Disappointing Harbeth 30.1 !

magoo said:
Jerome, I hope you know I respect your opinions, but on this one we part ways, the speakers you are describing simply bear no relation to what I'm hearing from my M30.1's, and I'm honestly a bit baffled why you are getting such a poor result. I recall though in the early days with your M40.1's you struggled with the bass, until you sorted out the stands with the help of Pro Audio Bono. If memory serves, they were on Skylan stands too, and the general feeling on UK forums is that there are better options than Skylan, I'm happy with the performance on Rogoz stands, but many here like the open plan Something Solid stands.

Mine are in a relatively small room, and on a suspended floor, and bass issues have been a problem in here, which is in part the reason I ended up with the P3ESR's. My move to the M30.1's came about as I got a chance to buy a second hand pair from someone I trusted on a UK forum, at a price which would have allowed me to move them on a little loss if they weren't for me.....but they are everything I hoped, and have integrated into the room fine, they just need to be a bit farther from the back wall than before.

What I will say though is that the combination of my Snappers with their EL34's & the richness and warmth of the Harbeth's can occasionally seem too much of a good thing, I'm not sure I'd rush to try them with a 300b amp at 20w or so, whoever built it. I've got mine running with my Croft 25R pre & the Accuphase E450 as the power amp and trust me, the bass is impeccable :) I love hi fi, but I also love old Studio 1 reggae, so they get tested! I'm probably going to try another tubed power amp in the new year, quite possibly either KT88 or even EL84 based (a pair of Mahi Mahi's might just be added). I was surprised by your results with your Nagra's, I would have expected that to work better than it seems to have for you.

I do have to raise an eyebrow at the "Design Fault" comments though, that seems quite a jump from one person not getting on with them to me. No speaker is perfect, they are all a compromise of one sort or another, but in my room the M30.1's sound absolutely wonderful, and in the 4 months or so I've had them I've noticed that, just like the P3ESR's, there is no part of my musical collection that is getting ignored, and that I always think is the most crucial thing of all :)

Best wishes
Matt
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Hi Matt,

My friend: I am very happy if you found your happiness with the 30.1.
I am not going to argue anymore with anyone on this. I take back the "design fault" statement. It was not appropriate to say the least.
This hobby is highly subjective and this thread was just to share my personal experience. I understand that our hearing and goals are different. That is great like that.

I have many various speakers at home. The last ones are even sleeping in my car tonight : I just made 700km to pick them up today and I was too tired to set them up ! They are built around an Altec 414 A, 807 compression and W32A horn. Vintage High Eff. Pure bliss today when I listened to them for a few hours. Just the best bass I ever heard and much more ( Imho the best bass ever made in the Galaxy comes out of 414 and 416 Altec drivers).

Not liking the 30.1 will not cause me any trouble ! I won't try 10 various amps or stands to have them sound to my taste because I have zero hope that this could happen and I have already enough stuff that I love to play with ;)

Enjoy your fabulous gear and speakers !
 
I think this has been a good and respectable debate. We all have different tastes. In the end, it's what we personally like that's important

Jerome stated his own opinion, nothing more. And we all know how much he loves Harbeth!
 
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Jerome....firstly, excellent post above, and congratulations, your journey has always seemed destined to include something like your latest speakers....and you now have a fabulous range of amps to drive them, not least the green ones (although my guess is they may have French competition now!). Enjoy them my friend :) And keep us updated how they go!

I also hope I didn't come across as doubting what you heard, I just felt it was only one view point, and a debate needs both sides ........For those that don't know, some years ago I had the chance to buy a pair of Manley Snappers at a great price, and a large part of my online research was reading Jerome's review of them, and lo & behold, they have proved to be everything he described, and have provided a tremendous amount of pleasure Chez Magoo. Believe me, I trust his ears......& his write ups, just not the bit where he says "I will never sell" ;)

All the best for the New Year everyone!
 
magoo said:
Jerome....firstly, excellent post above, and congratulations, your journey has always seemed destined to include something like your latest speakers....and you now have a fabulous range of amps to drive them, not least the green ones (although my guess is they may have French competition now!). Enjoy them my friend :) And keep us updated how they go!

I also hope I didn't come across as doubting what you heard, I just felt it was only one view point, and a debate needs both sides ........For those that don't know, some years ago I had the chance to buy a pair of Manley Snappers at a great price, and a large part of my online research was reading Jerome's review of them, and lo & behold, they have proved to be everything he described, and have provided a tremendous amount of pleasure Chez Magoo. Believe me, I trust his ears......& his write ups, just not the bit where he says "I will never sell" ;)

All the best for the New Year everyone!
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Hi Matt,

Don't worry I know that you have no doubts about what I heared. As I have no doubts when you say that the bass of your 30.1 is perfect.
It is clearly a good thing to have the point of view of someone who enjoys the 30.1 a lot.
Maybe one day I will have the opportunity to hear them at your place and will change my mind ? ;)
You made me laugh with the "I will never sell".
Indeed, there are very few things that we can be sure to never sell. I often speak too fast !!( BUT : I can take the bets with you for my Shindo gear, my Verdier TT and my 2 pairs of Harbeth P3ESR. Those I will never sell !!!!).
I put my 40.1 on sale, while I still love them a lot and consider them among the very best speakers ever made, because I wanted to pair my Shindo amps to drivers more "adequate" to their design and also because I felt in love with the vintage Altec sound.
That does not mean that I will still love the Altec sound in 2 years. I may switch back to a pair of 40.2 !

Have a wonderful 2016 year buddy !!

( PS: I regret that I sold my Snappers. Although I just still have too many amps. Along with the Manley 300B Neo Classic preamp. This was a joyful and bliss combo.
Indeed, the Snappers sounded much better on George's Sonus Faber Ellipsa's than the more high end Halgorythme monoblocks. ).
 
This kind of reminds me of your thread about your Devore super 8's.

Anyhow, nice to see you have moved to speakers that should be more appropriate for you Shindo amps. I look forward to seeing photos of the Altecs.




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I guess the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same things. It would be like a world full of clones. All speakers sound different which means they all can't be "right." We all choose our version of "right" based on our budget. If budgets change, our version of "right" may change too.
 
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Cucumber_jones said:
This kind of reminds me of your thread about your Devore super 8's.

Anyhow, nice to see you have moved to speakers that should be more appropriate for you Shindo amps. I look forward to seeing photos of the Altecs.




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Just to refresh your memory : The Devore Super 8's are not for any room. I tried them in 7 or 8 different rooms.
They loved only 2 of them. And they love SS power a lot. Some tube amps work, but they are hard to find. They sound great with my MC225 and my MAC1500. Both are push pulls of 7591's. But they sound terrific with the Nagra MSA or the McIntosh 2205. But not in all rooms !
 
Jerome. I suspect these sound far better with you shindo then any other speakers you have used. Tell us how they sound. Let's see a photo of the crossover.

Now time for some A23 cables ;)
 
Jerome W said:
Just to refresh your memory : The Devore Super 8's are not for any room. I tried them in 7 or 8 different rooms.
They loved only 2 of them. And they love SS power a lot. Some tube amps work, but they are hard to find. They sound great with my MC225 and my MAC1500. Both are push pulls of 7591's. But they sound terrific with the Nagra MSA or the McIntosh 2205. But not in all rooms !
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The super 8's sounded great at my place with my shindo gear. When I had them. For what they are and the price they have a lot going for them.
 
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