Quirky upgrades?

[Silverwatt]

Hello to all,

It wanted to ask if someone has modified some Harbeth with the Bybee Purifier in Tweeters / Woofers.

Thanks and a greeting.

[harbethpr]

Thought we'd better have a look at this one before commenting.

The vendor says (quote)

"Within any playback system, musical and visual information is transmitted by electrons flowing through conductors. As electrons interact with the conductive materials of cables and circuits, very low-level (quantum) noises are generated. As quantum noise energy accumulates in the propagating signal, low-level details pertaining to ambience, soundstage, timbre, dynamics, color fidelity and picture resolution are obscured, robbing the presentation of vividness and life. Bybee Quantum Purifiers operate on the quantum mechanical level to regulate the flow of electrons that make up the signal (picture a metering light regulating freeway traffic flow). Current flow within the Quantum Purifier is ... Introducing Bybee Quantum Purification into the electron path reduces quantum noise and increases signal velocity, resulting in performance improvement beyond what is attainable by any cable alone, no matter how well designed".

We're simple people here and Alan would remind visitors that the ear is really not a precision instrument, and certainly not down at this level of potential noise. This is not a product we will be fitting to Harbeth speakers and just as a reminder - if you fit it to your Harbeth's the Warranty will be voided.

[hifi_dave]

What can you do to improve Harbeth speakers ?

All I can suggest is a good pair of open frame stands and (possibly) remove the grilles but even the latter is not a guaranteed improvement.

No, wait a sec - I've got it................................buy the next pair up in the range, that is always an improvement, if you have the room.

[ryder]

It wanted to ask if someone has modified some Harbeth with the Bybee Purifier in Tweeters / Woofers.


Sorry to ruffle your feathers but the fact is most if not all designers do not like people messing with their products to improve sound quality. Roy Gandy of Rega hates it when people tweak his wonderful turntables, although he can't do anything in stopping folks from replacing the stock subplatters and platters to aftermarket ones from specialist manufacturers. The same goes with other types of upgrades associated with speakers, CD players and amplfiers. Most products from manufacturers are designed to achieve optimum performance at their price points, and any attempt to improve their performance may lead to a different sound, not necessarily better. Furthermore, a different sound obtained from modifications will deviate from the original house sound of a particular product a good designer has painstakingly tried to accomplish, and that begs the question of whether it is worth it to tweak good equipment or speakers that are already quite excellent on their own.

Having said that, I feel the Bybee Quantum purifiers will not bring any audible effect to the speakers. You can try that once your Harbeth speakers have passed the warranty period and post some of your findings here. You would have better luck posting this question in other forums than here on the manufacturer's website. I reckon any posts such as these posted in other manufacturer's page would get a lukewarm(or negative) response.

Cheers.

[hifi_dave]

Questions about mods and suggestions on how to 'improve' equipment would be deleted on some manufacturers forums.

[A.S.]

Questions about mods and suggestions on how to 'improve' equipment would be deleted on some manufacturers forums.As you know, we very rarely moderate anything here. That's a tribute to the quality of membership of the Harbeth User Group and my observation that most Harbeth buyers gravitate towards us over many years of fruitless, frustrating, exhausting tinkering with their system. One day they just turn a mental point and say 'enough is enough - we're done tinkering, let the music rule'.

That said, it is a tiny bit worrying (for the consumer) that they'll allow a third party, with no awareness of the original design brief or carefully considered performance envelope, to 'improve' an existing design.

It seems obvious to me but may not be to others - as a businessman naturally I would like to make my business more successful. If genuine, sustainable and repeatable additional Harbeth-user satisfaction could be realised by the simple expedient of changing the wiring, different bi-wiring links, spikes, cups, stands etc. etc.I can assure you that I and my financial controller, bank manager and wife would be the very first to welcome such devices with open arms! Until then, oh well, we better just continue to plod the same reliable, pragmatic low-cost road and minimise the selling prices of our speakers to attract more users that way. An old fashioned approach? Probably. Honest? Certainly.