What speaker would a ‘better’ Harbeth SHL5 be ?

DomT

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Hello everyone

As some may know we are building a new home and are trying to finalise the floor plans. We will have a 10x5 meter kitchen/diner/lounge and we have pretty much decided that the Harbeth SHL5 will live there fed by an Audio Research DSI200 amp.

So I now need to plan the speakers for the separate lounge and finalise the size of the lounge. Initially it was to be 6x4 meters but speaking to my local dealer he was sceptical of putting speakers larger than the SHL5 in a room that size. This seems contrary to what many have said on here. So the way I am thinking about this is to decide the room size based on the ideal speaker. After a lot of reflection I like the Harbeth type of sound. Having flirted with Wilson Benesch I don’t want a ‘detail first’ type of sound but I would prefer a speaker a bit faster and more transparent than the SHL5 without losing what the SHL5 does so well in realism’s an tone.

I wonder if the newer SHL5 would do this? Maybe? ATC is another option and the Tannoy Legacy could be a contender. Other than that Audio Note J or something from Proac or Spendor? Budget is 5-8000€ new retail but ok with Portugal/Spain secondhand market but it’s limited.

Which speaker would give me what I am looking for and would 6x4 meter room be ok and if not what size?

Amp likely to be my current Audio Research SP17/D130 (D130 = solid state and drove ATC SCM11 effortlessly).

Thanks
 
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hifinutt

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Tannoy eaton legacy will beat it for bass and non fatiguing sound .cant maych the incredible midrange though. Personally i prefer the eaton

Now one other contender costing a third of the harbeth is the alchris audio ar8 .just assessing a ar6 at the moment and results are good. As you know i had the shl5plus and have the eaton legacy

Again the ar8 or ar6 wont match the shl5plus midrange but it has a delightful smooth sense of presence and realism at a superb price . It would defo sound fab with the arc ds200 .
 
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Rockchild

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Dom, personally once room done, try the Harbeths before you do anything else.
I will say tho, the original HL5’s are more laid back than the Plus version and more so than the XD version. The Plus pre XD are the sweet spot imo.
It takes a lot of faff choosing a new speaker imo.
Like I said, try yours in the new room first and see what you like an dislike.
 

Jazid

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Well you've been down this route many times. I am always a little surprised that ATC get a shout from you alongside Harbeth, they seem to be speakers for such different purposes to me.

I'm going with a left field suggestion. I reckon in a room 6 x 4, if you fire the speakers along the room and move them out say 1m + from the rear wall, then planars of some description might satisfy. I have heard and been rather underwhelmed by some smaller Magnepans, but Martin Logan have interesting mid to higher end models with (to my ears) a pure and effortless sound. Another manufacturer which I haven't heard but am getting quite curious about are Diptyque Audio in France. I'd love to hear some but, not having done so, put them out here purely as an example of magnetoplanars which compared to electrostatics have the advantage of not needing mains supply to them, not being sensitive to dust, but retaining the transparency of the type.
 

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Personally, I would determine room size according to what uses I want the room for, how I want to furnish it etc.. I'd just make certain that size was ample for most purposes, including a variety of different sizes of speaker. Then I'd choose my speakers and, only if required, adjust seating positions to match.

6M x 4M is a nice size for many purposes. It would make a good social and listening space. It's also not too big and not too small.

Would your speakers fire down the room or across the room, or has that yet to be decided?

If down the room then, with 6M to play with, you'd also have a lot of flexibility in terms of distance of the speakers from the back wall.

Far more important to me personally than sizing my room for a specific speaker would be to ensure that doorways, power sockets, fireplaces, windows etc. are all correctly positioned.
(Where will your racking or shelving be? How will you route your speaker cables? I doubt, however, you need to be told this.)

In our previous house we extended a 9' x 12' dining room by 12' to create a 21' x 12' living room. It was a great space apart from the fact that we opted to position the fireplace midway along one of the 21' walls. This seemed sensible in advance but, in fact, it b*ggered up everything in terms of positioning my loudspeakers, as we were forced to sit too far away from them. In addition it prevented us from ever laying out the room in the form of two spaces, one large and one small.

I'm imagining a nice pair of floorstanders in your room. :)
 

DomT

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Dom, personally once room done, try the Harbeths before you do anything else.
I will say tho, the original HL5’s are more laid back than the Plus version and more so than the XD version. The Plus pre XD are the sweet spot imo.
It takes a lot of faff choosing a new speaker imo.
Like I said, try yours in the new room first and see what you like a dislike.
But as we have two rooms and only one pair of ‘large’ speakers I would prefer to choose something ‘better’ that the Harbeths although that can be difficult and apart from ATC no others brands that I am interested in are available for home demo in Lisbon (at least at the two main dealers).

At this stage I will not buy the speakers due to lack of storage space but I really do want to build the room around the speakers. Might just go mad and get some Falcon Q7s and make the room a lot smaller say 4x3 meters.
 
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DomT

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Personally, I would determine room size according to what uses I want the room for, how I want to furnish it etc.. I'd just make certain that size was ample for most purposes, including a variety of different sizes of speaker. Then I'd choose my speakers and, only if required, adjust seating positions to match.

6M x 4M is a nice size for many purposes. It would make a good social and listening space. It's also not too big and not too small.

Would your speakers fire down the room or across the room, or has that yet to be decided?

If down the room then, with 6M to play with, you'd also have a lot of flexibility in terms of distance of the speakers from the back wall.

Far more important to me personally than sizing my room for a specific speaker would be to ensure that doorways, power sockets, fireplaces, windows etc. are all correctly positioned.
(Where will your racking or shelving be? How will you route your speaker cables? I doubt, however, you need to be told this.)

In our previous house we extended a 9' x 12' dining room by 12' to create a 21' x 12' living room. It was a great space apart from the fact that we opted to position the fireplace midway along one of the 21' walls. This seemed sensible in advance but, in fact, it b*ggered up everything in terms of positioning my loudspeakers, as we were forced to sit too far away from them. In addition it prevented us from ever laying out the room in the form of two spaces, one large and one small.

I'm imagining a nice pair of floorstanders in your room. :)
It will be a dedicated music room. My wife is already describing it as being just for ‘you and my LPs’. It will be acoustically treated. It really will be built on a music first basis. We will have a different lounge for day to day living.
 

Rockchild

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But as we have two rooms and only one pair of ‘large’ speakers I would prefer to choose something ‘better’ that the Harbeths although that can be difficult and apart from ATC no others brands that so am interested in are available for home demo in Lisbon (at least at the two main dealers).

At this stage I will not buy the speakers due to lack of storage space but I really do want to build the room around the speakers. Might just go mad and get some Falcon Q7s and make the room a lot smaller say 4x3 meters.
You know what you like, I know that but if you go smaller, there is no going back. A full range speaker is the ultimate goal.
You know the sound of Harbeth Dom, your a studio man and to deviate away from that will only highlight what you already like.
You can build around the Harbeths and if you feel you want more then you have the room to do it.
 
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DomT

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Well you've been down this route many times. I am always a little surprised that ATC get a shout from you alongside Harbeth, they seem to be speakers for such different purposes to me.

I'm going with a left field suggestion. I reckon in a room 6 x 4, if you fire the speakers along the room and move them out say 1m + from the rear wall, then planars of some description might satisfy. I have heard and been rather underwhelmed by some smaller Magnepans, but Martin Logan have interesting mid to higher end models with (to my ears) a pure and effortless sound. Another manufacturer which I haven't heard but am getting quite curious about are Diptyque Audio in France. I'd love to hear some but, not having done so, put them out here purely as an example of magnetoplanars which compared to electrostatics have the advantage of not needing mains supply to them, not being sensitive to dust, but retaining the transparency of the type.
ATC and Harbeth both have a rolled off treble, are un-fatiguing, have an excellent midrange and a studio heritage. To me they are more alike than Harbeth vs Wilson Benesch or Proac. Am not really keen on planar speakers though. A bit too quirky and whilst they have strengths they don’t do everything right as don’t any others. And as there are no home demos I need to play very safe and stick to the brands that I already know.
 

Lurch

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Dom, if you like ATC, flog the D130 and grab a pair of SCM40A, I'm sure they'd work really well in the size of room your looking at building.
 
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Rockchild

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I find it difficult to recommend anything until you have tried what you already have especially in a new room. The original size you plan Dom is perfect and my Harbeths are working just fine in a slightly smaller room. I’m able to bring them out a bit too.
I couldn’t possibly tell you to spend £5000 or more on a speaker you haven’t heard and only to be disappointed when you find out in your new room they don’t work or you don’t like the presentation.

Honestly Dom, DONT build a room around a speaker you haven’t got. 6x4m is a great size for many speakers but you have an excellent pair already to try.
 
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Music At Home

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Here’s a bit of a left-field suggestion but everything I’ve read about these speakers suggests slightly rolled off top end, fabulous midrange, full-range. So might be exactly what you’re looking for:

Q Acoustics Concept 500

Something to at least do a bit of research on and add to your shortlist if they sound like they might fit the bill. I’m curious about them myself but too big for me unfortunately. I might keep an eye out for a pair of Concept 300’s though to satisfy the curiosity.
 

Tarzan

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What music do you like and what sort of sound you trying to achieve?


Home demo- a dealer should provide this service the amount you are going to spend.


Good luck. :)
 

Turn it up!

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Having owned Harbeth and Tannoy I’d recommend a pair of Audio Note E Spe hemp (would probably need to be second hand) or AN J. I demoed them against a set of DeVore and the AN were far better in every area. Compared to the SHL They are slightly more revealing but still warm, not clinical like ATC or similar monitor based speakers. I find it hard to describe speaker sound but if forced I would say they have a sophisticated very refined presentation. I tried them with jazz, electronic and acoustic and they handled everything very well. Only reason I didn’t buy them was price, couldn’t quite stretch! As you already own a pair of harbeth I think you’d find them a great alternative, I’d be happy to own those two brands together. On a totally left field choice how about a pair of active monitors? Having been a valve / sensitive speaker guy for years I made the switch to a pair of Genelec 8040b and love them. Loads of sound tuning options and they have a big sound but totally unfatiguing. I don’t think I’ll go back to passives.
 
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