Harbeth Monitor 30 domestic specific

[John Willett]

I have the , unfortunately now discontinued, Active Monitor 30s.

They are magic - I use them for both domestic listening and studio monitoring.

When it comes to loudspeakers that you can trust; that are natural and revealing and don't colour the music there are *very* few to choose from and the Harbeth are definitely in the top three and are the least expensive of the three when you compare for equal quality.

[eelekim]

Has the change of the internal wiring with ultra pure OFC wire to the 30th anniversary limited signature edition of M30 been decided after tests with positive results? Or is it primarily a marketing decision for pleasing the general audiophiles with the tweak and the collectors with the limited signature nature in this special year? Why hasn't such wire been used in the standard edition? Should all the prospective buyers of Harbeth speakers wait for another special edition with another tweak to enjoy more of the already great design? Could I say that the standard edition is the official version that should be brought up whenever the model is called upon whilst the different special editions are only variations that are basically not what M30 was intended to be originally? If I want to buy M30, should I buy the standard edition rather than the special edition for the result supposedly closer to the very heart and mind of the designer?

Sorry for the many questions. As a matter of fact, I'm struggling to choose between the standard edition and the anniversary edition...

Best regards
mike

[airdavid]

Has the change of the internal wiring with ultra pure OFC wire to the 30th anniversary limited signature edition of M30 been decided after tests with positive results?

Best regards
mike

I hope no...

David

[Bill C]

Hello Alan,
I'm planning to order some spades to terminate my speaker wire and was wondering if you could tell me what size best fits the M30's binding posts. Thank you,
-Bill

[A.S.]

I have measured a gold binding post of the type we've used for about 5 years. I measured the central pillar as 8.3mm diameter and I suggest that about 8.5mm would be a nice snug fit. 9.0mm would be a little loose but would still make good connection. You could probably bend inwards the tips of an over-size spade to improve its contact area.

In my opinion, it makes no real difference whether you connect your spades to the upper or lower terminal pair if the biwire links remain fitted.

[BillD]

Hi Alan,

Purchased a used pair of M30's a few months ago. Found the bass to be lacking limited in dynamic range. After I sold them I found that one of the bass drivers had a large split in it. No doubt this contributed to the poor sound quality of the M30's. Will be auditioning a set of your 30th Anniversary edition M30's tomorrow.

Have been running a pair of Rogers Studio II speakers for the past 29 years. My setup includes Mcintosh 275 IV tube power amp, C220 tube preamp, MR85 tuner and a HP laptop computer feeding a Benchmark USB DAC. Room 15 x 16 x 9 feet.

Bill

[BillD]

Hi Alan,

Purchased a used pair of M30's a few months ago. Found the bass to be lacking limited in dynamic range. After I sold them I found that one of the bass drivers had a large split in it. No doubt this contributed to the poor sound quality of the M30's. Will be auditioning a set of your 30th Anniversary edition M30's tomorrow.

Have been running a pair of Rogers Studio II speakers for the past 29 years. My setup includes Mcintosh 275 IV tube power amp, C220 tube preamp, MR85 tuner and a HP laptop computer feeding a Benchmark USB DAC. Room 15 x 16 x 9 feet.

Bill

[airdavid]

are the 30 anniversary Monitor 30s better than the normal Monitor 30?

David

[terence]

David

I have recently bought the 30 th anniversary monitor 30, due to using the studio grade internal cables, I think the special model is better than the normal one.

TT

[jaybar]

Anyone using your Monitor 30's without Toe in? How have you found the off-axis response?

Thanks,

Jay

[drjimbo]

Does anyone have experience using M30's with DRC - Digital Room Correction? I know REG (Robert Greene) of UCLA and The Absolute Sound has done some formal and informal work with DRC and his M40's, but as the M30 offers much less lower bass (20Hz - 40Hz) the need may not be as great. DRC certainly does attempt to deal with room anomalies above the lower bass, but my sense is that the this is the particularly problematic region.

Any thoughts or comments

[eelekim]

My dad has given me a pair of supertweeters to try. After setting them up, I found the overall sound was more airy but not natural. The top end was harder. I decided to be back to the basics. It seems it's not easy to add more on the well-designed speaker.

During the supertweeter set-up, I found that one of the binding post screws is not opened!



Anyone has the same problem? What can I do with the closed screw?

[Laurie]

A bit late in replying, but I've only just properly registered on this site yesterday - I did buy and play around a little, with a low cost Behringer DEQ2496 a year or so ago, whilst I had my M30s on audition - but as I was more concerned then with 'evaluating' the speakers (which I did buy and have not regretted), I did not pay the EQ too much attention. I remember wanting to be able to somehow record, the frequency plots and filter settings, but couldn't find an easy way of saving these onto a PC. I've now got the Behringer back after extended loan to someone else and the next step is to get a sound card for the PC and a low cost program such as 'Trueaudio', to be able to display the curves.

I see the Behringer as an intermediate step, as it is basically only a steady state DSP graphic equalizer type device - however some say that this is all that is needed for dealing with bass problems. However, I understand that more expensive equalizers use time based correction to filter out room reflections in the mid range.

I eventually want to do it properly though, hooking up a sub in the corner with appropriate delay facility - TacT style. A number of people have said nice things about the TaCT RCS 2.2x, as not only does it do room correction and integrate subs with appropriate delays to the main speakers, but the A/D and D/A conversion is said to high quality too - probably a lot better than that in the Behringer. The other option I'm considering, is a PC based system called <<<Acourate>>> developed by Uli Brueggeman, as it is very reasonably priced. Uli contributes amongst several Yahoo groups, to regsaudioforum. He claims that this system has a much greater number of 'coefficients' than stand alone devides like Tact. It can also be used for a 3 way x-over with appropriate phasing compensation, which would enable a Tact style sub integration. A former contibutor to regsaudioforum who had M30s, reported 2 years ago that he had tried <<<Acourate>>> and was deeply impressed with the results.

Apologies for the lengthy message, but whilst talking of <<<Acourate>>>, I thought it would be nice to mention that Uli posted a complimentary message about M30s, also on regonaudio, about a month ago. He doesn't know Harbeths all that well, but in the process of demonstrating his roomEQ system to a potential customer in the Far East, he discovered that the M30s "measure damn good and sound pretty well without correction" though he noted EQing did bring on greater clarity and depth of soundstage. He said he would love to own these speakers.

Laurie

[harbethpr]

Here is a short video file (QT format) of the Harbeth 30s used to monitor a live radio programme - audience several million listeners. After the signal leaves this studio (monitored on the 30s) it goes straight to the transmitter and the internet. Interesting to note that on the presenter's side of the glass they have a pair of the old and much larger BBC LS5/8 which are not used for formal monitoring. M30s are used on their side in the control room - not perhaps ideal but necessary in this set-up.

The sound in this clip is highly compressed and the image is small. It will stream to your QuickTime player.

[zhangyu.H]

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I'm from mainland China， Jilin Province， Changchun.
It's my virgin Thread here.

I have concerned about this music speaker brand for about 5 years.Luckily,one and a half year ago,Harbeth M30 comes to my home, I'm deeply addicted to the natural,sweet sound.My system is :
cd player:spark cd 17-a(full banlanced) ;
Amps:spark sc-120 full banlanced pre-amplifier(transistor);
spark a88t power amplifier(tube kt88 pp)

My combination didn't cost too much,but I know that they bring me to the correct healthy way to enjoying music.

Hope to make friends with you harbeth fans.
At last,thank you Alan for your endeavor of manufacture such good treasure!

[Gan CK]

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I'm from mainland China， Jilin Province， Changchun.
It's my virgin Thread here.

I have concerned about this music speaker brand for about 5 years.Luckily,one and a half year ago,Harbeth M30 comes to my home, I'm deeply addicted to the natural,sweet sound.My system is :
cd player:spark cd 17-a(full banlanced) ;
Amps:spark sc-120 full banlanced pre-amplifier(transistor);
spark a88t power amplifier(tube kt88 pp)

My combination didn't cost too much,but I know that they bring me to the correct healthy way to enjoying music.
Hope to make friends with you harbeth fans.
At last,thank you Alan for your endeavor of manufacture such good treasure!

Hi Zhangyu.H,

Welcome to kingdom Harbeth & this user group. Over here, you can converse with Harbeth users all over the world & from all walks of life but above all, you can also communicate with our dear Alan Shaw, the man behind these brilliant loudspeakers. Alan not only sells excellent handcrafted loudspeakers but also maintains a close relationship with his customers through this user group. I am sure your purchase of the M30 will bring you many many hours of musical pleasure & will even grow on you as time goes by. Have fun with your M30s.

[zhangyu.H]

Gan CK,
Thank you for your reply,it is always happy & encouraged for music lovers to communicate with each other,especially we are Harbeth lovers.People of one kind come together!

[zhangyu.H]

Another questiion：Am I qualified to put up pictureshere？If I can， how？

[Gan CK]

Another questiion：Am I qualified to put up pictureshere？If I can， how？

Hi Zhangyu.H, of course you can post pics of your setup here. In fact, we have a thread here specifically for that. Well for me i save the pic/s in my pc then open a photobucket a/c & from there, i attach the pic from the pc to the photobucket a/c. Next, copy the direct link URL from photobucket then paste it on the 'Insert Image' icon found above. Don't forget to click on the insert image icon 1st before you paste the URL. Have fun.

[zhangyu.H]

Hi Zhangyu.H, of course you can post pics of your setup here. In fact, we have a thread here specifically for that. Well for me i save the pic/s in my pc then open a photobucket a/c & from there, i attach the pic from the pc to the photobucket a/c. Next, copy the direct link URL from photobucket then paste it on the 'Insert Image' icon found above. Don't forget to click on the insert image icon 1st before you paste the URL. Have fun.

Gan CK
Thank you for your warm,detailed instructions for me,It's useful for a "freshman" here.I will try it.
Thanks again.