EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS (on-line and printed)

[A.S.]

This thread gives links to known reviews of Harbeth speakers. Please be aware that not all models and veneers will be available in all markets and that for reasons of transport costs, duties, taxes etc. prices may alter.

Please always check the latest specifications on the Harbeth website.

[A.S.]

6 Moons online review (Feb. 2007) which discusses the Harbeth history etc. :

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/leben2/system_2.html

[A.S.]

Compact 7ES3 review in The Absolute Sound (USA magazine) Edition #171 April 2007 by Paul Seydor:

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/ (buy downloadable PDF)


"Perfecting the BBC school of design".

Quotes from this review: "Flat frequency response, natural tonal balance, low coloration and distortion....."

The designer " ... is particularly gifted at knowing how speakers actually behave in real rooms. The design and engineering of the Compact 7 is so solid and sophisticated... that it sounds absolutely wonderful, retaining its essential neutrality and natural tonal balance..."

"...streets ahead of most of the competition..."

"... a really great speaker...."

"...this speaker sets, in my experience, a new benchmark....."

[A.S.]

Information to follow

[A.S.]

Information to follow

[A.S.]

Compact 7ES3 review in HiFi World (UK magazine) May 2007 by Channa Vithana:

http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/

Quotes from this review:

"BBC-style monitors in the classic and best sense"

"... delicately balanced sound, with wonderful timbral acuity"

"... the ability to convey the emotional impact of a recording ..."

" ... very good phrasing, definition and clarity"

"Excellent body to each instrument ?"

"? ideal for delicate, subtle acoustic music?"

"?exceptional in respect of their bass control, tunefulness and general timbral accuracy?"

"... few ? if any ? at the price can touch these loudspeakers."

==================================================

Alan Shaw did not meet the reviewer; the 'interview' with him was conducted by email. The speakers were delivered direct to the reviewer's listening room by courier and were, as ususal, completely standard build and test straight off the production bench.

==================================================

[A.S.]

Stereophile magazine (USA) April 2007 Harbeth HL-P3ES2 by John Atkinson (Editor)

www.stereophile.com

??there was an ease to the speaker?s sound, a musically involving presentation that had me reaching for another disc before the first one had ended.?

??as monitors they did a superb job.?

??the Harbeths easily allowed me to hear the top-octave differences between mikes on the cymbals and the lower-frequency differences between the sounds of bass guitar and kick drum??

??the latest version of Harbeth?s little HL-P3 proved extremely satisfying.?

??the Harbeth?s cumulative spectral-decay plot was superbly clean.?

Echoing what John Marks said in the same magazine in October 2005, ?high ?gotta havvit? quotient?.

[harbethpr]

Compact 7ES3 review in What-Hi-Fi magazine (UK) June 2007:

5 ***** review rating

'Retro Harbeths are hard to beat?

??this is a gem of a design, sounding natural and unforced where most rivals would be delivering a more forward and thinner presentation.?

?Fire up some Metallica and there?s no shortage of bite or drama??

?The crowning glory here is the midrange: fluid, big-bodied and full of finesse, it makes voices articulate and superbly well projected without ever becoming hard or forward.?

??the Harbeth?s have a sound that?s hard to better for the money.?

??a winning sound.?

?A wonderfully natural-sounding midrange: great dynamics (particularly of the low-level variety); excellent detail resolution.?

??a truly excellent pair of loudspeakers.?

[harbethpr]

Harbeth compact 7ES-3 review by music critic Christopher Breunig in Hi-Fi News ? September 2007

Selected quotations:

?These are enormously tuneful, addictive speakers which can create deep sound-stages with pinpoint accurate tone colours.?

?The Harbeths passed with flying colours??

??the timing, speed and imaging made for instant, foot-tapping engagement.?

??unusual amount of Kate Bush?s diction? crystal clear, as well as all the reverberation layers in the mix.?

??the Barbican platform was reproduced in depth-imaging far surpassing the abilities of my old Quad ESLs??

??the 7ES-3 is good on solo piano??

?Don?t be fooled by the studio styling, these Harbeth?s are designed to fit well in a home environment.?

?Compatible with all kinds of music.?

?This is an addictive small speaker, it looks reflecting a BBC monitor pedigree. The mid-band is uncoloured and sound-staging excellent.?

[harbethpr]

?Stereo Times? ? November 2007-11-08 (http://www.stereotimes.com/speak103107.shtml)
Compact 7ES-3 review by Paul Szabady

Selective quotes:?

??upholds the grand Harbeth tradition.?

??wonderful and natural-sounding midrange ? instruments sound rich and full-bodied, with their full array of harmonics intact.?

?..achieves its organic midrange performance even with solid-state.?

??simply magical in the way it allowed the ear to identify instruments, capturing their timbre and subtle sonic signatures with an extraordinarily natural ease.?

??clearly differentiated between violin and the viola??

?But the Harbeth went still further: one could easily identify the different makes of violins??

??a pure sensual pleasure to hear??

??produces that beauty like few other speakers??

?Bass response was tight and very well controlled?.?

?The Compact 7ES-3 is more than a beautiful face of vivid instrumental sonority ? it adds grace, wit, fire, nuance, intelligence, and artistic sensibility of the highest order.?

??superb rendition of timbre, acoustic music of all kinds was predictably easy and rewarding to listen to.?

?the Harbeths are an invaluable aesthetic tool.?

?...exceptionally well-integrated blend of accurate timber, sophisticated rhythmic performance?..?

[airdavid]

it seems he doesn't like M30 so much, as you can see in C7es-3 review and also here:

http://www.stereotimes.com/speak012607.shtml


David

[A.S.]

Here is the link to the above review: http://www.stereotimes.com/speak012607.shtml

[airdavid]

so, Alan
what do you think about his M30 review ?

David

[A.S.]

To be honest, I get so confused trying to remember reviews. I just do my very best at the design stage and leave the business of reviewing to others better qualified than me.

My only regret is that it is extremely rare for a reviewer to make contact with the manufacturer during the review process - I'm speaking generally across the industry. It's a pity because unless the reviewer thoroughly understands what was in the designers mind and on his target specification, I do feel that it limits what can be said about the product - any product from cars to hifi.

But there again, a degree of impartial objectivity is a good thing too.

[harbethpr]

A review of the Compact 7ES-3 in the USA's e-journal of analog and digital sound, Tone Audio, has concluded that the speaker 'does a phenomenal job at just disappearing in the room and letting your concentrate on the music'.

The praise continues, 'what the Compact 7ES-3 offers that I value above all else is balance'.

The effusive review also says 'for the novice audiophiles in the audience, these are incredibly easy speakers to set up.'

And, perhaps the highest praise of all, 'I dare you to find a speaker in this price range that is more musically accurate and balanced.'

PDF of review attached (re-PDFd Aug 08)

[DSRANCE]

I worry about reviewers. The Stereo Times Monitor 30 review was quite fair I thought and very thorough, but showed a complete ignorance of the recording process (despite paragraphs of preamble regarding studio matters) and what I crudely call "the master tape *sound*" which has far more in common with the "stepped reverb" and cold, multi mono qualities he had from his CD players compared to the general lush and measurably dull "Music Maker" cartridge which he prefers.

Back in Alan's and my youth, the mags were far more technically based, but the better reviewers listened too (I'm thinking of the UK mag "HiFi Sound." Sound quality shortcomings were usually easily measured and they weren't frightened to criticise either as I recall.

I think there are more than enough good recordings (and masterings) on both standard CD's and carefully produced LP's for me not to bother comparing. The fact that Harbeths in general don't seem bothered by "audiophoolery " must show you that the design and execution is sound.

[A.S.]

Why grumble - it's a fantastic review. Furthermore, the photography is exceptionally good, all undertaken at the magazine's expense by their staff. We here are extremely pleased to have been given such kind attention by Tone Audio. Actually, I've only just discovered that ToneAudio is an on-line (i.e. not printed) magazine. You could not guess that from the production quality as it is as exceptionally lavish - even better produced - than many printed magazines. Excellent layout, perfect photography, and an approachable and fluid writing style.

The world has moved on since the days of Ralph West's HiFi News, where objective reviewing was the order of the day. But so has society. There is little point in 'talking deeply technical' in a review and showing lots of graphs and technical measurements to an audience who have no training of how to read them. Or reviewers who understand how to make reliable measurements. A graph of frequency response can have its vertical (Y) axis so squeezed that it irons out the inevitable wiggles or so expanded that it makes the wiggles seem like mountains; the reader needs certain basic interpretational skills to decode even a simple graph of frequency response. And those skills just don't exist in the general public - why should they? They are tools for designers.

Reviewers reflect the public's interests and concerns they don't lead it, and subjectivism in reviews (for all products) is a sign of the feminisation of science and engineering right across society. The car programme 'Top Gear' is a example of the modern approach to reviewing: 100% subjective. When did you see them actually look at the engine or discuss how it works let alone the engineering numbers concerning torque etc.? Never?

Let's admit it David - subjective reviewing is here to stay, and as our speakers sound great we have nothing to fear from that. We're just appreciative of the publicity.

[do_Ob]

July copy of Magazine Son & Image features a review of a Harbeth C7ES3 on Skylan stands with Lavardin IT and Naim CDX2 CD player.

A very interesting combination.

http://www.son-et-image.com/page/2/

There is a scanned copy of the magazine review at the Lavardin website.
http://www.lavardin.com/lavardin-itE.html

Any chance (please, please, please) someone here could translate or summarise the review? Many thanks in advance!

[MDALL]

July copy of Magazine Son & Image features a review of a Harbeth C7ES3 on Skylan stands with Lavardin IT and Naim CDX2 CD player.

A very interesting combination.

http://www.son-et-image.com/page/2/

There is a scanned copy of the magazine review at the Lavardin website.
http://www.lavardin.com/lavardin-itE.html

Any chance (please, please, please) someone here could translate or summarise the review? Many thanks in advance!

Hi do Ob.

H?! You don't read in french? I'm jocking. Don't bother with this copy because it's not complete. To read the conclusion, you have to buy the magazine. So where did you have this information in Autralia?

[do_Ob]

Hi MDALL,

I've read what was featured in the magazine's website using an online translator program. I'm kind of curious what the conclusion is since I am looking at a system like the one being reviewed. The magazine is available locally... but is no use to me. I need a French language translator.

I originally found the scanned copy from the Lavardin website. I am hoping someone could translate this scanned copy and then I'd be very happy.