Where to go up from Harbeth?

[LewL28]

I love my Harbeth 40.3 XDs but wondered if there is speaker that does what Harbeth does and then some. Looking for a bite more available with a similar sound. A speaker that is great on vocals, pianos, classical, acoustic instruments, some classic rock like the Beatles and Neil Young). Must be able to sound full at low volumes (despite what you might have heard, the Harbeth 40.3 sounds great at low volumes and at loud volumes.) That lush full detailed sound that you can listen to all day (I.e. not Magico, Focals or Wilson’s). Will be paired with Accuphase Class A. Something full and enjoying and not fatiguing and yet exciting. Medium to large room 15’x 30’ x 8’ ceilings. Trying to determine what else is out there under $20-30k range. Used preferably since I could get more bang for my buck in the used market.

Thanks!

Lew

 

[Verdier]

If I were faced with this decision, I would try listening to a Westlake.

I've listened a lot in my former listening room with the Harbeth SHL 5, M30 and other Harbeth speakers, so I assume that the M40 simply sounds ‘bigger’ than the M30. The M30 and SHL 5 sounded very, very good in this listening room (that was too small for M40).

In this listening room I then had the Westlake BBSM 10 VNF (the floorstanding version of the BBSM 10). This was much better than Harbeth - much more full-bodied, quite a bit more direct and a bit more resolution, but still a pleasant warm sound for extremely long listening sessions. At first it worked very well in a relatively small listening room, but later I also had it in a listening room the size of yours and it sounded even better there.

The Westlake is easy to listening even at relatively low volumes. But you can also listen to it very loudly without distortion. Westlakes have one problem, namely an impedance minimum of 1.5 to 2 ohms in the bass. So you need powerful amplifiers that can handle this. I have driven the Westlake with Mark Levinson ML-2 (Class A, 2x25W @ 8 Ohm), so Accuphase Class A might well fit the bill.

Unfortunately, Westlake is now a little bit out (they are still producing, but there are far fewer models than a few years ago). If I were you, I would listen to the BBSM 12 VNF or BBSM 15 VNF. Westlake is a US manufacturer, so I think there is a large second-hand market.

 

[Argonaut]

Tannoy Westminster Royal :

 

[Petrat]

Agreed, Accuphase class A is a synergistic match with 'pepperpot' Tannoys. I went through dozens of amps with my Canterburys before getting Accuphase... my final system.

 

[Synaxis]

Tannoy Westminster Royal :

Now that they have moved production to China for all components (they pretend the illusion of shipping some of the components the Scotland and screw then in the cabinets), hearing about the QC issues and how they changed the construction of the components I wouldn't touch Chi-Noy with a 10 foot pole.

Wait until you hear the announcement of what is coming out over the next few weeks regarding production and where things are being moved to. And the sales numbers are less than the cost of a single nice car in many countries.

Some cabinets continue to be made in Poland and many are now made in China. It's easy to spot the difference.

Definitely find a used pair the was HONESTLY manufactured in the UK. It will be much, much better.

The people involved with Tannoy/Chi-noy and past distributors have been very vocal on social media sharing the specifics.

In fact the current distributor and former distributor got into a fight on the What HIFI forum when the poor recent review came out about Tannoy and the current distributor was temporarily banned from that forum.

 

[A-Line]

I listened to Harbeth in 2010, the 30's & 40's, and preferred my Spendor S8e's that I purchased new in 2007. I think Spendor offers similar to Harbeth but in a more natural way. Harbeth requires stands and my Spendor's are floor standing but they also make a few speakers that require stands.

For a bigger sound in that direction I would suggest the Klipsch La Scala speakers. ATC SCM50 passive studio monitors might be right for you but these are very neutral and will expose most sonic short comings in a system.

I mainly listen to classical, but also listen to rock & pop music.

Just my opinions.