Harbeth SHL5

Hi Arj. I've not yet got them proper stands. Someday when a good deal comes around, I'll get the Skylan SKY-4P18 itself. For the time being, I'm using the Ikea Lack series sidetables with spikes. Got the ideas and inspirations from fellow creative audiophiles across forums. So took the economy route and couldn't be happier. May be in the future, when funds permit, I might consider investing in proper highend stands and racks and see if I can explore the beyond!
 
Hi Abi. Thanks for asking. It was nice meeting you last month.

Well I got mixed results. When connected to my amp, I can't really say if I heard any substantial difference. But when I connected them to my DAC, there was noticeable difference. The Flavour2 does make the soundstage much wider, its especially noticable through my headphones. Bass imo became bloated for my taste, unfortunately. I ended up using tone controls.

However, on comparison I seem to like the MHDT powercord's synergy better. Got similar results when I was trying out their own USB cables compared to ones from Kimber and Wireworld.

Somehow the Havana with their own cables, as a package, seems to be working in perfect tandem. I'm still hoping to make better user of the Flavour2 once I get a dedicated power conditioner. I'll be getting my AudioArt cables shortly from B'lore. Once they are also in, I can do a proper comparison of sorts. Will keep you posted.

Cheers.
 
After a year and half and extended auditions of about 7-8 speakers I finally got a pair of SHL5's:yahoo:. My original plan was always to buy a pair of these, but due to non-availibility in India and other logistics/customs reasons/listening room placement etc I did look around, but now I am glad that I stuck to my original intent. They are all what I expected and more and I am now going to pause for while - at-least where - speaker upgrade is concerned, and just enjoy the music.
Cheers
Sid
 
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Sid,
Congratulations on the SHL5's. I have read quite a lot about Harbeths, and I am simply fascinated by the owner/designer (A.S.) and his remarks in the Harbeth forum. I have not heard the SHL5's, but have heard the Compact 7 ES-3's. They were very sweet sounding and in a way musical, but not really my cup of tea. However, the SHL5's should be completely different animals. They are huge and need lossy stands. BTW, which stands are you using? Please write a detailed report on your experience with the SHL5's including where have you sourced them from.
Regards.
 
Great to hear this Sid. You now own speaker which to me seems like the complete opposite of the dynaudio / usher camp (the ones you owned recently).

Would love to hear about your experience....
 
Congratulations Sidvee!

That's three lovely pair of speakers you've got now. How will you decide which one to listen to?

Perhaps you can use that ole nursery rhyme (with a few changes by me) :)

EENY MINEE MOE
CATCH THE CHICKEN,MONKEY,RABBIT BY THE TOE
IF IT SCREAMS, LET IT GO
EENY MINEE MOE
YOU ARE IT!

MY MOTHER TOLD ME TO PICK THE BEST
AND THAT WOULD BE YOU!
NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE DIRTY
NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE CLEAN
BUT BECAUSE I SAW YOU KISSIN'
THAT NAUGHTY BOY IN THE COLLEGE CANTEEN.
 
Sid,
Congratulations on the SHL5's. I have read quite a lot about Harbeths, and I am simply fascinated by the owner/designer (A.S.) and his remarks in the Harbeth forum. I have not heard the SHL5's, but have heard the Compact 7 ES-3's. They were very sweet sounding and in a way musical, but not really my cup of tea. However, the SHL5's should be completely different animals. They are huge and need lossy stands. BTW, which stands are you using? Please write a detailed report on your experience with the SHL5's including where have you sourced them from.
Regards.

Thank you kindly Asit. You are absolutely right about the differences between the 7es3 & Shl5's. I spent about 7-8 hours with each speaker and to my ears the Shl5 is vastly superior in 3 areas - treble smoothness and extension, Micro and Macro dynamics and soundstage rendition/imaging precision. Jazz trumpet of Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis has the appropriate bite and growl without getting unruly. The large scale dynamics are superbly handled (feels like a large floorstander)while preserving the nuances of micro dynamics and finally the crowning glory of these IMO is the superb rendition of the soundstage depth and width and the imaging specificity. I have easily percieved the soundstage at 7-8 feet behind the speakers when placed about 3 - 3.5 feet from the back wall. Also with complex mix of intruments, the speaker neatly sorts each source and defines their place in the mix with a laser like precision in a 3d space. I bet that this soundstage/imaging quality is a contribution of the additional super tweeter.
I am currently using a pair of 18" Paradigm stands that I was using with the Studio 40's, but our resident Stand expert, Magma, is designing a pair of custom lossy box stands.
Buying these speakers was an enjoyable experience as well- I was over in Singapore/Malaysia for a holiday/shopping trip with the Missus (my holiday - her shopping to be specific:lol:). I ended up spending 4 days at the Adelphi Mall in Singapore listening to 6 or 7 brands ranging from US$3000 to US$25,000. Then I walked into Mr. Jimmy Goh's CD Acoustic Equipment store and in this understated and unassuming showroom my jaws dropped when I listened to the Shl5. I had heard these extensively before but my memory had faded. Moreover he was driving these with a noname chinese int. and a basic DAC and player. The other places had thousands of dollars worth of equipment. After spending 4 hours there, Mr. Goh informed me that he did not have a pair ready, and would not have the rosewood finish (which I preferred) for at-least 8 more months. So with a heavy heart I moved onto KL where I met friendly Mr. Sam Chan of Tropical Audio. I spent two days listening to Shl5's and the es3's and finally decided on the 5's. Point to note is that Mr. Chan will not ship these speakers to India, so you have to buy it at the store and arrange for your own shipping which I did. Collecting them at Hyd. airport is another long story - maybe another time.
Cheers
Sid
 
Thanks Sid for that report. May we know how much you ended up paying inclusive of all in INR? I wish there was a Harbeth distributor in India. May be someone's reading this and will be encouraged to start.
Regards.
 
Great to hear this Sid. You now own speaker which to me seems like the complete opposite of the dynaudio / usher camp (the ones you owned recently).

Would love to hear about your experience....

Thanks square_wave. I heard the SHL5 for the first time at the Audio Karma show in Detroit in 2007 or 08 if my memory serves me correctly. It was being displayed by the Detroit dealer, Dave Michael Audio in a large room of the Hilton (i think that was the venue). The room was well treated with bass busters and panels. I was immediately taken with these speakers, not so much for the warmish - dare I say - music instrument quality sound but more for the audiophile (or audiophool:lol:) quality of soundstaging and imaging. These largish speakers were displaying sound allover the place and had totally disappeared. Now I have heard a lot of speakers at a lot of shows (as part of my old association with soundstage magazine), but none had this kind of disappearing quality, especially with such a large cabinet. I spent at-least 4 hours in that room and subsequently discovered that with the thin wall design akin to a musical instrument these sounded beautifully warm and really had the PRat and musical thing going. So I made up my mind to get a pair. Fast forward to my recent trip to Singapore and Malaysia - having sold off my Be718's and itching for an upgrade having used the 805's for over 5 years and the Focus 110's for 2,I went to Adelphi (thanks to Dr. Bass's recommendation on the forum) and listened to the following:
B&W Diamond 805
b&W Diamond 804
Duevel Venus
Avantgarde Trio (just for kix - would not work in my budget or room/home)
Proac d2
Proacd18
Focal 1008
Living voice (do not remember specific model)
and 2 more (do not remember the brand)
As you can see from the list - I was not looking for a specific design/brand but a relatively compact cabinet and about US$10k max (xcept the avantgarde). Then I went and listened to the Harbeth 7es3 and finally the SHL5. None of the above speakers caught my attention as much as the SHL5 did and IMO to my ears this was easily the most musical and best sounding of the lot. Dont get me wrong, I could easily live with some of the above speakers or even my 805's or 110's, they are all great performers - some had better dynamics, some had deeper extension, but I believe that the SHL5 has some thing going for it that makes it exceedingly musical where you just listen to the music and forget about other stuff - in my 15 years or so in this hobby - I cant think of more than a couple of speakers that fall into this category. So there you go, that is the gist of how I ended up with these. I regret not having listened to the ATC 19,Adelphi dealer did not have them set up (i think it was audio88), but since these are available in India, down the road I will definitely audition them - but not as a replacement to the SHl5's though. I guess one speaker that is still on my must have list is the Dynaudio C1, but again it is a different type of speaker with a different voicing/design from the SHL5 that has its own strengths and weakness.
 
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Thanks Sid for that report. May we know how much you ended up paying inclusive of all in INR? I wish there was a Harbeth distributor in India. May be someone's reading this and will be encouraged to start.
Regards.

Asit - the total delivered worked out to INR 2.3 lacs. BTW I have PM'ed you as well.
Cheers,
Sid
 
Congratulations Sidvee!

That's three lovely pair of speakers you've got now. How will you decide which one to listen to?

Perhaps you can use that ole nursery rhyme (with a few changes by me) :)

EENY MINEE MOE
CATCH THE CHICKEN,MONKEY,RABBIT BY THE TOE
IF IT SCREAMS, LET IT GO
EENY MINEE MOE
YOU ARE IT!

MY MOTHER TOLD ME TO PICK THE BEST
AND THAT WOULD BE YOU!
NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE DIRTY
NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE CLEAN
BUT BECAUSE I SAW YOU KISSIN'
THAT NAUGHTY BOY IN THE COLLEGE CANTEEN.


Appropriately coined Ajay124:lol: - but IMO the scale tilts heavily in the favor of SHL5 and consequently puts a brake on my speaker upgrades for the near future at-least.
Cheers,
Sid
 
Sidvee,

Congratulations on your new purchase. I had Harbeths on the list of to be looked for quite some time. Now you them in your place, Would love to hear at your place.

Thanks
pandu
 
Sidvee,

Congratulations on your new purchase. I had Harbeths on the list of to be looked for quite some time. Now you them in your place, Would love to hear at your place.

Thanks
pandu

Sure Pandu - we can plan to hook up sometime.
Cheers
Sid
 
After a year and half and extended auditions of about 7-8 speakers I finally got a pair of SHL5's:yahoo:. My original plan was always to buy a pair of these, but due to non-availibility in India and other logistics/customs reasons/listening room placement etc I did look around, but now I am glad that I stuck to my original intent. They are all what I expected and more and I am now going to pause for while - at-least where - speaker upgrade is concerned, and just enjoy the music.
Cheers
Sid
Congrats Sidvee !
which amp are you planning to run them with ? had you got a chance to the Monitor 40 as well ?
 
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