Quote:
Originally Posted by D_S_J_R
I had a wonderful afternoon in the company of a pair of Harbeth 40.1's, which sang in my dealer pal's particular room and these were driven by an old industry stalwart Crown DC300A (mk 1.5 with satin front and overload lights). They did what I remember all good monitors doing, they just went louder and louder with no fatigue until the 300A lamps suggested that was about it... At more reasonable volume on another occasion, I compared this pair to the SHL5, which was then the current model. I thought the 5 was just a *touch* more 'seamless' on the bass to mid crossover region (you'd never know unless compared directly on suitable speech and similar material), but obviously the 40.1 bass was better (my own SHL5's react in this living room the same as the 5/9's do  ).
I've not been able to get the 40.2's my dealer friend has into the dem room so far, but I'm told that like the SHL5+, the bass is tauter still which further benefits the lovely clear midrange. Would be great to hear from any of you who've been able to listen to them.
You lot may laugh, but the Bc2's with replacement SA2 drivers (from an engineer at Spendor) weren't sounding right. rather than the thunderous SHL5 bass in this room, they were sounding almost 'weedy' and fatiguing after prolonged listening irrespective of sources and amps. As the later driver seemed to be better behaved at the top of its range than the identical looking (surround aside) original, I decided to see about dropping the tweeter (HF1300) level down a bit. Derek Hughes (Spen's son and accomplished designer in his own right) very kindly gave some pointers on a proper additional L pad as the original tapped inductor used for this purpose can't easily be changed in value (at least by me) and after a bit of trial and error, I think I have them better now. Interesting how, in this room and with my tired old ears, taking the top down is heard by me as an increase in bass and midrange... (And all these audiophools of which I'm still on the fringes, tell you to ONLY trust your ears!). A bit 'organic' sounding now in comparison with moer modern speakers, but acoustic instruments are still well reproduced not too dissimilarly to the better known BC1 model, but with better controlled bass for the more percussive music I play a lot.
I'm still hankering after a listen to the latest version of the JBL 4312SE though, now the sqawk and screech of the originals has gone. Martin Colloms quite liked the 4312mk2 that was around briefly twenty years ago and these new ones appear further developed with stronger cabs and new tweeter design. |
Dave,
I certainly would like to get a chance to listen to a more modern pair of Harbeths, and the JBLs too.
Quite funny and love the audiophools moniker
friend call me an absolute Audiophile a remark I don't like as I'm sure it is with you the equipment is only the vehicle to get to the music as enjoyably as possible.
I frequently have tro rein myself back in when I am designing speakers to get back to the basics. After All that it is all about the music at the end of the day!! I am sure it is the same with you and have to keep reminding myself of that.
I am in design mode at the moment working on a big modular three way.
Can't comment on the SHL5+ nor the 40.2, but understand that some minor alignment changes and in crossover have indeed made for some improvements to an already nice cake.
Simon