[chesebert]

ah..the end of the journey. It's been long (started back in 99 with my 1st pair of SR80), fun, and educational.

Some get to the end by getting the most expensive headphone rig. Not me

I am done with headphone by getting the Harbeth Monitor 30. I will probably keep the headphone and amp I have, but I am pretty sure I won't spend anymore money on another amp or cans.

I have heard many great headphone setups during the past several yrs. My fav still goes to B52 with balanced R10 (its pretty magical). BUT that setup doesn't hold a candle against M30 driven by Ayre sourced from Saturn. I have for the first time in my audio journey truly enjoyed Mahler in all its glory much like when I heard it at the concert. The feeling of being right there at the concert hall, the layers upon layers of soundstage/imaging, the thunderous roar of the finale is something no headphone setup can ever reproduce; neither can headphone ever produce the intimacy of the small jazz club, the illusion of a person standing in the room and singing, nor the feeling of 'inviting' the violin virtuoso into your room for a performance.

So with great sadness (no headphone can ever make me happy now) and great joy, I came to the end of my journey. I am sure you all will reach your end of the journey in time, so enjoy the process

P.S. for reference, I did find BW 802D produced Mahler with a greater force; subbass was clearly felt and 802D portrait the venue with convincing scale, although Harbeth went down to 30hz with no problem (-7db), but sadly 25hz are at least 15db down and can't be felt. Problem with the 802D is the imaging/layering/soundstage. It's not as good as the M30. The instrument on 802D doesn't layer like M30, and the timber of the instrument doesn't sound as real as on the M30.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Your high praise got me curious, so I went to Harbeth's web site. They seem quite good. Oh, the glory of British speakers! The Japanese all but finished off their electronics, but usually were wanting in the speaker department. There have been some really good Jap speakers, but over the years British speakers just continue to be world class. I have owned two pairs myself, the Celestion Ditton 25's and the B&W Matrix 805's. I enjoyed both.

Laz

 

[003]

Haha speaker-fi is even worse. Think the cost of your dream headphone setup and multiply that by, oh.... 46.3 or so.

 

[circularlogic]

congratulations

I've recently come to a similar revelation.

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by circularlogic /img/forum/go_quote.gif congratulations I've recently come to a similar revelation.

I see you have Totem

they are nice but if you room is not too big or you are not craving for that last 20-25hz its hard to beat a Harbeth monitor.

I have listened to many monitors, mostly well-known brands. The most expensive being the SF guarneri memento homage. I have came to the conclusion that nothing really beat the Harbeth M30 for medium-sized room; any 'upgrade' would just be a side step of a different flavor. I figured if I can stay within a medium-sized listening room, I may never need to upgrade my spkrs.

cough...I have thought of eventually getting a pair of SF Amati as the ultimate end all spkr for the living room just cuz they look so darn lovely and my wife loves how they look as a piece of furniture (she doesn't care about the sound

in reality they sound stunning, although not necessary better than the M30 from 50hz and up

 

[circularlogic]

Actually, I've just upgraded. I recently placed my order for Dynaudio C1's and a Simaudio i-7.

I think I actually no longer own any of the gear in my profile as I write this post, I will correct that

.

 

[courierdriver]

I echo my congrats. There's a reason why Harbeth speakers have made it into Stereophile's "Recommended Components" list for so many years. I did have a chance to listen to an older model (can't remember which one though) about 12 years ago; and it DID sound fabulous with classical music. However, for my tastes in music lean more towards rock, and jazz; so I found the Harbeth's a bit laid back for what I like to pump through them. Which is why I also ended up getting Totem's. Good luck in avoiding the upgrade bug with speaker-based audio. It's just as infectious as headphones (you'll soon be looking to upgrade your amp, cables, preamp, house, etc.); and I doubt that anyone who gets into hifi of any sort, is ever REALLY done. Most of us audiophiles are a picky bunch, and we're always looking for new ways to extract that extra increment of performance from our gear.

With that said...when are you selling your HF-1 and K-701??? LOL! I'd be interested in either, but the HF-1 is my preference.

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by circularlogic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, I've just upgraded. I recently placed my order for Dynaudio C1's and a Simaudio i-7. I think I actually no longer own any of the gear in my profile as I write this post, I will correct that .

C1/C2 are one of those spks I wasn't able to listen. Not that I never had the chance, on the contrary, I had plenty of chance to listen to them but my wife just can't stand their looks; she insists to go with me to all my listening sessions even though she is usually asleep 20min into the audition ...lol...I guess she just doesn't trust my 'taste' in audio furniture...

I did listen to special 25 and came away underwhelmed (as it doesn't sound any better than Harbeth, perhaps not as good...going from memory here) wrt to Harbeth's offerings. (my wife deemed these acceptable in their looks

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif This time I am really done with headphone

Congratulations!
Many members have said so before, and returned in a couple of weeks/months...