I was wondering if there are any Harbeth owners in Wisconsin that would be willing to have me come over for a listen. The closest dealers are an 8-9 hour car drive from my home.

Thank you,
Don

mmm that's a tough one I"m sure, they're not common in the states. I liked the C7 but bought the bigger SHL5. They sound great, but the scale of them is rather large, wish I had the smaller scale of the C7.

A Naimee showed up last year in LA and liked the Harbeths but he bought Neats, I"m not sure which ones, and has emailed me and says he loves em to death.

I have a set of harbeths attached to my naim system and I love them. Was at my local dealers a few weeks back there and he's B&W man and hooked up a pair of 802d speakers but to be honest I would stay with my harbeths although they were much cheaper. Just great with the human voice

Harbeths are a bit speical just like Naim electronics.

No other speakers sounds like Harbeths which make it just like Naim...one either loves it and buy it and end his/her speakers serach or like it not buy it. I have yet to encounter anyone think its crxp.

I love my Compact 7ESIII's. They were a nice match with the SuperNait/HiCap2 when I had the SN here for review.

Personally, I haven't heard anything yet that hasn't worked with the Harbeths....

Thank you all for your comments. I've read many positive things in regards to the Harbeth line of speakers and I appreciate what you all have also contributed as well.

I think I will try to keep an eye out for a used pair of Compact 7es3. Will be used in a very small room, about 12x13ft. They seem to be in high demand, so that if they don't happen to work out for me I probably could sell them at not too much of a loss.

Thanks again,
Don

check this out...the advertisement isn't very good but he seems to have a pair of C7es2s for sale. I live close to him and would be willing to look at them for you if he can't send you any pictures.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrmoni&1232048074&/Harbeth-M-30-Maple

P.S. I'm the guy over at the Harbeth forum that suggested looking on the Naim forum

Hi Vaughn3D,
Nice to hear from you again. Thanks for the tip on the Compact7es2's. Although I'm confident the 2's are indeed very fine speakers, I think I'm going to hold out for the 3's. I'm trying to decide with my wife about which finish will look best in the room that they are intended for and than patiently wait for something to become available. Hopefully in the meantime our economy can get back on track. It's a little scary thinking about spending money on additional stereo equipment when you see virtually every industry in the world falling apart and unemployment reaching all time highs.

Thanks again,
Don

you're not the only one worried. I've stopped most of my impulse buying tho I do go out and support the arts when I can.

My experience with the 2's and the 3's, was that the 3 was a much more neutral sounding speaker than the 2.

I've heard many people talk about the 2's as having that "classic British speaker warmth", where I didn't feel the 3 was like that at all.

And it was a particularly nice match with the SuperNait and Nait 5i...

Interesting, I'd love to hear the 2s and 3s side by side, and the SHL for that matter. I have heard M40s and they were stunning.

Regarding spending, I am as frugal as they come but I figure that with the economy being so poor right now there must be some very good deals out there to be had..or is that just me talking myself into a Nait XS?

good luck on your search Don

If I could ask one more question of all of you Harbeth owners. These speakers will be used in a secondary system and at times will have background music playing via Pandora's internet radio. Has anyone listened with Pandora as the source and what did you think?

In this room I'm currently using vintage Wharfedale W25's and it sounds fine, but am afraid that the Harbeth 7's may reveal the Pandora too inferior of a source to enjoy.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Don

well that is possible, but using a speaker to cover up a bad source will limit it if you want to listen to good stuff. I listen to standard FM all day long or turn it off when I'm tired of it. It's a good source tho.

I don't even try to listen to internet radio at anything more than cheap computer speakers and get tired of that quickly.

Hi Wolf2,
I understand exactly what you are saying. I have found however that Pandora's internet radio has sounded better than most others I've tried. Also, what I really love is that you can create your own listening station. For instance, you can choose a favorite artist... say you love Ben Webster on tenor sax; it will not only play Ben Webster but also search out other musicians that have similar styles as Ben has and play those as well. I find it to be a great source to discover musicians that I may not have known before. Obviously, it doesn't compare to my LP12/ARO source in my main listening room, but for background music and for searching out new music and musicians, it has been enjoyable.

i have a squeezebox sb3 hooked up to my nait5i and playing background music / low resoulution mp3s through the C7ES3, not a problem at all.

The magic of the speakers is that what ever the souce it sounds 'right' you will be able to tell its not very good at a source and you will be able to tell the mp3 type of distrotion but it won't annoy you a bit.

and sometimes you will wonder why you need anything better.

but the thing is , you either love it and buy it and perhaps stop your speaker searching. or you might think its nice but that's not what you want to live with.

so ..... an audition is recommeded, hm..if possible......2nd hand price is stiff....tho.

Hi Seanbeer,

Thanks for comments. I was hoping that this would be the case. I realize that the better the source, the better the Harbeths will sound. But I was hoping that with less than ideal sources that they would still sound "right" as you put it.

Thanks again and happy listening!
Don