Dear Mr. Alan Shaw

[george_k]

What's changed during these past 20 years since I've been running Harbeth is not me, or our products or our values and beliefs, it's the world. Are we now observing the end of the throw away culture? Is the consumer (as I have been) sick and tired of a culture that promotes - yes actively promotes - the voracious consumption of natural resources for consumer products that end up in land-fill just months later? With oil at a record $130 a barrel, and oil being the raw material for all plastics, looks like snap-together-chuck-away consumerism is unsustainable. Real value is and always has been what the discriminating consumer will invest in.

Hi-fi speakers should last 20+ years. Ours do. The best audio investment that you will ever make.

I wish it were so Alan, but if we are making any progress to less throw-away products that progress is moving at a snail's pace at best. I commend you for being one those few manufacturers out there who chose do things differently.

[Drdennis]

I have the same combination (C7 and REL B3). I'm also very happy with the end result. If set up properly, the sub disappears, and the result is more more music weight and harmonics at the bottom end. I primarily listen to classical and jazz, so it is important to have a high quality sub that is quick, musical and not boomy. I started out with a REL T-2, which was acceptable, but I was generally aware of the subs presence. The B3 is more seamless and really does disappear. I have not heard the combination, but I have been told that M30 and B3 is another good combination.
BTW, the cherry finish of my REL is a very close match to the Harbeth's.

[A.S.]

Well, as we enter the last few days of 2011, what's better than to receive a letter out of the blue from a satisfied customer. The very least I could do was to call him and reciprocate the greetings and ask him if we could reproduce his letter here. He agreed, so we have redacted the names of two audio industry luminaries to avoid embarrassment.

It is truly heart warming (but of course, not unusual) to receive such kind compliments seven years after the customer bought his Harbeth speakers. What I didn't appreciate until now was just how serious a listener he is. And with that sensitivity to music we are most flattered. Thank you for ending 2011 on such a high note.

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