The Harbeth Compact 7ES-3. I’ve not previously spent any time with the Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 so it seemed like a natural speaker to review from the line with a fresh perspective. The C7 is a two-way, ported design with a 45Hz~20KHz (+/-3dB) rated frequency response, a six-Ohm impedance, and an 86dB efficiency.
Is the Harbeth Compact 7 a panel or panel speaker?
A familiar acoustic guitar record instantly confirms this. The image presented by the Harbeths doesn’t extend all the way to the side walls as it does with a panel speaker, but with good recordings it extends well beyond the speaker boundaries. Where version 2 of the Compact 7 had a definite wooly character, the current speaker does not.
How many watts do you need to drive the Harbeth Compact 7?
Though the spec sheets suggest slightly low sensitivity at 86db/1 watt, we had no problem driving these with amplifiers possessing 30 watts per channel and up. Alan Shaw, Harbeth’s director and designer of the Compact 7 advised putting the speakers on 19 – inch stands in place of the 24 – inch stands at my disposal. This proved spot on.
Are Harbeth speakers any good?
These speakers are voiced by Harbeth owner, and chief designer Alan Shaw. It has been my experience that Harbeth designs prove to be exceedingly transparent, and translate any upstream change to the signal path immediately to one’s ears. Pipe, and slippers Harbeth is not: unless you pair them with a suitably warm amp.
What is the difference between the Harbeth 7es-3 XD and 7radial2?
RADIAL2 is an evolution of that original formulation. Designing and building a custom bass/midrange driver is a very expensive process so it’s little wonder that Harbeth uses the exact same driver that’s used in the 7ES-3 XD in other of its models, such as the Super HL5plus and M30.1.
What is the difference between Harbeth HL monitor and HL Compact 7?
In contrary to the HL Monitor, the first HL Compact 7 speaker featured a mid-bass driver with a diaphragm made of a special blend of injection moulded polypropylene, patented by Harbeth and referred to as RADIAL. The first model was produced until 1999, when it was replaced by HL Compact ES-2.
