Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Harbeth HL Compact 7ES Speakers by Bob Neill

I have finally gotten a chance to hear the Harbeth Compact 7's in my system. For many folks, at around $2000 a pair, these (and the Monitor 30's at just under $3000) are smack in the middle of the right range. I have yet to hear the 30's.

My system includes a Naim CDX/XPS, Blue Circle BC 3 and AG 8000's - all sitting on Blue Circle BCC 1 isolation cones. Interconnects are Nordost SPM, speaker cable (for a little while longer) is bi-wired Straightwire Virtuoso, and power cables are Electraglides. I have the Compact 7's on 16-inch Sound Anchors with Blu Tack between the speakers and the stands. My room is 5000 cubic feet with 11-foot ceilings at the speaker end tapering to around 8 feet at the other. My friend in North Ontario tells me these speakers will perform better in a smaller room, as they did for him. That may be, but I heard nothing that suggested the large room was working against them. Their bass, for example, was deep, authoritative, and better detailed than I've ever heard from a 21 x 11 x 11 inch speaker. The 7's appear tiny alongside my 30 x 17 x 15 inch M40's, but they do not sound tiny at all!

Okay. To me, the Compact 7's sound robust, energetic, intense, dynamic, fast, clear, percussive, and naturally warm. They have a truly great lower midrange and bass: forceful, articulate, and spatially impressive. The midrange, thanks apparently to the patented Radial driver (also used in the 40's and HP Super 5's), is clear, immediate, true blue, and again articulate. The highs are clean, clear, and perhaps a tad dry. Overall, the 7's strike me as exceptionally honest and straight up - in a compelling and not an analytic way. Their natural warmth takes care of that. They make a very strong argument that a euphonious approach to music reproduction is not necessarily the best and certainly not the only route to musical pleasure, a strong enough argument to give Spendor SP ½ owners, whose speakers are more overtly appealing and solicitous, serious second thoughts. Quite frankly, the Harbeth 7s are more interesting than the Spendors. I suspect that musicians will prefer them. To turn a quote from a friend and former Spendor BC 1 owner and fan upside down, the Compact 7's are not speakers that "invite you to just fall into the music." They ask you to listen attentively and reward you if you do. They have an admirably earnest quality about them that I expect would never cloy.

One interesting test of speakers I always have to carry out is the low-volume test. I am not interested in speakers that can't convince and satisfy late at night when Junior (5) is trying (not) to sleep. I am happy to report that the 7's are superb at low levels. Astonishingly, I noticed NO decrease in bass clarity or authority. (Where the hell did Fletcher-Munson go?) And a new level of delicacy entered the picture. Karrin Allyson's latest ("Ballads - Remembering John Coltrane") became utterly delicious as I cut the volume gradually back. Harbeths are famous for doing the human voice, which is what, in fact, their professional monitors are designed to do.

The Spendor/Harbeth comparison is fascinating, as I expected it to be. The Spendor SP ½'s, as I remember them from a year and a half ago on similar Blue Circle electronics, are lyrical, comfortable, and pleasing. They win friends easily and instantly became my favorites when I heard them. They can also seem a little polite (they've been called "buttoned up" and "sedate" though I didn't really hear that - yes I know we're cutting this pretty fine), which is presumably a byproduct of their sense of ease. The Harbeth Compact 7's, in contrast, are bracing, articulate, and interesting. Another friend calls them sophisticated, and I can hear that too. Where the Spendors generalize a bit, the Harbeths make a specific case for every piece of music that passes through them. The Harbeths kills the Spendors in the lower mids and bass. (Bass foundation was the only obvious shortcoming of the Spendors when I heard them.) The midranges of both speakers are flat and tonally accurate to my ears. The Spendor mids seem a bit smoother; the Harbeths' are also smooth but seem truer and more knowing. Polypropylene vs. Radial? Very likely. Allan Shaw, Harbeth president & designer, tells us that polypropylene "eats detail," leaving behind a pleasant but slightly smeared presentation. Music coming from polypropylene cones can seem to lack character. Northern Ontario calls this charming little bit of euphony 'polypropylene bounce." Shaw designed a new material that he calls Radial that lets more detail through. To my ears, nothing pleasurable is lost with the move to Radial and a good deal is gained. Eventually, it will find its way into the entire Harbeth line I would guess.

The Spendor's highs also sound smoother but very likely this is because they are rolled off and thus feel a little prettier than the Harbeths. According to REG, the Harbeths go both higher and lower than the Spendors. Clearly a design decision has been made: that we can stand and may even come to prefer more of 'the truth.' I wish I could be more eloquent about how moving and engaging (as opposed to alluring) this approach can be: to hear something this close to the real thing, whether it's Allyson's voice or the sax behind her.

Note: As I reported in my Spendor review some time ago and in my Monitor 40 review a month ago, I'm sure Blue Circle hybrid electronics have a good deal to do with what I'm hearing. Harbeths are supposed to be fairly hospitable to a wide variety of electronic gear, but comparing my notes with others' - those using all solid state gear in particular, I'm convinced that the choice of amps can make a significant difference. Be kind to your speakers!

I have not written this with the intention of reaching a personal conclusion about the Compact 7's but rather to provide as clear a sense of what they seem to be up to as I can. I can imagine preferring either the SP ½'s or Compact 7's, depending on my mood. I know from talking with others that both speakers are loved by their respective owners, for all of the right reasons. Even REG, when I put it to him a year or so ago, said he did not feel one was clearly better than the other, and he has owned and enjoyed both. There is no gainsaying the allure of the Spendors and I do not; but, now that I've heard the Harbeths, it's clear to me that their charm comes at a price. What you have to decide is whether you're willing to pay for it with the degree of 'truth' you lose. What, in fact, do you want? If I ever come to the point of building a second, smaller system, I may have to cross this bridge. I could imagine throwing some French speakers into the mix - Reynauds and Triangles, say. But my guess is that's another aesthetic altogether and in my case, life is too short to worry about what's across the channel.

As I've said earlier, the Harbeth Monitor 40's trump both of these speakers. They get it all, which, at three times the price, they should. If you can afford Monitor 40's - and if you've the space and at least 100-150 solid watts - they are the obvious choice. If you've not got the green, the space, or the power, and you like the wonderfully natural BBC monitor sound, I urge you to hear both the Compact 7's and Spendor SP ½'s. At the very least, you'll learn something about yourself.

REVIEW: Harbeth HL Compact 7ES Speakers Review by Bob Neill at Audio Asylum