Harbeth SHL5 specific

[vasilisnt]

glad to hear this...

thank you very much for your quick response...

[koexter]

Hello,

I owned a pair of super HL5 since middle of december. At first I want to say: great sound especially the vocals are very nice (better than my B&Ws before). I use a naim amplifier and the cooperation is quite good.

I have question about the frequencies at the HL5: In the beginnig I had some Problems with backcoupling and wanted to check the drivers separately. Everything seems okay but in this context I had the following questions:

It is right, that the super tweeter is used parallel to the normal tweeter. I think above a frequence about 10.000 Hz the super tweeter starts and the normal tweeter also goes on until xx? Hz. Right? In my mind the super tweeter seems to play a little bit quieter than the other? But maybe the reason is, that I could not hear the high tones as good than the lower ones. Does anybody know way how I could test the super or normal tweeter separately?

{Moderator's comment: are you expecting to hear anything much at the super high end? Music contains almost no energy up there .... and certainly we here are too old to hear much above 15kHz ... if you could clearly hear the s/t's contribution then it would be generating far too much energy = bad design. The s/t contribution is very subtle indeed.}

[kittykat]

Hi Koexter, a program like Sonic Visualiser (a non commercial app. recommended by yeecn (a HUG member)) will tell the frequency content (and extremes) of a recording. There is very little, if any “high” frequency in most recordings. Very simplistically, 14-15kHz really is the edge (and rare) , 7kHz is probably a more “typical” top end boundary.

Your Harbeths excel at the most important numbers ie. between 60Hz and 2kHz. Most other speakers eat SHL5 dust in this range, and cannot hope to compete.

[scottc1968]

Just trawling through this forum which is very interesting and must Alan's Shaw's sense of humour is on a par with his speakers.....seems like a great very down to earth bloke. Keep it up

I personally polished every cabinet by hand. Some I even gave them a little farewell hug to.

As a good father, I've never been comfortable with the idea of promoting any one of our three children above the other two. They are all special, and about the most favouritism we could be guilty of is slipping a nice shiny apple in one of their pockets as they leave the house in the morning.

"Be happy with what you have".

But you've given me an idea .... 2007 will be our 30th Anniversary. Um ...... (thinks) .... I wonder what new tricks I might have up my sleeve by then? I'll have to strain my weary old brain and see what pops out!

[kittykat]

... which means that next year will be the 35th anniversary?

[STHLS5]

Hi, I have recorded Harbeth sounds in my room. Attached herein two files. One is the original recording 4 tracks - each 1 minute long (SampleMono.mp3) and the other is the recorded sound using small condenser made my friend to set up my AV receiver. Isn't it pretty close to the original? Alan, if you are reading this I would appreciate your comments.

Thanks.

ST
p.s Both files are in mono.

{Moderator's comment: we appreciate your effort and trouble but you need to re-record taking more care over recoding levels to avoid distortion.}

[STHLS5]

{Moderator's comment: we appreciate your effort and trouble but you need to re-record taking more care over recoding levels to avoid distortion.}

A four minute recording took me a good two hours just to match the volume with the original CD recording and yet I couldn't get it right!

Anyway, SampleMono.mp3 is the orginal recording copied from CD and PlaybackthruHarbeth1.mp3 is sound recorded using a cheap mic made by my friend to setup my AV receivers DSP. It is okay for a mic but bass and vocal is not quite right.

So guys what do you think?

ST

[vaughn3d]

Having happily owned the C7es2 for 4+ years, when some funds became available to me the choice was easy. Question below answered, they seem to hold the same weight just fine.

Does anyone know if the Ikea Lack table will safely hold the SHL5 until my new Skylans arrive?

[John Geisen]

Yes, with all confidence I can say they will support your SHL5's.

John

[Gan CK]

No problem at all. In one of the other thread, a fellow Harbeth user had the Lack table under his M40.1. :]

{Moderator's comment: the M40.1 was designed by Alan on the Lack stands as you may have seen on the photos ....}

[vasilisnt]

ordered my SHL5 Saturday morning...!!! delivery time end of May...

just wanted to share my happiness

[John Geisen]

We appreciate it. You are going to be very pleased.

John

[vasilisnt]

thanks John!

[Concerti]

Congratulations Vas
they are a cracker speaker. Owned mine for a while now and very happy. The only speaker to seriously challenge the timbre of Quad 57's.
I found they take a little system matching (we all have different ears) - but that is for bonus points only: they sound fabulous with just about any source and any amp. At least in IME. Whether it's a $10k or $100 amp - they sound great.
They certainly have a level of magic in them that comes out when you take the time to fuss and fiddle abit - mainly room positioning and the like. But the great thing is you don't have too.
And ..unlike many speakers....just get better and better.

Please let me know how you get on.

[bluegrass]

I take delivery tomorrow of my new pair of HL5's from the dealer here in Stockholm, hopefully the last pair of serious speakers i need to buy. He does seem rather intent on selling me some older foundation stands, which i will check out tomorrow, and expensive cables. Unluckily for him I view expensive cables as a complete waste of money, i would rather buy another second hand Quad amp, or cinema tickets for the next year! Anyway, this means i now have a pair of P3ESR's as monitors in my recording booth, the new HL5's soon to be in the living room, and a pair of Quad Esl57's still in the UK, all powered by various Quad amps. That is my idea of audio heaven....I will let you know how they sound in a day or two. I did think about sending an April fools post in this morning regarding imaginary HL5 clones for sale on ebay for next to nothing,but I just could not do it.....anyway, too late now, the moments passed.

[bluegrass]

My Hl5s are now in their 'rightful' place. They do sound fantastic in an understated way. The quality shines through with real depth to recordings, whilst sounding very balanced. I bought a pair of foundation stands very cheap from the dealer here since they are changing the design, but also got some 'Oddvar' Ikea stools for £14 the pair and stained them a rosewood colour.

The foundation stands are now in the attic in case i ever need them. The ikea stools look better and i can highly recommend them. I added feet and rubber mounts on top to protect the speakers. I glued them during assembly, and am not using the stool seat, so i have a strong wooden frame. That's it, the beginnings of a happy lifelong relationship!

[kittykat]

Does anyone know what "HL" in Super HL5 an acronym/ short for? Thanks.

[STHLS5]

Does anyone know what "HL" in Super HL5 an acronym/ short for? Thanks.

a) HL = Highly lovable

b) HL = Heavenly legend

c) HL = Harbeth Loudspeaker

d) HL = Harwood's Legacy

[BAS-H]

Harbeth Loudspeaker, isn't it?

[Drdennis]

HL=Harbeth Loudspeaker