Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

My three word answer is: Stevie Ray Vaughan (Warning: Nina Hartley Quote)

There's rarely a free lunch.

In this scenario, there is a 1:1 complete and total trade-off between "refinement" and "power."

I will cheerfully grant you that the Harbeth, which I have had several in-depth experiences with, and which I recommended to the publisher of the Steinway Pianos lifestyle magazine I previously wrote for, is more refined than the Aerial, which I characterized as "robust" and "bombproof."

But what is the need we are trying to respond to?

The OP listens to BLUES AND ROCK.

NOT to the chamber music of Olivier Messiaen.

To quote Nina Hartley, "Let's do a little thought experiment."

The test track is Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Tin Pan Alley."

Connect the Harbeths, and turn the volume up to 11.

Then, connect the Aerials, and turn the volume up to 11.

What do you think will happen?

With all due respect, anyone who can IMAGINE (because that is what is going on) that the Harbeth P3ESRs can do justice to SRV does not get out to hear live music.

Horses for courses. And the P3ESRs are not mudders.

I confess I have not heard the KEF. I have great respect for KEF's engineers but they can't break the laws of physics. KEF's 5.25-inch woofer/mid simply cannot move as much air as Aerial's 7.1-inch woofer/mid.

The OP can make up his own mind, but in my experience, when people say they like rock, they do not listen at baroque trio sonata levels.

JM



Edits: 07/28/14

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