Art K Reviews of the Harbeth P3 Esr Speakers on Audio Forms
Early Verdict
With miraculous midrange, deceptively strong bass for the speaker's size, and clear treble, these magical speakers from Harbeth brand you feel as if y'all're listening to the real affair.
Pros
- +
Sounds like live
- +
Midrange accuracy
- +
Ultra-clean bass
Cons
- -
2 finishes only
- -
No bi-wiring
- -
Custom stands required
Aus Hello-Fi mag review
This review and test originally appeared in Australian Hi-Fi magazine, one of What Hi-Fi?'s sister titles from Down Under. Click here for more information about Australian Hi-Fi, including links to buy private digital editions and details on how to subscribe.
Harbeth tricks me every time. Every time the courier delivers a pair of Harbeth loudspeakers for review, I ready to lift the first carton by bending my knees and keeping a straight back, and then when I lift, I end up about launching the carton towards the ceiling, then lite-weight is the speaker inside it.
If y'all are familiar with Harbeth, its illustrious history, and its BBC heritage, you lot'll already know that the speakers are designed to have equally little mass equally possible, considering it is precisely this lack of mass that contributes to their unique sound.
Just if you are more used to speakers that weigh as much as the boilerplate person, the weight of the Compact 7ES-3 XDs will come as a total surprise. I volition discuss the reason for this later on in this review. The question you should exist asking yourself right now is why I am reviewing a pair of Harbeth loudspeakers at all.
The answer is that Harbeth's owner and head designer, Alan Shaw (pictured), has bought himself some new test equipment and its increased resolution has enabled him to pinpoint a few pocket-sized bug that had bothered him in the past, with the happy event that he has been able to make some incremental improvements to every 1 of the speakers in the range, and then they've been re-named 'XD' (eXtended Definition).
Shaw says: "My test and measurement facilities give me a sonic 'microscope' into the functioning of the speaker. Over the years I have invested in a more and more powerful belittling 'microscope', and small deviations from perfection that I could not find years ago are now very obvious.
"So I have flattened-out small 'lumps and bumps' in the frequency response past using custom made resistors, coils and capacitors. So the overall sound is better integrated bass/mid/pinnacle."
These 'XD' serial speakers (P3ESR XD, C7ES-3 XD, Monitor thirty.two XD, Super HL5plus XD and Monitor 40.2 XD) supersede the previous 40th Anniversary series only, as y'all tin see from the model numbers, are essentially the aforementioned speakers in that all the drive units and the cabinets are identical.
Although there are electronic differences between the older models and the XD models, which I volition discuss a flake further on in this review, there has been a massive change in cosmetics because unlike the Anniversary models, which didn't offer a choice of chiffonier finishes, the new XD Series models are available in a broad range of finishes, although rather strangely, not nevertheless finishes are available for every model.
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Equipment
Some of those incremental electronic improvements have come well-nigh by using new binding posts, British-made audio-grade poly capacitors, and an XD version of Harbeth's ultra-pure OFC cable for all internal links.
The new terminals on the rear panel connect directly to the printed circuit board that contains the crossover components, which shortens the signal path and minimises transition losses. As for the crossover network itself, in addition to the new capacitors, other parts on it have been subtly modified, as per Shaw's caption in the introduction.
The 200mm diameter bass/midrange commuter in the 7ES-3 XD is injection-moulded and uses the second generation of a special conception of polypropylene that Harbeth adult in partnership with the University of Sussex, using grant money from the British Government Scientific discipline & Engineering Inquiry Council.
The starting time generation of this material was dubbed 'RADIAL', which was an acronym invented by Shaw to stand for 'Inquiry And Development In Avant-garde Loudspeakers', and in fact the very beginning speaker in which it was used was an early antecedent of the 7ES-3 XD, the C7. RADIAL2 is an development of that original formulation.
Designing and edifice a custom bass/midrange commuter is a very expensive process so it's little wonder that Harbeth uses the exact aforementioned commuter that's used in the 7ES-3 XD in other of its models, such every bit the Super HL5plus and M30.1. Although Harbeth rates this cone as being 200mm in diameter, its Thiele/Small diameter (which – along with other important driver parameters – is what's used past designers to determine the correct book for the chiffonier and the dimensions of the bass reflex port) is but 165mm, which results in an effective cone area (Sd) of 214cm².
Fairly unusually, the cone's dust-cap is made from exactly the aforementioned material as the cone. The driver is so well-made that initially it appears as though the cone and dust-cap are a single moulding, but in fact the dust-cap is attached separately. In fact information technology'due south the very final item to be added, which is one reason the join is nigh-on invisible.
As for the environment break, information technology's made from condom, which is first-class news for Australians, because the extremely high levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation in Commonwealth of australia mean that roll surrounds made from foam ordinarily start to fall apart subsequently almost 5 years, whereas rubber whorl surrounds are near indestructible.
The environs is also unusual, being a 'opposite' roll that dips inwards, rather than bulging outwards. At that place are many advantages to this pattern, simply in the case of the 7ES-3 XD one of them is that the grille textile tin be fitted tightly over the front end baffle without affecting cone movement. The tweeter on the 7ES-3 XD is ferrofluid-cooled with a 25mm dome that's protected by a blackness metal mesh.
Every bit you lot can run across from the photographs of these Harbeth speakers, they're front-ported, using a single conventional tubular port that's 70mm long and 50mm in diameter. There is no radiusing at either end of the port, but the business stop has a 'half-arrowhead' contour, and then it sits a little proud of the baffle, with the external surface running at an angle downwardly to the baffle.
This makes for a very 'not bad' visual appearance.Harbeth speakers don't weigh much because the company prefers to control panel resonances with tuning devices (damping mats, mostly) rather than past increasing the mass of the panels, so whereas most loudspeaker manufacturers utilize 19mm material, all the panels on the 7ES-3 XD except for the front bamboozle are just 12mm thick… and even the baffle of the 7ES-three XD is only 18mm-thick stock.
Every bit for the forest Harbeth uses for its cabinets, it's loftier-density fibre-board that is veneered on both sides. This 'dual-side' veneering technique is a much better than using only a unmarried veneer on the outer wall (the technique used by most speaker manufacturers) as it seals the board better against climatic conditions and ensures dimensional stability.
Unlike well-nigh modern loudspeaker cabinets, which are constructed without any visible seams, joints or fixings, the Harbeth 7ES-three XD cabinets take clearly visible joints and fixings, in particular the 12 screws that concord the rear console to the two side panels and to the top and bottom panels.
The heads of these screws holding the 30.two together are 'tamper-proof' Pozidrive PS2 types, so you'd need a special screwdriver to remove them (something that I strongly recommend you not do!). The screws on the rear are stainless steel, which I think look great. The screws on the baffle are black steel so that when the grille is on y'all can't see them at all.
Equally for those grilles, Harbeth'south grilles are, to the best of my knowledge, unique. Instead of existence made from the usual woods or plastic and attaching to the forepart console using plastic pegs, the frame of the grille on the Compact 7ES-iii XD is made from flat mild steel, which press-fits into a rather deep and very narrow groove that runs around the periphery of the front baffle.
This technique means yous won't go whatsoever unwanted reflections from the grille frame when you are using the speakers with the grille in place (those reflections being one of the reasons many audiophiles remove loudspeaker grilles for their serious listening sessions).
In my previous Harbeth reviews, I accept almost ever mentioned how hard information technology is to remove these grilles, indeed on one occasion I had to point out that a previous reviewer had damaged the chiffonier of my review sample past using a abrupt tool of some kind – probably a flat-bladed screwdriver – to pry the grille off.
Why would you want to remove the grilles? Every bit I said earlier, some audiophiles think speakers sound better without grilles. Others just similar to meet the drivers of their speakers, fifty-fifty if there'southward no deviation in sound quality. And if you lot don't fit into either of these categories, you volition sometimes have to remove the grilles to remove grit so that they maintain their 'black' appearance.
I in one case suggested you lot could vacuum speaker grilles whilst they were on the speakers… though I did point out you'd demand to practise this very carefully! Given the ability of modern vacuum cleaners, I don't call back I'd recommend this now.
Ane matter I had never idea to practice is actually enquire Harbeth how to remove the grilles. And to tell the truth, information technology wouldn't take occurred to me to ask. In fact it was this magazine'due south editor who asked, considering he wanted to photo the speakers without their grilles. It turns out there's a trick to it, and the fox is to get a neodymium magnet – two would probably be better – and apply these to remove the grilles. Easy! (You lot are able to buy neodymium magnets from any Jaycar store.)
If you want to remove the frames regularly, you should purchase 4 or more than neodymium magnets and glue them into the corners of a board that'due south the same size as the front baffle. Then to remove the grille, you'd but put the lath up against the grille, at which betoken the magnets would interact with the steel frame so that when you pull away the board, the grille will come with it.
Do yous remember that I said earlier that unlike finishes were available depending on model? Well the Harbeth Compact 7ES-iii XD is available only in Cherry or Tamo Ash. Each cabinet measures 520 10 272 x 305mm (HWD) merely if depth is critical for you, y'all'll accept to add 12mm to that to business relationship for the length of the binding posts on the rear panel.
The Harbeth-branded binding posts (I believe they're made for Harbeth by German connector specialist WBT) are, incidentally, a truly excellent design, beingness multi-way with a collar included to brand it really easy to get a 'bite' onto blank wire, if this is your preferred method of speaker connexion.
You may demand help connecting them if you lot're colour-bullheaded though, because although the terminals are colour-coded (crimson and black) in that location are no '+' or '–' symbols. This is not an oversight, information technology's because unlike well-nigh terminals, which are fitted on metal or plastic plates, those on the Compact 7ES-iii XD go directly through the wood of the rear panel and locate direct on the 10/o PCB.
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Harbeth history
Harbeth was founded in 1977 past ex-BBC engineer Hugh Dudley Harwood who created the name by joining the start 3 messages of his surname to the last four letters of his wife Elizabeth'south Christian name. He founded the company to commercialise the apply of polypropylene as a material to form speaker cones.
Harwood worked in the British Broadcasting Corporation'south Research Section (Technology Division) for nearly twenty years and was instrumental in the design and development of many loudspeakers for the BBC, including the famous LS3/5 and LS 3/5A broadcast monitors, the industry of which the BBC subsequently licensed to various famous British speaker manufacturers, including KEF, Rogers and Chartwell. Although Harwood always gets the credit for the design, he was aided by BBC designers Michael Whatton and Reg Mills, every bit well as Gordon Monteath, who was Head of the Research Department at the time.
They designed the LS3/5 considering the BBC required an accurate, depression-baloney loudspeaker with good dynamic range in guild that its studio operators could employ them in tightly bars spaces to monitor broadcasts and, at that time, despite a well-documented search that evaluated dozens of contenders from right around the world, information technology could find no commercially-produced small loudspeaker that met its stringent requirements for naturalness and sonic neutrality.
Harwood and his team first came up with the LS3/five, then the LS3/5A, and followed up with the lesser-known LS 3/7 and LS 5/8 models. It was while developing these that Harwood became dissatisfied with the Bextrene copolymer being used to manufacture the cones for these speakers. One issue was that it was hard to maintain consistency from batch to batch, and then they ended up throwing many cones away.
Another outcome was that raw Bextrene tended to have a 'quacking' sound at certain frequencies, and so all the cones, once formed, had to then be damped by applying a coating, which was known as 'doping the cone'. Considering this doping was washed by hand, it was not just labour-intensive, but also meant that every cone was slightly unlike, because the coating could not exist applied consistently.
It was because of all these issues that Harwood was instrumental in pioneering the utilize of polypropylene copolymer cones at the BBC, and while he was there, patented – in his ain name – the apply of polypropylene every bit a cone material (UK Patent 1563511). In order to commercialise his patent, Harwood left the BBC and established Harbeth. His beginning speaker (originally chosen the 'HL Monitor', merely at present retrospectively identified as the 'HL1' – was the first loudspeaker in the world to use a polypropylene cone.
Harwood used polypropylene cones for more a decade until he switched to using the and so-new TPX material, get-go in the HL Monitor Mk4, and later the original Meaty (which was designed past Alan Shaw).
Although TPX was superior to polypropylene as a cone textile, it was difficult to source, and it was considering of this difficulty that Harwood and Shaw applied for and won a British Government Science & Engineering Inquiry Council research grant that allowed them to thoroughly examine alternative material solutions and then invent, patent and trademark their ain plastic formulation: RADIAL [Research and Development In Avant-garde Loudspeakers].
Harbeth is now solely owned by Alan A. Shaw, who is also its sole speaker designer.
He says that all his designs are still based on the BBC's loudspeaker legacy and on progressive improvements, one of which was the evolution of the improved RADIAL2 cone cloth.
Listening
Harbeth is very helpful nigh telling you where you should position its 7ES-3 XD loudspeakers in lodge to extract the all-time functioning from them, saying that they should be 30cm or more from a rear wall and placed on stands that bring the ears level with the tweeters. Information technology also helpfully notes that the tweeters are '440mm up from the chiffonier base' which should help yous when shopping for stands, as Harbeth doesn't make stands for its speakers.
I can only presume this is also part of the BBC heritage, where the speakers were in virtually cases placed on wall-mounted brackets. (Notation that they were non actually attached to the wall or to the brackets, just saturday on the angled brackets themselves.) This may suit y'all, and because of the forepart-firing bass reflex port, it'southward certainly an selection… just you may prefer to utilize stands.
Whatsoever method you use to support these speakers, yous should be aware that you should not 'anchor' the cabinet to the stand by using Blu-tac or a similar substance. Although you'll always detect the sound of Harbeth speakers 'dynamic' (most which more than afterwards on) you'll find their sound is more dynamic and expansive when that lite-weight chiffonier is free to do its thing.
I would imagine that 'all-time' performance would come almost if the chiffonier was suspended in mid-air simply as this is evidently impossible, the next all-time solution is to minimise the areas where the cabinet touches whatever is supporting it. Some experimentation with support devices might exist assisting.
I could not find any information about this topic on Harbeth's website, only since that site too serves every bit the home for the very active Harbeth User Group (which goes past the friendly acronym 'HUG'), I am certain the members of that group would be more happy to tell y'all what works and what doesn't. Plainly, you should as well consult your Harbeth purveyor, who I am certain would be more happy to sell y'all a pair of suitable stands.
Obviously the tweeters need to be at ear level, but I likewise found that I far preferred the sound when both the left and right speakers were toed-in so the audio-paths converged exactly at my listening (head) position, because I institute that – in my room at least – this configuration not simply delivered the best stereo imaging simply besides the all-time high-frequency response.
I call up it was J. Gordon Holt, the founder of Stereophile, who said something forth the lines of 'if you don't become the midrange right, zilch else matters' and never a truer comment was made. Basically, this is because all homo speech lies within a very narrow range, in general the fundamental frequencies are at effectually 100–120Hz for men and around 200–240Hz for women, simply in society to understand spoken language, information technology's essential to be able to distinguish consonants (thou, p, s, t, etc.) and these are institute above 500Hz and more than specifically around 2–4kHz.
This means the human ear and the brain that analyses the sounds detected past that ear are superbly tuned for the vocal range and can hear fifty-fifty the tiniest errors and discrepancies at these frequencies... errors that, quite frankly, it cannot detect at all at lower and higher frequencies.
The two instruments loudspeakers find most difficult to reproduce are the human voice and the piano. The vox is nearly difficult considering the ear can detect even the smallest changes in timbre and pitch, and the piano considering, well, it's a percussive stringed musical instrument, and then it seemed appropriate that I should offset my auditions with recordings that involved both the human vocalisation and the piano.
Alicia Keys seemed a practiced place to showtime, so I fired upwardly VH1 Storytellers, recorded live at New York's Metropolis Studios. It's a keen album with great sound that's non overproduced, though I think I would take balanced the volume of the piano against her voice a little better, as it'southward by and large a piddling too forward in the mix. But what piano audio information technology is, and the Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 XDs delivered it fabulously well. Information technology also delivered her unique voice fabulously well.
You can hear every fissure in her commitment, every strain as she reaches upwards into territory where she shouldn't really take her voice. And so at that place'due south the incredible warmth of her spoken voice! The sounds made past the modest audience are also reproduced with uncanny realism.
From there it was on to ane of my favourite albums, Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories past Regina Spektor. Difficult to pick a favourite track on this one. I'm in total adoration of the pianism on Lacrimosa in particular, just she'south incredible throughout. Again the piano audio is as extraordinary every bit Spektor's vocalism: it'southward no wonder she's an official Steinway artist. Watch her alive and y'all'll see she has cute 'hands' too, equally pianists say.
Because Spektor might exist a footling as well out there for some readers, I'd instead suggest that you might similar Sara Bareilles' incredible album The Blessed Unrest. Track 4, You Can Have Manhattan, is one of my all-fourth dimension favourite tracks of anyone. Don't know why exactly, just it just has an eternal temper to it despite the backing she included.
It would have been ameliorate with just her and her piano. If you lot're familiar with the introduction to Cassiopia you may feel the 7ES-three XD is a footling lite-on in the very highest frequencies (and they're very, very high frequencies indeed!) but if yous're not, you'll hear goose egg amiss.
My investigations into voice and piano concluded, I decided to continue listening to the man voice, simply switch out the piano for a violincello, because all musicians agree that the cello's sound is very shut to that of the human voice. And what ameliorate music to listen to than Chansons Madécasses (Madagascan Songs) written by Maurice Ravel to words from the poesy collection of the same proper name by Évariste de Parny.
Several versions of this work are available, but I rather similar the ane recorded by Frederica von Stade (mezzo-soprano), Doriot Anthony Dwyer (flute), Jules Eskind (cello), and Martin Katz (piano) past CBS in its famous 30th Street Studio, where Glenn Gould made most of his recordings. I purchased information technology shortly after its 1981 release as an LP, which was lucky, because it was not released on CD until 2016 and and then only as a part of an 18-CD fix (Frederica von Stade: The Complete Columbia Recital Albums).
However, in the spirit of reviewing hi-fi components with recordings my readers can really observe, I instead listened to a stunningly proficient recording of the aforementioned piece of work by flautist Andrea Oliva and her Hemisphaeria Trio, which comprises Damiana Mizzi (soprano), Roberto Mansueto (cello) and Marcos Madrigal (pianoforte).
Titled Songs of Nature and Farewell, this CD includes not but Chansons Madécasses merely as well other of Ravel's works, the first recording of pieces past the British composer James Francis Brown and a offset recording of Chant d'flirtation de la Matriarch à la Licorne by the late Romanaian composer Liana Alexandra.
Listening to them play Chansons Madécasses (the three songs open the CD) had me immediately riveted to my seat. For starters, recorded sound (courtesy Da Vinci Classics) is unbelievably good. The acoustic setting is perfect, and the background so silent you could hear a business firm fly land. Merely it'southward the aural tapestry Ravel weaves with the instruments and vocalisation that riveted my to my seat. It's absolutely magical.
Mizzi's voice in not in the same league equally Frederica von Stade'due south (and she's a soprano, rather than a mezzo), merely her tone, timbre and pitching are outstanding. Listening to her vocalism equally it melds with Oliva's flute on Il Est Doux sent shivers downwards my spine and so, when Madrigal'due south thin piano notes start to sound... Wow! It sounds similar a cliché, only I became so involved in the music and the operation that I did totally forget that I was listening to loudspeakers, it was as if I were in some magical alternating world – which was, of course, exactly what Ravel intended.
As I promise you've guessed from the in a higher place, the Harbeth Compact 7ES-three XD'southward delivery of the music was perfection itself. I could actually ask for no more. Indeed if I were to ask for more, it would be of the musicians, considering I'd honey to have a recording of this work where the singer was a baritone, because I think this vocal range works better against the sound of the cello. (I am rather hoping that Steven Isserlis might take this thought on.)
I'd never heard James Francis Dark-brown'south La Libellule, but the lowest-octave pianoforte notes information technology contains demonstrated to me perfectly that the deep bass delivery of the 7ES-3 XD is exceptionally realistic, something that's rare to discover in such a relatively small loudspeaker. If you listen to this too, pay attention to the stabbed, staccato pianoforte notes and how the Harbeths deliver the starts and finishes with such precision, and with admittedly no distortion whatsoever. Super-impressive.
For further evaluation of the 7ES-three XD's midrange delivery I decided to use the vocals from Hot Bit's fabled (if rather dated) album Made in the Nighttime, which contains the band's Grammy-winning track Ready For The Flooring. Taylor and Goddard'due south vocals whether sung, or spoken, and either solo or duo, were reproduced as accurately every bit I take ever heard them reproduced, and this is an amazingly cleanly-recorded album.
The high-frequency extension was excellent, though over again possibly very slightly recessed in the very highest octave, but since this resulted in a silky-polish, non-fatiguing delivery, it was all good.
On We're Looking for a Whole Lot of Beloved, from the aforementioned album, I admired not only the way the Harbeths delivered the ultra-depression synth bass line, merely also the claps, the tambourine shakers and, not least, the electric organ. Many speakers accept difficulty delivering the farthermost syncopation on this track, equally well equally the anti-phase sounds, but the 7ES-three XDs delivered everything flawlessly.
I evaluated the power of the Harbeth 7ES-3 XDs to create a stereo epitome with the classic Never Mind the Bullocks, Here'southward the Sex activity Pistols. I love this whole anthology, but my admiration is mostly for the way Chris Thomas captured the sound of Paul Cooke'southward drum kit.
His kit sounds impressive on all the tracks, simply peradventure is most impressive on Pretty Vacant and the following track, New York. You're left in absolutely no doubtfulness that you lot're listening to a full kit, and the drum and cymbal lay-out is made crystal-clear by the Harbeths, which formed a totally coherent whole-stage prototype. At the same time they also delivered the screaming tone of Steve Jones's pb guitar and Johnny Rotten'south inimitable vocals, right down to the raspberry that concludes the album'southward closer (EMI).
Nearly half a century later, this album'southward most controversial rails, God Relieve The Queen (banned at the time past almost every radio station in the UK) now seems almost prophetic.
Final verdict
It's very appropriate that the Harbeth Meaty 7ES-three XD speakers are distributed in Australia past Audio Magic, because these are magic-sounding speakers indeed! The midrange is truly miraculous, the level of bass from such a pocket-sized cabinet/driver combo is magical, and the way the speakers reveal the highest treble sounds without etching it is besides clever.
But by far the biggest play tricks these speakers pull off is making yous call up you're listening to the real thing. Amazing!
Detailed lab examination results
Graph 1 shows the in-room frequency response of the Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 XD loudspeakers when measured using a pinkish noise examination stimulus. Information technology's the averaged result of nine individual measurements, taken in a filigree pattern with the tweeter at the centre of the filigree. You can see that information technology's extraordinarily flat – monitor-standard flat in fact – not simply beyond the midrange, but also in the upper bass and the lower and upper treble regions.
Across the area between 2kHz and 8kHz, the response is so linear that it essentially tracks the graphing filigree, so it's essentially ±0.1dB. Between 140Hz and 2kHz, the frequency response is ameliorate than ±0.6dB! Rarely practise I see such a linear response in any loudspeaker that does non accept the do good of an inbuilt amplifier that uses digital signal processing to compensate for loudspeaker irregularities.
If we accept the 85dBSPL graphing line equally the reference axis, you tin can see that the response is substantially only slightly above this axis between 350Hz and 2kHz, and at its greatest deviation, at effectually ane.1kHz, it's only about 1.2dB to a higher place it.
And if nosotros look at the region where almost all musical activity takes place (and certainly all singing), the Harbeth 7ES-3 XD's response is 100Hz to 10kHz ±1.25dB. That's an outstandingly good result, as yous don't need me to tell yous.
Equally you'd look, given the size of the single bass/midrange driver and the size of the chiffonier, the depression frequencies curl off beneath 100Hz, but they do and then only gradually and exercise so very smoothly. You tin see where the output of the port kicks in to reinforce and extend the bass, so we really don't see a steep curlicue-off until 45Hz.
The in-room response of Graph one shows the response that will be delivered in a room as perceived by the homo ear, but Graph 2 shows the high-frequency response in loftier particular, and with extended high-frequency capture. This is the frequency response the Harbeth Meaty 7SE-3 XD would deliver in an anechoic bedchamber.
You can see that despite the increased resolution, the response is still spectacularly flat out to 4kHz, with no perturbations or pregnant deviations from reference. To a higher place 4kHz, the response is quite unlike depending on whether y'all decide to leave the grille in place (cherry-red trace) or remove it (black trace).
With the grille in place the response is smoother out to 8.5kHz than with the grille off, merely in a higher place eight.5kHz it rolls off a fiddling more quickly than without the grille and is somewhat lower in level overall out to 16kHz, where the output becomes identical, no matter whether the grille is on or off. Personally, I'd prefer the increased linearity below viii.5kHz, so I would recommend leaving the grilles on.
You tin can run across that the tweeter is 6dB down at 20kHz referenced to the midrange driver's level at 600Hz. To a higher place 20kHz the tweeter exhibits a adequately stiff resonant meridian at 27kHz of the blazon I'd expect to see in a difficult-dome tweeter. The smaller resonant peak at 32kHz could be due to the perforated metal cover protecting the tweeter, or related to the dome in some fashion. Either manner, both these peaks are comfortably above the range of man hearing.
Newport Test Labs measures depression-frequency extension using a near-field test method, the result of which is shown in Graph iii. You can run across from the output of the bass/midrange driver (blackness trace) that the cabinet is tuned for 35Hz, simply that the port delivers its maximum output at just a niggling below this frequency.
This would suggest to me that designer Alan A. Shaw is doing his best to extract maximum bass output from it. The port'south output is very well-behaved: at that place'south a nice smoothen roll-off either side of its meridian output and in that location is no leakage of college frequencies from it at all. Very nice!
The 'wobbles' in the impedance trace shown in Graph 4 as measured by Newport Test Labs of the Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 XD between around 120Hz and 300Hz are most likely due to cabinet resonances, merely are quite minor. The impedance itself remains completely to a higher place 6Ω except for a very minor region between 2.4kHz and iii.3kHz where it drops to 5.6Ω.
This relatively loftier impedance, combined with the benign phase response (blue trace) means this Harbeth design will be a very piece of cake load for whatever amplifier. It also means the design is nominally a 6Ω one, exactly as claimed by Harbeth.
However, the amplifier you use should have a rather college output than you lot might look, considering in delivering such a linear response, information technology appears that Shaw has sacrificed a little efficiency, with Newport Test Labs reporting that using its standard stringent exam methodology, the Harbeth Compact 7ES-iii XD delivered an output of 86dBSPL at one metre for a 2.83Veq input level.
This result exactly reflects Harbeth'southward specification for this parameter. But when I say 'higher output' I mean simply that yous'll extract all-time functioning if your amplifier is rated at more than 60-watts per channel.
Achieving an overall frequency response of 45Hz to 23kHz ±three.7dB, forth with a very respectable sensitivity of 86dBSPL and a very easy-to-drive impedance is no hateful feat for a speaker designer, and I tin only say that Shaw has washed an outstandingly skilful chore.
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Source: https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/harbeth-compact-7es-3-xd
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