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In Reply to: RE: Harbeth 30.1 vs Ref 3a De Capo be posted by pc123v on April 12, 2015 at 13:31:13
Judging by the responses you have received below I think it is incumbent that you listen first to both. Both are excellent speakers and do vocals extremely well and I totally agree with Morriscab's comments concerning the BE tweeter, it IS NOT bright, steely or edgy in any manner AND does open up the soundstage. Whether it might sound that way to someone else in another matter, only you can determine your threshold to what you might consider what it does or doesn't do right. I think it does a lot right and fell in love with it on first listen, YMMV.
Recently a friend brought over his Ref 3a L'Integrals to my place so we could compare the differences. What was most apparent, aside from an unmistakable house sound were two things, the DeCapos with the BE had a bigger soundstage and more extended top, and the L'Integrals with the larger cabinet offered greater weight to the overall sound which would be expected from a floorstander. The one I personally like and would like to compare directly to the DeCapo BE is the Episode with the Murata supertweeter. That one had one of the best top ends I've ever heard from a dome design, airy and so very natural. This was the first speaker I ever heard in the lineup after reading so many things about them over the years.
Follow Ups:
The L'integrales have great bass and weight for a speaker their size. Until I upgraded the MMCs to a Be tweeter I used to go back and forth between the two speakers. In the end, the MMCs were a bit more transparent and with the excellent Mirage BPS210 (bipolar beast) i had plenty of weight, so I chose the MMCs for the Be surgery.
I did not use the Capacitors recommended by Ref 3a though. I have some other very good ones that I used...probably doesn't make a huge difference but with only one cap in the circuit it surely does something.
I did upgrade my tweeters in the L'integrales to SEAS excel tweeters and that improved resolution and extended the top end slightly. I have some other good soft domes I might eventually play with though.
That said, my main speakers now are the totally awesome Odeon La Boheme full horn speakers (2 way with backloaded horn bass and wooden horn tweeter). The Ref 3as are great for smallish speakers but cannot compete with the Odeons...just a different weight class altogether.
My Grand Veenas have the Murata and the top end is superb. Very delicate and detailed, but never harsh or bright.
Oz
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
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