What amp on Harbeth speakers ?

Jason

There's no reason to think the Wells won't be a great match as it is a highly thought of piece. I think Sugden and LFD are also popular choices. As I'm sure you know Vinnie shows with Harbeth and owns them himself so he voices with them so he thinks the LIO works. All you do is try the possible combos and decide.
 
jriggy said:
Hey guys,

Im somewhat active on other forums but I don’t think ive ever posted here before...

Since we’ve moved and now have a much larger living/audio room, I am thinking about a pair of Harbeth 40.2’s and am curious how my gear will fair with them...
I have a Wells Audio Innamorata Signature amp (http://www.wellsaudio.com/innamorata-signature/)
and have just purchased and am running-in a Lampizator Atlantic w/ volume control. I also have a Vinnie Rossi LIO w/ DHT to use as preamp if I like it better than Lampi straight to the amp...

We know that the LIO has a special synergy with Harbeth but my Wells amp out performs the internal LIO amp, so the LIO had been purchased for preamp only... now with the Atlantic, I have the option to run the Lampi straight to amp OR with the LIO as pre...

So this system could go a couple diferent direction but I’d love to hear that the amp would be a good match for the 40.2’s...

Any thoughts on these combination?

thanks
Jason
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Hi Jason, Welcome to the AS, I'm a long time owner of Harbeth speakers. I think they would be perfect for the Harbeth M40 series. You can't go wrong with your set up. I also using the Lampi as my DAC :)
 
Thanks for the welcomes and for the words of encougement!

Ive read Alan Shaw’s coments and stance on amps for Harbeth, so I figured the watts and realatively high damping factor of 200, that the Wells amp I own has, would be good with the 40.2...but only way to know if it will be great is to try it...

Good to hear there is at lest one other Lampizator owner using Harbeth.

Also no doubt the VR LIO works well with harbeth. With my curent speakers, the Wells amp beat out the LIO internal amp in a level of realness and tone, also a clearner sound...but at many times the cost of the LIO internal amp, I thought the difference would be larger. Just shows how good the LIO as integrated really is.

I hope to take a trip up to Chicago and/or Detroit in the next month or two (I hope I don’t have to wait til March) to hear the big harbeths and will work from there...

All else seems right —gear should work well, room size is great now, and my personal auditory wants/needs are pulling me in the direction of Harbeth.
 
just read the whole thread and some great reading there . i notice no one mentioned hegal or unison research . back last feb alan was using the delightful hegal 360 with some p3esr in the bristol show and he liked them a lot

https://www.hegel.com/products/integrated/h360

then few weeks back i heard a unison research unico primo 90 with some shl5plus and it really was a match made in heaven , the owner had upgraded from the luxman 550 ax mark 2 and preferred it . its a hybrid amp so tube rollers can have a play if they want
 
85f5a3cce2ade27a85b469dd2156b7e2.jpg


Have a fellow coming to hear the 40.2’s Anniversary Edition with Pass today. Nice combo!


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Mike,

Looks great!

Hard to be sure on the web, is that the anniversary walnut or the silver eucalyptus?
Also what stands are those?

thanks for posting
Jason
 
jriggy said:
Mike,

Looks great!

Hard to be sure on the web, is that the anniversary walnut or the silver eucalyptus?
Also what stands are those?

thanks for posting
Jason
Click to expand...

Thank you!

My 40.2 Anniversaries are Silver Eucalyptus.

The stands are HI-Fi Racks. I MUCH prefer the Ton Trager, but they’re sold out until February and these are loaners.

As for “best amp for Harbeth”, for me, ARC!!! I tried a bunch. ARC is the Ying to the Harbeth Yang.


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Mike said:
Thank you!

My 40.2 Anniversaries are Silver Eucalyptus.

The stands are HI-Fi Racks. I MUCH prefer the Ton Trager, but they’re sold out until February and these are loaners.

As for “best amp for Harbeth”, for me, ARC!!! I tried a bunch. ARC is the Ying to the Harbeth Yang.


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I have been waiting for an ‘action shot’ of the silver eucalyptus in the wild... this confirms it’s the color I am most interested in.

And I was just going to post in the new “stands for Harbeth” thread, asking if anyone has tried the Ton Trager stands. They sure do read as quite interesting.
 
I'm dying for you to hear the MastersounD Dueventi / 30.2 combination Mike. That pairing is one of the best I've ever heard with any combination of speakers/amps. With the other models, I could definitely see ARC as a good pairing.

jriggy, I've got the Ton Trager stands as well on my 30.2 like Mike does. I haven't swapped to see what impact they really have but they do look nice together. The stands are very light and I wouldn't recommend them if its a high traffic area with risk of someone hitting them. The Hi-Fi Racks stands are much sturdier.
 
I really think Harbeth work best with Tube amplification. Currently I'm using EL34 based amp ( Air Tight ATM3 Monos ) they really sing together.
 
The best amps I used with my SHL5's were the Manley Snapper monoblocks. The best amp on my 40.1's was the BAT REX. Tried offerings from Bryston, Krell, VTL, Spectron and probably some I can't remember.
 
So I finally recently had a demo of the 40.2...with some very good/pricy gear. Top Nagra amp and preamp, w/ a Nagra DAC and a MSB DAC, Aurender N10 as source.

The Nagra HD AMP amps appear to be 250w/30w class A. At $80k a pair, this is considerably more than my Wells Audio Innamorata Signature 150w amp @ a $15k retail...

the control over over the speaker with close to $200k in electronics was very very good.

I can not find the damping factor of the Nagra HD amps but my Wells amp has a 200 damping factor... I’m curious if my curent amp would have the same control over the speakers as the Nagra’s did. I know, rough to answer —just thinking out loud I suppose...

—————————

Also, Mike, what ARC amp in particular did you like with the 40.2 that got your “best” of what you tried vote?

Jason
 
jriggy said:
So I finally recently had a demo of the 40.2...with some very good/pricy gear. Top Nagra amp and preamp, w/ a Nagra DAC and a MSB DAC, Aurender N10 as source.

The Nagra HD AMP amps appear to be 250w/30w class A. At $80k a pair, this is considerably more than my Wells Audio Innamorata Signature 150w amp @ a $15k retail...

the control over over the speaker with close to $200k in electronics was very very good.

I can not find the damping factor of the Nagra HD amps but my Wells amp has a 200 damping factor... I’m curious if my curent amp would have the same control over the speakers as the Nagra’s did. I know, rough to answer —just thinking out loud I suppose...

—————————

Also, Mike, what ARC amp in particular did you like with the 40.2 that got your “best” of what you tried vote?

Jason
Click to expand...

Hi Jason - the GS150 with REF10 (and REF6) was sublime. Luxman 509/590 and ARC GS150/REF PRE are my absolute favorite pairings with Harbeth....so far....


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I bet ARC sounds great with Harbeth . Also ,the PrimaLuna amps has been one of excellent match as well and doesn’t break the bank


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Mike said:
Hi Jason - the GS150 with REF10 (and REF6) was sublime. Luxman 509/590 and ARC GS150/REF PRE are my absolute favorite pairings with Harbeth....so far....


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Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. Wow, the GS150 is one beautiful looking amp!

Jason
 
I recently replaced my McIntosh MA6600 with a Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP Integrated and the Primaluna really makes my 30.1s sing. Here is what Herb Reichert of Stereophile just said about amps for the 30.2s: "The combination of the Harbeths and Bel Cantos ( e.One Ref600M monoblocks) was a nonstop pleasure. But! The Pass Labs XA25 exceeded the Bel Cantos in clarity and transparency. Overall, the Nelson Pass–designed XA25 allowed me to engage more with the music, and the Harbeths to reproduce almost everything right. The Pass Labs XA25 is the amp Herb the Reviewer recommends for use with the Monitor 30.2s. But! The amp that Herb, that Monk in the Bunker, most enjoyed with the Harbeths was PrimaLuna's ProLogue Premium. Its 35Wpc were enough power for my type of listening, and its EL34 tubes added an appealing touch of saturated color that kept my focus on the music rather than on the sound." My Primaluna uses twice the number of EL34s and pumps out 70wpc (or you can use KT150s - which some prefer to EL34s - for about 95wpc).
 
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