Harbeth 40.2 Announced at Munich

I agree with Jerome. Better isolation will improve the 40.1's. Alan Shaw does not want to put "limits" on his speakers at the expense of sales. Like anything, a few tweaks are in order to get the most out of them. If Harbeth says "you can only use these speakers under certain situations" and spells it out, how many will automatically look elsewhere for another speaker. Brilliant marketing to say they will work with any amp and any stand. Plug and play.
 
If you guys know about the BBC style thin-wall cabinet philosophy. have to be very careful with isolation if you want to hear what they meant to be heard. Sometime too much is worse than not enough.
 
Paul said:
If you guys know about the BBC style thin-wall cabinet philosophy. have to be very careful with isolation if you want to hear what they meant be heard. Sometime too much is worse than not enough.
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Totally agree.
 
Paul said:
If you guys know about the BBC style thin-wall cabinet philosophy. have to be very careful with isolation if you want to hear what they meant to be heard. Sometime too much is worse than not enough.
Click to expand...

The speaker vibrates. That is fine and the BBC concept is all about that.
But big vibes like the ones produced by the 40.1 should not be transmitted to the floor.
Not to mention that the vibes produced in the floor will go back to the drivers.
Look at the pics of how Shaw measures its speakers. Almost suspended in the air, outdoors !
And about Alan's personal set up, if you can show me a pic, I would love it ! :D

Use any kind of stand if you want them to sound poor and with a muddy bass.
As Joe said, the whole point of the Harbeth marketing is to have people think that you can put the speakers anywhere an drive them with anything.



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I absolutely love the Harbeth sound though. Jerome, you were 100% correct. Thank you. :heart:
 
Jerome W said:
The speaker vibrates. That is fine and the BBC concept is all about that.
But big vibes like the ones produced by the 40.1 should not be transmitted to the floor.
Not to mention that the vibes produced in the floor will go back to the drivers.
Look at the pics of how Shaw measures its speakers. Almost suspended in the air, outdoors !
And about Alan's personal set up, if you can show me a pic, I would love it ! :D

Use any kind of stand if you want them to sound poor and with a muddy bass.
As Joe said, the whole point of the Harbeth marketing is to have people think that you can put the speakers anywhere an drive them with anything.



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Trust me Jerome ... I tried every possible stands you could imagine with PS3ER to M40.1 . :)

Anyway as long as you are happy with your isolation thats all it matters.
 
Paul said:
Trust me Jerome ... I tried every possible stands you could imagine with PS3ER to M40.1 . :)

Anyway as long as you are happy with your isolation thats all it matters.
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Paul,

In your opinion, which stand works best with 40.1?
 
Joe,
PAB just released a new stand line custom made for Harbeth speakers. You can see the one made for the SHL5 : last pic, black one.
But the pic is not complete.
The stand is fitted with 4 Antivibration feet ( AVF ) that goes underneath. On the upper platform, 4 Lignofol disks will separate the speaker from its shelf. I tried to put AVF between the upper shelf and the speakers, so that makes 8 x AVF for one speaker. The bass at first became much tighter. But after a week, I found it too dry for my taste. Too damped. It lost some life so I asked Wladek to build just little Lignofol disks and the balance I got from 4 x Lignofol AVF on the floor and 4 x Lignofol disks underneath the speakers was the best I could find.
The platforms are made also from Lignofol, which is a very very dense plywood, extremely difficult to build. In Germany, this material was called "tank wood".
The 4 legs are made from high quality plywood.

I actually had the Skylan stand before and I improved it by using PAB AVF and Lignofol disks. I am very satisfied by the result.
I guess that the PAB stand may be better ( Actually I am SURE it is better ) but I do not plan to buy it now. Although I'm sure that they will replace the Skylan one day.
The french Harbeth importer uses one on the SHL5. He called to say that he was floored by the performance. He will now propose the PAB stands to all his customers.
To Paul :
Stands are important, but the most striking effect comes from decent decoupling from bearing devices like PAB and Stillpoints. Both for lower shelf and ground, and for upper shelf and speaker. No matter the stands you used. Spikes do NOT decouple the speaker.
I am sorry to tell you that if you found the bass of the 40.1 to be not to your taste, chances are very high that you did not decouple the speakers from the ground.
Anyway it does not matter. You now have wonderful speakers that you love so all is good. I am still very grateful to you for the opinions you gave me about Harbeth. I bought mine when you told me that the mids were better than PMC and you were right. [emoji7]


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I never tried Stillpoints under my speakers and gear but one must know that Stillpoints are not ceramic bearings, ceramic balls only, and that's a big difference. According to a friend, ceramic balls would produce a thinner sound, while ceramic bearings are in a complete different league.
 
Jerome W said:
I never tried Stillpoints under my speakers and gear but one must know that Stillpoints are not ceramic bearings, ceramic balls only, and that's a big difference. According to a friend, ceramic balls would produce a thinner sound, while ceramic bearings are in a complete different league.
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Jerome, did your friend a-b compare Stillpoints Ultra feet in his system with PAB products? If not, then it's only speculation..
 
If we're discussing the best stands for Harbeth 40's, it would be remiss not to mention the Acoustic Revive Custom Series stands which Jeff Day was so impressed by in his extended Chronicles of AR products. They would have to be on your short list if you're going all out, though not cheap :!:
 
Bodhi said:
Jerome, did your friend a-b compare Stillpoints Ultra feet in his system with PAB products? If not, then it's only speculation..
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I do not know if he compared them side by side on the same speaker. I will ask him.
I just know that he knows both systems pretty well and he prefers the PAB.
Of course the Stillpoints must be terrific. Or they would not sell them at this price.
But I do not consider them to be the "best" devices just because they are the most expensive ones.
 
Bodhi said:
If we're discussing the best stands for Harbeth 40's, it would be remiss not to mention the Acoustic Revive Custom Series stands which Jeff Day was so impressed by in his extended Chronicles of AR products. They would have to be on your short list if you're going all out, though not cheap :!:
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Same price as the speakers to put upon ?
Utopia !
At least, it shows that great efforts in isolating the 40.1 gives great results.
 
Jerome W said:
I do not know if he compared them side by side on the same speaker. I will ask him.
I just know that he knows both systems pretty well and he prefers the PAB.
Of course the Stillpoints must be terrific. Or they would not sell them at this price.
But I do not consider them to be the "best" devices just because they are the most expensive ones.
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That's fair enough Jerome. The PAB products do look very good. I'd be particularly interested to ask if your friend has tested the new Ultra 6's. Bruce Jacobs told me 3 Ultra 6's sound better than 4 Ultra 5's. My Dealer repeated that test & confirmed they are better. They can be further improved by using the Ultra bases which also add height adjustment.
 
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