Harbeth 30.2 40th Anniversary
 

Day 3 breaking in the Harbeth 30.2 40th and to say I am impressed is an understatement. Utterly musical without sacrificing too much detail or airiness. Imaging like crazy in my 26x31 room, they simply disappear leaving a wide and deep soundstage with great focus and image density. Tonally smooth and rich without sounding thick, veiled or rolled off. Bass is obviously limited but I mostly listen to acoustical instruments, not synthesized bass and what they accomplish with Jazz has me extremely satisfied. The way these speakers evoke the emotional response to recorded music makes them worth every penny and that is exactly what I was looking for in a pair of speakers. Midrange purity is exemplary. This is the kind of speaker I can listen to all day long and never get fatigued. Love them. :music: Silver Eucalyptus color is gorgeous.

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A buddy of mine swapped his $$$ Estalon's (which were amazing) for these and he's very happy. No fatigue whatsoever - just great sound. Great, great bang for the buck also.

Congratulations.

Thanks! Love them as well. :music: Now I need some Class A amplification to drive them and it will be simply magic.

Serge, what are you driving them with now ? Do you still have any interest in Rogue tubes ?

Love Harbeth's! Heard the 30.2 anniversary editions at RMAF this year. While show conditions are tough for judging how anything truly sounds, they sounded wonderful to me. To say that I'm a bit jealous is somewhat of an understatement. Enjoy!!!

I will have to experiment to see how it goes with tubes. The midrange magic needs to be explored with triodes for sure so I have a Primaluna HP coming to me and I will either keep it with the 30.2 or leave it for another project for a smaller room and listen to headphones with the EL34 triode mode for now. :music: The Luxman has excellent synergy in case I need to go for SS.

Most of my listening is 80-85dB with peaks around 91-92dB at most. On the other hand the room is well damped and the 30.2 seem like they are pulling quite a bit of juice even at my levels. We’ll see. I’m running a Peachtree 300w model that I borrowed for the weekend. Never thought a Peachtree can sound this good and my son had a Peachtree for some years.

Thanks, I’ve always been impressed but never owned a pair. This pair is a keeper for the long haul. I’ve never been this emotionally engaged by a speaker on this level before.We all have our taste and it may not be for everyone. Surely I’ve owned speakers that were more impressive in terms of Hifi sound but nothing quite this engaging.

Borrowing the Peachtree for the weekend was a fun experiment. I have to admit, I’ve been biased against Class D in general over the years but having spent some time with the Peachtree Nova 300 with IcePower class D amplification stage I have nothing bad to say about it in combination with Harbeth. In fact it sounds damn good for $2400 considering it has everything built in! A virtually complete system just add speakers. Even the built in DAC is not bad. Not that I am keeping it but if I had to, I would not be disappointed long term. I also heard the NAD M32 DirectDigital and that sounded promising with Totem speakers. I think class D is evolving rather nicely. Sounds good, runs totally cool.

I listened to a pair of harbeths with an accuphase e-600 (since someone brought up class a). It was wonderful. You could also try the new e-650!

I would but I can’t get over paying almost $10k more than it costs in Japan. It will have to be Luxman since the markup is not nearly as severe.

Harbeth 30.2 40th Anniversary
 

That would be good too. Not to go off topic, but I have no idea why the us distributor jacks up the accuphase prices so much. Makes it unobtanium, when it’s not nearly so bad in Japan.

Given the fanatical build quality and attention to detail of Accuphase makes it a screaming bargain in Japan at roughly $7k for E-650, here at $16k it is insultingly overpriced. $14k buys a Gryphon Diablo 120 or for even less, the Mark Levinson 585 both of which are simply outstanding.

Glad to hear you are enjoying the 30.2. I upgraded my old 30.1 to these a month ago and I am gobsmacked how good they are. I have had speakers 3 x price of the Harbeth, and the 30.2 are just so much better at tone, rhythm and depth!
The noticeable improvements over the 30.1 are depth and dynamic attack. The bass too is tighter and punchier.
I have them paired to Accuphase separates and there is great synergy going on.
Enjoy the music.

At what frequency does the mid/woofer crossover to the tweeter?

Serge is back , glad your enjoying the hobby again :beerchug:

Serge , Craig is selling his MC275 VI for $3900 if that works for you?

Thanks and you as well! :music: Which stands are you using?
I ordered the TonTraeger stands made in Germany. Supposedly they sound the best with Harbeth but I have no other stands to compare to. I can only say the 30.2 sound great! https://www.tontraeger-audio.com/lang/en/


http://www.audiomagic.com.au/images/...30.1_1-web.jpg

I don't have that information.

:banana::beerchug::banana:

I went with Primaluna HP Integrated to try something new. Not sure if this is the final destination but I had some other project in mind for it later anyways.

Using HiFi racks speaker stands from Uk

Good stuff. I'll try a pair for the P3ESR. :thumbsup: http://www.hifiracks.co.uk/

The 30.2 and EL34 Triode mode simply doubles the midrange magic. I am thrilled with the Primaluna HP integrated in combination with these speakers. They simply came alive with the Primaluna. Amazing how musical the Primaluna sounds without giving up too much resolution and detail.

Serge.......I am happy to see you building a new two channel sound system. Way to go.

:banana:

Thanks Dan. I was grinning ear to ear this evening. :yes: I had the Peachtree 300w over the weekend and the combo impressed me enough but tonight, after the PrimaLuna finally arrived, it was simply magic. :music: I'm still in disbelief how dynamic this thing sounds with EL34 tubes running in Triode mode. I did not run out of juice even in Triode mode with these 85dB/6 ohm speakers filling a 26x31 room to levels above and beyond my typical listening. I am very happy with this combo. :music:

Serge, sounds like you are really enjoying the Harbeths. I was lucky enough to audition a pair of the 30.2's at a friends place. They sounded great.

I have been considering replacing my speakers with a pair of 40.2's but cannot seem to find a place to audition them. My preference would be a in home trial but I have not been successful on that yet.

Good luck with the new system and enjoy!

The 40th Anniversary Models are superb. I think the new poly caps in the crossovers, internal wiring and WBT binding posts go a long way to give them more transparency and openness while retaining the incredible midrange purity and that beguiling voicing. Good luck in your quest and the 40.2 anniversary colors are very attractive. I love the Silver Eucalyptus! :thumbsup:

:naughty:

https://www.phileweb.com/news/photo/.../19115/ph1.jpg

Do you see the retail price sticker? Only if I could buy it in Yen! :D That’s only $6677 at today’s exchange rate. Retail here is $16k... Not giving $10k to the importer for his happy retirement, sorry.

"Cape Cod: New System Coming"...

Old Accuphase clearance sale coming... :scratch2:

Always a possibility. :D

You forgot to say "Sexy"! :D

:laughin:

Maybe attend one of the shows. I've heard the 40.2's twice at RMAF. The 40.2 is a special speaker. You'll be glad you auditioned them when you get the chance.

The Harbeth 30.2 and the new dancing partner PrimaLuna Dialogue HP saw 12 hours of straight music marathon/break in. Every few hours I would sit in the sweet spot and give them a listen. Sometime in the afternoon I cued up the album by the Chinese singer Zhao Peng on Roon. Well, what was supposed to be a quick listen and back to work, turned out to be a 45 min listening session. I just couldn't pull away. Incredibly musical and satisfying pair across the board.

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I am starting to look for new speakers. My room is 14x17. I have to have it set up to listen across the short dimension and the long wall has about 16 in deep in half height cabinetry in front of which would go the speakers. This gives me about a 8 foot per side equilateral triangle. My list to check out includes Canton Ref 9K, Dynaudio Special 40, B&W 805d3, Bryston Mini T and possibly Aerial 5t. I’ve always wondered about Harbeth but never had a chance to hear them. I’m using a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium Integrated with KT120s. The Harbeths are a little inefficient but the listening distance and room is small. Are the 30.2s too big for the room and distance or too inefficient for the PL? (I’ve thought about upgrading to the HP but I’m in Miami and concerned about the heat although my Dialogue Premium doesn’t seem too bad in that respect and it is using the 120s).

Thoughts?

Thanks

Soundmig - thanks for the tip.

I'm in Dallas and have not made it to any of the BIG shows. We have LSAF but that is more of a home grown individual show than big dealers and manufactures. I need to just dedicate a weekend and make a trip.

Serge - Sorry for the thread hijack.

Those dimensions should work. I tried the 30.2 in a 12x15 and although they did not couple to the walls as bad as some other speakers would, they did sound warmer then they should which gave them a slight chestiness and nasal quality on female vocals. They just needed a bit more room to sound natural. Im very picky though and it has to sound perfect to my ears.

As far as the PrimaLuna, have no doubt it will drive them easily in a room your size. My 30.2 are now in a 26x31 room and even in Triode mode they fill the room with balanced sound effortlessly. The HP is a very ballsy tube amp and the other models should be good too. Have a listen to the 30.2 and see if they do it for you.

One other observation is that these being British monitors and are often used in smaller living spaces than what we are used to, do very well with near field listening as in the more conventional setup. No treble peakiness near or far, the tweeters are extremely well behaved. The midrange is fantastic and either way and midbass may sound just a touch plumper and warmer if you place them closer to the walls than they should be but nothing major. Fairly easy speaker to accommodate.

Serge - I am glad you are having a great time with your new speakers!