including free interconnects and speaker cables is just £1,959 inc VAT.

Sonically this would be the equivalent to a brand new system costing over £3,000.

This is a prime example of how to extract maximum value from the audiophile used market. For the novice, it's a minefield. For me though, it's an everyday job with 32 years of expertise to draw on.

So put yourself in my hands. You won't regret it.

Example #2 (using Harbeth HL-P3ES-2 loudspeakers)

A CD, vinyl and FM tuner driven system with new Harbeth Super HL5 loudspeakers. The CD player is a classic Meridian (a specific model) carefully selected to match the amplifier and the speakers. The amplifier is a Sugden, again a specific model, the turntable is a Rega and the FM tuner is a wonderful vintage Sansui. Total cost for the used items is £1,274 and the new speakers are £1,799. Total price including free interconnects and speaker cables is just £3,073 inc VAT

Sonically this would be the equivalent to a brand new system costing over £5,000.

This is a prime example of how to extract maximum value from the audiophile used market. For the novice, it's a minefield. For me though, it's an everyday job with 32 years of expertise to draw on.

So put yourself in my hands. You won't regret it

Example #3 (using Harbeth Monitor loudspeakers)

A CD, and FM tuner driven system with new Harbeth Monitor loudspeakers. The CD player is a classic Musical Fidelity (a specific model) carefully selected to match the amplifier and the speakers. The amplifier is an LFD pre/power, again a specific model, and the FM tuner is a wonderful vintage Sansui. Total cost for the used items is £1,447 and the new speakers are £2,099. Total price including free interconnects and speaker cables is just £3,546 inc VAT

Sonically this would be the equivalent to a brand new system costing over £6,500.

This is a prime example of how to extract maximum value from the audiophile used market. For the novice, it's a minefield. For me though, it's an everyday job with 32 years of expertise to draw on.

So put yourself in my hands. You won't regret it

Finally:

Each of the above combinations are unique. By this I mean that the likelihood of that exact combination of used items coming together at one time, ever again, is very remote. But that’s not a problem – simply because I can use my expertise to put together an alternative combination at any time.

I can select the optimum combination of used items, for any pair of new Harbeth speakers. No problem at all.

Just phone me on 0208 447 8485 to discuss the options.

Thank you.