Agree. The Mark Grant 6mm2 shut gun style van damme is a better match to my ears.
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For my 30.1 I use Atlas Hyper 3.5 speaker cable - reasonably priced and highest quality materials. Sounds very natural and transparent, nothing hyped. If I were using Naim amps I’d use NACA5.
For interconnects I use Mogami RCA to XLR as shown here:
Very high quality and good vfm, and again sounds very natural and transparent. If Naim amps I’d use the standard nterconnect or hi line.
I’m very sceptical of expensive and exotic hifi cables. In my experience they can have a detrimental effect on sound quality by introducing noise and other unwanted aberrations.
They use Hegels because they have oodles of power
Fellow NaimBeths, the Harbeth logo has fallen off the speaker baffle on my Compact 7’s and I have tried to put it back with double sided tape, but the tape was not man enough to stay stuck to the baffle material and the Logo fell off quite quickly.
I am reluctant to use very strong double sided tape due the the potential to mark the black baffle.
Any ideas as to what to use to stick the Logo back on permanently, chaps?
I use superglue without any ill effects. Just make sure the logo is at a position which is exactly symmetrical to the other speaker when you stick it to the fabric.
That would do it and probably only need a little. Cheers.
Yes, a little would do. I did put a little extra and the marks are visible on the other (inner) side of the fabric. Looks clean on the outside and stays firm.
How are your M30.2 40th Anniversaries doing? I guess superb?
I was listening to the Dali Mentor Menuet in the main system for a week and thought it sounded good but after switching to the Harbeth SHL5+ I again rediscovered the beautiful sound of the Harbeth and realised why I had stuck to the brand for so long, almost 11 years to be exact. I will be receiving the Marten Duke 2 soon and although it is supposedly a higher calibre speaker than the Harbeth on paper, chances are I will retain both in separate systems.
Hi Ryder
I’ve been enjoying some extended listening, they have benefited from a few days breaking in. It’s also probably took me a little while to get used to the new sound.
Tighter and better timed bass. There wasn’t much wrong with bass on 30.1 but things have improved here. Bass keeps up nicely, no perceived lag. As with 30.1 the port is relatively benign with no obvious huffing or puffing. Nicely balanced with enough bass depth to satisfy as with 30.1.
The all important mids are pretty much as they were with 30.1, that’s a good thing.
The top end is more extended, offering higher resolution and detail than 30.1. However, this comes at a price - they are a tad less forgiving as a result.
They retain the Harbeth natural sound, nothing is hyped and they are well balanced tonally. Overall, wonderful speakers.
11 years is a long time so they must be doing something right for you.
The Marten speakers look interesting. I hope you get as many years enjoyment out of them as you have with Harbeth. Let us know how you get on and how they compare to your Harbeth’s.
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Alan is a business man.
Hi JOF,
Try sourcing for a pair of used Epos ES14 speakerstand(ST12 if I’m not wrong). They’re open frame design and will fit the Compact 7 exactly. Bass will be more nimble, tuneful but you’ll feel lesser impact than your current four column speaker stands.
Cheers
HiFi Racks make dedicated wooden stands for Harbeths. Very good, I have a pair myself.
Somehow, you seem to be inhabiting a parallel universe and have unwittingly preempted my next move.
I came home earlier today and discovered my kids had decorated my Harbeth stands. Perhaps the stands you recommend will go some way to curtail such childish behaviour in the future.
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…you may want to run a listening test to check if there is any changes to the SQ with and without the structural changes introduced by the ‘kids,’ maybe their on to something!
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I bought my first Harbeths in 1982 (HL Monitor Mk IIIs) and they made beautiful music with my then A&R Cambridge A60. Over the years I also used Compact 7s with 102/140 and Monitor 40.1s with 252/300. I currently have Super HL5 + with 552/300DR. I personally like the Super HL5 + better than the 40.1s, at least in my rom and with my system. Speaker cable is NACA5.
IMO Harbeths are great to listen to with just about any decent amplification, but they seem to have an infinite ability to improve with each amplifier upgrade. When / if I ever get a 500 or 500DR, I’m sure the HL5+ will play even better.
There’s plenty of great speakers out there and I haven’t heard them all, but so far the only speakers I found that rival the Harbeths in midrange quality are QUAD electrostatics and Magicos. Since I listen primarily to classical and jazz, that characteristic makes Harbeths very hard to beat. Their main limitation is that they don’t have the physical bass that rock and dance music fans are looking for.
Claude
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I knew that but we have to stop somewhere somehow, and my endgame amps for the Harbeth SHL5+ are 282/250DR. The amps are surely a marked improvement over 202/200 driving the same speakers.
First pair of Harbeth since 1982… that’s surely a long way back. Similarly I haven’t listened to a lot of speakers out there but feel the Harbeth is the one to stay. They are my endgame speakers as well. Although I recently committed to a pair of speakers that cost considerably higher than the SHL5+, I have no intention to sell the Harbeth as I am aware there aren’t many speakers out there that can match if not surpass the strengths of the Harbeth at 2 to 3 times the cost if not more. If I have the room and money I would really like to add M30.2 into the collection. Fortunately I don’t have the luxury.
Great post.
I have a very ecliptic music taste and listen to most genres including dance and rock. I have played at various venues my own alternative rock music and recorded it live in a professional recording studio.
The 30.1 and 30.2 have the physical bass to do rock music and they do it well. My brother is a bass guitarist, I spent most of my youth listening to his house shaking bass. Bass guitar has a bottom bass fundamental of around 40Hz, easily within the audible limits of my speakers. The bass is very accurate and times well on both on 30.1 and 30.2 when positioned correctly and powered with a suitable amp.
I feel it’s a myth that Harbeth can’t do rock or dance.
Billie Eilish Bad Guy is a great test and sounds incredible on both 30.1 and 30.2.
Joy Division, Portishead, Moby, Foals, Anohni, Springsteen, Eilish all sound superb.
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Well I agree, somewhat in so much as I have only ever had the Compact 7’s on the end of my pre/amp and I have been very happy when listening to Rock and Dance. I dont consider it to be a problem, even using nac152/nap155 combo.
I think it is a case of myth making or perhaps it is that the bass driver in the Harbeth range tend to be more neutral in the presentation making them seem less ‘bass like’ compared to other speakers.
When I demoed speakers (I will have to check out the Naim archive to remember them all), I listened to Audiovector that were too analytical, Ovartor 400’s and landed with the Compact 7’s.
My personall view is that its the presentation of the bass not that they are hard to drive via the amplification. I dont hear/feel the so called bass problem that others insist on saying exists.
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Hi
I have a Nova with the P3 anniversary edition on solidsteel stands. Room is around 4m by 4m and it sounds great unless your a bass freak. But I have to say am really surprised at the bass they do produce quality rather than quantity I would say.
JOF, how did the Ovators compare to the Harbeths?