The best laid plans...

[Bodfish]

Some of you might recall the recent sale of my Spendor A6 speakers - very sad to see these great speakers go but the room was just too small to accomodate them properly.

Have just ordered a pair of Harbeth P3ESR's in maple to replace them

And as you can see from my system, I got a bit carried away on eBay and the Rega Apollo 35th Anniversary CDP has gone too. Transport now sorted and on the hunt for a DAC...

 

[chebby]

Jealous of you with those Harbeth P3ESR's.

Where did you order them from?

 

[Bodfish]

Hey Chebby

I ordered them from HiFi Corner in the end. All I've got to do now is get the DAC sorted - possibly the Naim or I saw a ten year old Mark Levinson 360 DAC on eBay the other day...same price as the Naim now...

Oh, and get a pair of Something Solid XF stands made for the Harbeths. And a decent chair to sit in. I think that's it.

For now. 🙂

 

[chebby]

Thanks Bodfish. I have just been looking at those 'Something Solid XF' speaker stands.

They look great to me (a bit 'Bauhaus') and I like the idea of them being made of solid steel bar and having no top-plate or hollow tubing. Nice, simple concept. Rigid, light and no cavities or large areas of flat metal to resonate and made to size. Not hideously expensive either. (About £205 for my speakers.)

Thanks for the reference.

 

[Bodfish]

No worries. My local dealer distributes Something Solid and swears by the XF's, even under speakers which traditionally find themselves on top of high mass designs (like Proac, PMC and even Audio Note). I agree, the concept is simple but when you think about it, the benefits are obvious.

Their equipment racks are also an interesting concept too...if you can handle pieces of tensioned string holding up your hifi!

 

[chebby]

Hey Bodfish, have you got those P3ESR's yet?
(I cannot afford them so I only get to hear about this sort of gear vicariously.)

 

[Anonymous]

Damn nice speakers. Low mass speakers certainly make sense and I swear I can hear some mud in the midrange of my SA1s caused by the stands. I don't know why but I'm convinced it's the stands.

How do the P3s sound compared to the A6s?

EDIT I should clarify my statement by showing the stands I use. Sand filled Apollo A4/6:

 

[Bodfish]

Afternoon gents!

My pair are still being built so I've not had a chance to hear them at home yet! The A6's left about two weeks ago so I won't be doing able to directly compare them. As you can see, the front end will be completely different too!

I'll add a new thread once the speakers, stands and Naim DAC have arrived and let you know my thoughts 🙂

 

[Bodfish]

Naim DAC ordered today...but Naim won't be ready to ship the next batch till mid March....I can feel some wall climbing coming on!!

 

[cse]

Did you actually audition the Harbeth's. I'm interested in these as well and wondered how they compared with SA1's, but unfortunately can't find any Harbethy dealers near to me in Norwich.

 

[Bodfish]

I have to confess, I was a very naughty boy and ordered them blind. I have had experience of the brand before (and with DNM amplifcation) though it was one of their bigger Monitor 30 designs. I especially like Harbeths approach of 'our speakers will work with any competently designed amplifier (sic)'.

Closest dealer I can see to you is Saffron Walden which I guess is about a three hour round trip?

Oh, and then I was naughty again and did the same thing with the Naim DAC

 

[chebby]

Got 'em yet Bodfish?

 

[batonwielder]

Bodfish:
I have to confess, I was a very naughty boy and ordered them blind. I have had experience of the brand before (and with DNM amplifcation) though it was one of their bigger Monitor 30 designs. I especially like Harbeths approach of 'our speakers will work with any competently designed amplifier (sic)'.

You are gonna love them. Of course, I'm biased because I own the Compact 7es3's, but they are really special speakers, especially in their latest iteration.

It's true that the Harbeth speakers work well with almost any amplifier, but I've found them to sound best with Mosfet based amplifiers among solid state. Their incredible transparency appreciates a bit of attention upstream and remain sensitive to the changes.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Bodfish]

Evening Chebby

They arrived today! First impressions are very positive - the veneer and finish is superb (I wend for Maple) and they feel really chunky and well put together. The Something Solid XF stands should be ready this weekend so I'll try and get some pictures up then (though I'm also supposed to be boarding the loft then too!).

Batonwielder - thanks for your thoughts; the DNM's are solid state 100w per channel - they used to make my Spendor A6's really zip along wonderfully so I'm sure they'll be a good match with the P3ESR's.

All I need now is for Naim to get a wriggle on and build my DAC

 

[Anonymous]

igglebert:Damn nice speakers. Low mass speakers certainly make sense and I swear I can hear some mud in the midrange of my SA1s caused by the stands. I don't know why but I'm convinced it's the stands.

How do the P3s sound compared to the A6s?

EDIT I should clarify my statement by showing the stands I use. Sand filled Apollo A4/6:

Your Spendor SA1's will sound best with their dedicated stands. When I first heard these speakers at WHF, they were on these - they simply looked and sounded sensational.

 

[chebby]

Bodfish:Evening Chebby

They arrived today! First impressions are very positive - the veneer and finish is superb (I wend for Maple) and they feel really chunky and well put together. The Something Solid XF stands should be ready this weekend so I'll try and get some pictures up then (though I'm also supposed to be boarding the loft then too!).

Excellent.

Keep us posted when you have it all connected up and have got them running.