The hi-fi speaker that crystalised Harbeth's reputation for sound quality was the breakthrough HL Compact a smaller more compact version of the original Harbeth HL model. The HL Compact 7ES2 is the latest sophisticated derivative and applies the newest Harbeth technology to bring what customers describe as a 'magic carpet ride experience' to their listening system.
Once in a generation, a loudspeaker takes on athe status of an icon, and the Compact 7ES-2 is the outstanding example of natural sound combined with a flair for reproducing any and every type of music. From rock to opera, jazz and folk, whatever you ask of the Compact 7ES-2, it always delivers: perfectly. The clarity is spellbinding: it is not just a loudspeaker, but a high precision acoustic microscope.
Natural sound involves removing tension from the cabinet, and the Compact 7ES-2's cabinet is a critical part of the overall mix. In true BBC tradition, both the front and rear panels are removable, creating the ideal 'lossy joint' structure, and the system's low energy storage cabinet quite literally breathes at the very lowest frequencies, just like the finest wooden instruments.
Specifications of HL Compact 7ES-2
Transducer system
Vented 2 way domestic monitor loudspeaker
Frequency response
46Hz - 20kHz ± 3dB free space, 1m with grille on with smooth off axis response
In addition, the redistribution of the mass and compliance of the walls themselves eliminates resonances in the all-critical mid band. A crossover, using only the best components and individually calibrated blends the bass/mid to a superb tweeter, such that the listener is never aware of the joint. The whole effect is of seamless integration.
Listeners are mesmerised by the C7ES-2's open, natural midrange. Customers frequently tell us of the lost hours - especially whole nights - traveling through time and space revisiting recordings and artists they though they knew intimately.
“As with its BBC ancestors, musical people will be happily listening to the Compact 7 when most of its more pretentious, self consciously ‘audiophile’ contemporaries have fallen by the wayside.”
Review of the Compact 7ES2 in 'The Absolute Sound'
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