The Harbeth Thread

Russ I said:
Do you have stands for them? I have Skylan SKY-4P20's. Looks like they're pictured on Skylan's website supporting your speakers!

Skylan Manufacturing Ltd.

Audio speaker stands and damping boards.
www.skylanstands.com www.skylanstands.com
Click to expand...
I have a set of stands being built to spec for my situation. The 20” were too tall so I got 18”. Here’s a general idea. From Etsy seller hifiwoodworks.7B64AFB4-64C8-4A55-B87A-AEBAC612EC08.jpeg
 
I know the Skylan stands are a near must, and I may end up with a pair at some point, but just wasn’t sure I wanted to make that much of an investment right now. I’ll likely regret it. Lol
 
Too many storms yesterday. Wild rain. 8-10” of it. More rain yesterday than all of last summer. We don’t get rain here anymore, we get monsoons. But there’s no climate change. :rolleyes:

Anyways, finally getting some seat time this morning with the C7’s albeit at low volumes since the house isn’t really awake. Playing vinyl as my D-03x has been at the shop getting a new/updated MQA board installed. Picking it up today after a 2week hiatus.

They are set up 5 ft apart, 18” from the back wall and 2ft from side walls.

So far I’ve listened to Ella Live at Montreaux 1969, Rumors and Madman Across the Water. I’ll start by saying that the sound is definitely different than the Klipsch Heritage I’ve recently owned (Heresy III’s, Forte III’s and Heresy IV’s) which I really liked… actually loved in the case of the Forte’s.

The C7’s aren’t as “live” sounding, they don’t (at least at this point) have any feeling of being forward or in your face yet the high notes are there and sound very natural. I liked that somewhat live sound so this is certainly different. Soundstage is great. Even at lower volumes this morning, they are dynamic. I’m loving what I’m hearing honestly.

Being less efficient, they clearly need a little more of a turn on the volume knob on my Luxman, but still only at 9 o clock on the dial at roughly 55db in-seat listening level.. plenty of room left.

I’m thrilled with them. And the wife, who doesn’t chime in too often, and when she does it’s usually “they’re ugly” or “they’re too big”, said when she sat down in her chair “I have to tell you something….” I braced for it. “These are beautiful. Way better than the old ones”. Phew.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Too many storms yesterday. Wild rain. 8-10” of it. More rain yesterday than all of last summer. We don’t get rain here anymore, we get monsoons. But there’s no climate change. :rolleyes:

Anyways, finally getting some seat time this morning with the C7’s albeit at low volumes since the house isn’t really awake. Playing vinyl as my D-03x has been at the shop getting a new/updated MQA board installed. Picking it up today after a 2week hiatus.

They are set up 5 ft apart, 18” from the back wall and 2ft from side walls.

So far I’ve listened to Ella Live at Montreaux 1969, Rumors and Madman Across the Water. I’ll start by saying that the sound is definitely different than the Klipsch Heritage I’ve recently owned (Heresy III’s, Forte III’s and Heresy IV’s) which I really liked… actually loved in the case of the Forte’s.

The C7’s aren’t as “live” sounding, they don’t (at least at this point) have any feeling of being forward or in your face yet the high notes are there and sound very natural. I liked that somewhat live sound so this is certainly different. Soundstage is great. Even at lower volumes this morning, they are dynamic. I’m loving what I’m hearing honestly.

Being less efficient, they clearly need a little more of a turn on the volume knob on my Luxman, but still only at 9 o clock on the dial at roughly 55db in-seat listening level.. plenty of room left.

I’m thrilled with them. And the wife, who doesn’t chime in too often, and when she does it’s usually “they’re ugly” or “they’re too big”, said when she sat down in her chair “I have to tell you something….” I braced for it. “These are beautiful. Way better than the old ones”. Phew.
Click to expand...
I've found that positioning (distance between the speakers, distance from the speakers, degree of tip-in) makes a big difference to their sound. Placement of my Harbeths is limited (4 ft apart, very close to a brick back wall), so mostly I am able to vary tip-in and my distance from the speakers. I have found near-field listening to be my most enjoyable, sitting very close with tip-in of at least 30 degrees. When I have the opportunity to move them into the middle of my living room, my recollection is that I've set them about 6 ft apart with slight tip-in and sat 5 feet from them. That's a whole different ball game.

(Crazy to hear about that rain! Stay safe.)
 
Last edited:
Russ I said:
I've found that positioning (distance between the speakers, distance from the speakers, degree of tip-in) makes a big difference to their sound. Placement of my Harbeths is limited (4 ft apart, very close to a brick back wall), so mostly I am able to vary tip-in and my distance from the speakers. I have found near-field listening to be my most enjoyable, sitting very close with tip-in of at least 30 degrees. When I have the opportunity to move them into the middle of my living room, my recollection is that I've set them about 6 ft apart with slight tip-in and sat 5 feet from them. That's a whole different ball game.

(Crazy to hear about that rain! Stay safe.)
Click to expand...
My room is small…. 10’x 10’…. I sit about 5’6” from the front baffles. I do currently have them toed in so that they would meet about 10’ behind me. I’ll play around with the toe in more after I break them in a bit. 50B9F735-E499-4DDC-9204-6AED9EFA7887.jpeg
 
Hey all…. Head over heels for the C7’s. Really enjoying them.

Got some extra watts incoming. Picked up a Parasound A21+ from a member on SHF at a nice price. Going to pair it with the Luxman as a preamp initially…. I’ve never had an amp this powerful before and want to see what it brings to the table. I’m confident that I can flip the A21+ if the improvement isn’t there..

Interested to see if the extra juice and considerably higher damping factor will make an audible difference with the C7’s. The Luxman is Class A 25W…. It sounds beautiful and more forceful than the wattage suggests. I just want to experiment with the higher power, and at 300W the A21+ fits the bill.

More to come. Happy listening!
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Hey all…. Head over heels for the C7’s. Really enjoying them.

Got some extra watts incoming. Picked up a Parasound A21+ from a member on SHF at a nice price. Going to pair it with the Luxman as a preamp initially…. I’ve never had an amp this powerful before and want to see what it brings to the table. I’m confident that I can flip the A21+ if the improvement isn’t there..

Interested to see if the extra juice and considerably higher damping factor will make an audible difference with the C7’s. The Luxman is Class A 25W…. It sounds beautiful and more forceful than the wattage suggests. I just want to experiment with the higher power, and at 300W the A21+ fits the bill.

More to come. Happy listening!
Click to expand...
The measurements for the A21+ show it’s more like 400 wpc @ 8 Ohms. I’m curious to hear your impressions, especially as the A21+ is biased to class A for the first few watts.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Hey all…. Head over heels for the C7’s. Really enjoying them.

Got some extra watts incoming. Picked up a Parasound A21+ from a member on SHF at a nice price. Going to pair it with the Luxman as a preamp initially…. I’ve never had an amp this powerful before and want to see what it brings to the table. I’m confident that I can flip the A21+ if the improvement isn’t there..

Interested to see if the extra juice and considerably higher damping factor will make an audible difference with the C7’s. The Luxman is Class A 25W…. It sounds beautiful and more forceful than the wattage suggests. I just want to experiment with the higher power, and at 300W the A21+ fits the bill.

More to come. Happy listening!
Click to expand...
I had the Harbeth SHL5Plus XDs for some time (a year?) in different systems and rooms, and they definitely benefit from more juice.

I flipped between 18w/ch Class A (worked better than expected), 75w class A/B (adequate if necessary), and 350w/ch Class D (more than enough). Bass punch and depth, unsurprisingly, benefits the most.

The oddest thing about the A/B/C comparison was that you could really only hear the power difference, and not the topology/tonality characteristics of each amp. This is something others have said on forums as well.

This Harbeth trait is great if you are amp agnostic and simply love the Harbeth sound. If you like seasoning the sound via amp like I do (First Watt SIT-3 for life, baby!), Harbeths might not be for you.

Hope you love the A21. Your system, room (and kitchen), all look beautiful as usual.
 
Last edited:
The A21+ arrived this afternoon. Had just enough time to unbox and set up before company arrived. It’s functionally deeper than it even appears so had to place on the top shelf. The back of my shelf unit has only two supports rather than three in front, so the speaker terminations were bumping against it. Looking forward to some listening sessions tonight and in the morning. C39CE4EF-F442-4AC4-8A63-388CD3FDDACC.jpeg
 
Slimwhit33 said:
The A21+ arrived this afternoon. Had just enough time to unbox and set up before company arrived. It’s functionally deeper than it even appears so had to place on the top shelf. The back of my shelf unit has only two supports rather than three in front, so the speaker terminations were bumping against it. Looking forward to some listening sessions tonight and in the morning. View attachment 178862
Click to expand...
20230626_114213.jpg
The JC3+ says hello.
 
Spent a ton of time listening this morning. Very happy with the results thus far. The additional power is showing itself in the bass and soundstage department, which are both larger and more defined. Happy guy.
 
Only move now might be switching the Luxman for a tube preamp. Would gladly trade for an Evo 3/400.. keeping my eye out.
 
A lot changed since end of July but the Harbeths have stayed.

Picked up Skylan stands for the C7’s. Instructions say no fill needed. Figured I’d try them that way initially since it’s easy enough to refill later.

After running the C7’s on them for a few hours I thought to feel the stands and they were very resonant..vibrating a lot. So I assume fill is really a must?

Planning on using kitty litter. Any recommendations to how much? I’ve seen anywhere from half to 3/4? Just kinda trial and error based on system/room?

Any info appreciated.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
A lot changed since end of July but the Harbeths have stayed.

Picked up Skylan stands for the C7’s. Instructions say no fill needed. Figured I’d try them that way initially since it’s easy enough to refill later.

After running the C7’s on them for a few hours I thought to feel the stands and they were very resonant..vibrating a lot. So I assume fill is really a must?

Planning on using kitty litter. Any recommendations to how much? I’ve seen anywhere from half to 3/4? Just kinda trial and error based on system/room?

Any info appreciated.
Click to expand...
Wish I could help you out but I bought my stands along with my speakers as display models from a local dealer and the stands were already filled with kitty litter. I don't know how much is in there, but my guess would be about 75%. And yeah, I think your best bet would be to fill them half way and go from there. Also, my experience is that Noel at Skylan is pretty responsive to emails, and he might have some advice to offer.

I started out with the spiked feet for the stands, but eventually changed to the flat ones because the spikes were a pain in the ass to sit in the Conecoasters I had for them.

GetAttachmentThumbnail
 
Last edited:
Russ I said:
Wish I could help you out but I bought my stands along with my speakers as display models from a local dealer and the stands were already filled with kitty litter. I don't know how much is in there, but my guess would be about 75%. And yeah, I think your best bet would be to fill them half way and go from there. Also, my experience is that Noel at Skylan is pretty responsive to emails, and he might have some advice to offer.

I started out with the spiked feet for the stands, but eventually changed to the flat ones because the spikes were a pain in the ass to sit in the Conecoasters I had for them.

GetAttachmentThumbnail
Click to expand...
Thanks… I’ll try about 60-75% full..

I also have hardwood so used the flat ones.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Thanks… I’ll try about 60-75% full..

I also have hardwood so used the flat ones.
Click to expand...
Can you remove the fill pretty easily, in case you don't like the effect?

When I had my Harbeths I had Ton Traeger stands, which were solid wood, yet pretty light weight. Harbeth designs are meant to resonate, so I wonder if them being on an inert surface works with or against that design?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top