Speakers all sound so very different, therefore essential for you to hear - and unless you absolutely fall in love, don’t feel you need to buy whatever a particular dealer stocks (I note from your idea as an amp as consolation prize that you know this)
A while ago I did a mammoth audition, 12 or 13 speakers, all recommended by the hifi press, and mostly the top of the range from the various manufacturers, at a price range equivalent to about £2.5-£3k today. All but 3 sounded awful to me, despite the good reviews others had had, and wide popularity of some, including some members of this forum. Of the three one dropped out fairly quickly, then just two for prolonged listening to be sure, though just one stood out. That speaker I still like today, and I would still have If it were not for 1) its nearly double the price big brother appearing on the secondhand market at an amazingly bargain price 15 years later, and 2) 25 years later an inheritance affording an opportunity to change to a modern equivalent, with very much the same “house sound”, though a different company, PMC. The moral of this story is that finding the right speaker can be a challenge, but is very well worth effirt.
It is worth the effort , not too long ago i was at the world premiere of the magico A3 as i rather like them . the new affordable magico . still prefer my 23 year old horns though that have been tuned up and revamped with exterior crossovers
You may be interested to know Harbeth newsletter reports Harbeth Monitor 30.2 40th Anniversary Edition (pimped up version of 30.1) have made it to Stereophile’s class A list of recommended components.
Thanks for that info Halloweenman, I am about to read a review on the 30.2’s. As far as my demo goes, I am still waiting for a call back from that dealer about trading my gear in, so if that ever happens, I will plan a trip there. I am hoping to hear back this week, so possibly in two to three weeks time it will happen.
A little update, I have a date set finally to go to the dealer that Has the speakers I listed in my first post, November 6th. Really looking forward to finally hearing all these British speakers, should be a fun day.
Despite the popular wisdom of listen with your own ears, I would recommend that you do look at as many opinions beforehand as possible. That way , you may have a pre-conceived (normally not good to have) idea of how a particular speaker sounds but you will also know if it matches your expectations. My own dealer is a very strong proponent of not having more than one pair of speakers in the room when demoed, because of the interaction. It also means a quick a/b comparison is not possible. A pre-conceived expectation will let you know if a particular speaker is sounding as expected and more importantly if it is working in the dealers room. We all know that room interaction can make a tremendous difference, but, this way you also have some idea what the room is doing in general. If even a (supposed) bass light speaker seems bass heavy and so do other speakers the room accounts for part of the demo. I have harbeth M30.1 and because of limited (thankfully much improved) mobility had almost no chance to demo speakers and relied almost completely on reading (often between the lines) and they have been a very good choice. Good luck - and most of all have fun and enjoy
Thanks Benjy, i have visited this dealer twice already, so I know the layout of the place. It is basically an old big house, converted into a multi room dealer, so getting one pair of speakers at a time in one room might not be an option. He does have a nice assortment of different brands, so if anything, I should get a feel for the sound of each brand. If I like Harbeth, for example, but am not sold on the compact 7’s he has, I can pursue other speakers further up the ladder at a later date.
Do keep us updated. I am particularly interested on the comparison between the Harbeth, Kudos and Proac. I personally own the Harbeth Super HL5 Plus which happens to be my endgame speakers but have plans for the Tablette 10 Signature sometime in the future.
Will do Ryder, my local dealer carries Dynaudio,Focal,Neat,Moniter Audio mainly, so these are the brands I have owned and heard mainly for the last 8-10 years. The brands on my list, from the 4 hour away dealer, I have never heard, so it could be a real eye opener, or a real disappointment, ha ha, we shall see.
Also, if You’re not in too much of a rush, if you do pick up on a “house sound” of a brand that you do like, you can also ask the dealer to keep his eyes and ears for other models - either up or down the range from the same manufacturer. I’ve never heard the harbeth 7 es-3 , but from my reading at the time it was the 30.1 which i wanted and ended up with. either on the harbeth board or even here, there are quite a few comparisons between the different models. Again please keep us informed.
Hi. I don’t see on your list any monitor ls3 / 5a but of those you name I would keep the tablette. They are speakers that adapt very well to any environment.
I am a fan of British speakers. I have owned speakers by Neat Acoustics, Harbeth and I currently own Graham Audio LS5/9 BBC Monitors and Graham Audio Chartwell LS3/5 BBC Monitors.
I am more than happy with the Graham Audio BBC Monitors. They match Naim electronics and they are a joy to listen to.
I thought many of Harbeth’s speakers were based on the ls3/5a model? In particular, I have been eyeballing the p3esr, and from what I have read, they base those on the BBC moniters.Or maybe that was the HL-P3.
I have just been looking on my local dealers website, and he is selling a pair of Neat Ultimatum MF5’s for 5k Canadian money.(3k pounds) I have heard these at his home on a few occasions, and thought they were really really good. He is retiring completely, he informed me a while back, so is trying to liquidate everything he still has, many bargains to be had.
I will still go on the November 6 th to hear all the British speakers
at that other dealer, but Neat is British too, so what the hell. I will post a photo I grabbed off the internet, that is the same color I think. Anyone have any thoughts on the Neat MF5’s?
Tomorrow is the big day, I will finally get to hear Harbeth, Kudos, Proac, Audionote speakers. As an added bonus, I noticed on his website that he has the Supernait 3 in stock, so I will hopefully get a listen to that too, pretty excited.
