Download - Harbeth

| Issue 35 | November 2012
www.harbeth.co.uk
1977 - 2012
Celebrating our
35th Anniversary
Upon reflection... mirror-finish
cabinets: M30.1 in Arctic White
(above); Jet Black SHL5 (below);
and Alan holding a Gun Grey
P3ESR (right).
Gun Grey Arctic White Jet Black
Spilling the beans in Germany
THE editor of Germany’s high-end
audio magazine hi-fi & records has
been talking about the award to
Harbeth for its new M30.1 monitor
(as reported in Newsletter 34).
“ The coveted Editors Choice has
been celebrated just five times in
15 years”, explains Wilfried Kress,
“so, the number of awarded items
is remarkably low. The M30.1
rightly belongs amongst this
coveted group. The current Editors
Choice was restricted to just three
High gloss, high class...
New, stylish lacquer finishes launched
THE Harbeth 35th birthday
present to its customers is an
exciting new range of high-gloss
lacquer finishes which has just
been launched.
Chic black, glistening white,
and sophisticated silver finishes
will become available across the
Harbeth range.
Production is starting and
samples are on their way to
Harbeth distributors globally.
products: one source, one amp
and one loudspeaker. So, the
new Harbeth monitor, the M30.1 is
the only speaker to win this award!
Herr Krass is pictured with
Alan Shaw in Munich
earlier this year when
editor-met-designer
at the launch of the
M30.1, a Harbeth 35th
anniversary model
which is now winning
many global awards.
Editor’s Choice
»Best of 15 Years«
kategorie: Lautsprecher
Harbeth
Monitor 30 /30.1
Magstadt, 25. September 2012 Wilfried Kress, hifi & records
“Modern living requires modern finishes
and here they are!”, explains Harbeth’s
production manager, Andy Sinden.
“Commercial installations will also benefit
greatly from these high-gloss lacquer
finishes which also bring improved sonics.”
Some say that a lacquered loudspeaker
can improve HF dispersion, midrange
resolution, and LF dynamics among
quoted audio improvements.
Underneath these stunning finishes
is the traditional Harbeth hand-made
cabinet with all the famous sonic quality
of a Harbeth – but with added pizzazz.
“Contemporary rooms, like those
photographed below, demand a
contemporary look and feel, as any
interior designer will tell you”, says
Harbeth’s marketing man Trevor Butler.
The new range of Harbeth finishes will fill
the gap and meet the needs of those who
require a loudspeaker of the quality only
Harbeth’s unique RADIAL design can
bring, but in fresh looking cabinets.
Page 1

GLOBAL REVIEW round-up
Recent glowing praise for Harbeth from international magazines
USA - M30.1
Sam Tellig writes in the internationally
respected Stereophile magazine
(Nov 2012) how he had been eagerly
awaiting a pair of Monitor 30.1s since
hearing that they were being launched
at the Munich show in May. He admits
to preferring stand-mounted speakers,
pointing out how big floor-standers
“spoil resolution, bloat bass and impair
imaging”, as well as making cabinet
resonances more difficult and expensive
to control.
His first impressions of the M30.1?
He found a midrange which is “nothing
short of ravishing” and summed up the
Harbeth sound in two words... tonality
and resolution.
In his column (below), the audio
expert tells his readers how Harbeth
delivers this tonality and resolution
without taking the listener “over the
edge” into exhaustion and fatigue,
admitting this is an “extremely delicate
balance”, but one which “no one does
better than Harbeth”.
JAPAN - P3ESR
We are very flattered that the
virtuosos Russian pianist Irina
Mejoueva chose
to audition a pair
of Harbeth P3ESR
mini monitors
and wrote-up
her experience
in Japan’s Stereo
Sound magazine’s
autumn issue.
She remarked on the very attractive
finish from the real wood veneer and “a
great sound, too”. She found the overall
balance “very good” as she listened
to recordings on the shoe-box sized
monitors.
JAPAN - C7ES3
Three pages of Japan’s Stereo
magazine (Sept 2012 issue, just
arrived) are devoted to an in-depth
feature on the Harbeth history
and pedigree. Makoto Sasamoto
Supporting local girl’s fight to beat homelessness
HARBETH was pleased to support a
local athlete in the top sports brand
Nike’s Run To The Beat charity run.
On 28th October, Lorna put on
her running shoes and lined up to
run her socks off in London’s music
half marathon raising money for
the charity Depaul UK. “They offer
homeless and disadvantaged young
people aged 16-25 the opportunity
to fulfil their potential and move
“...no one does
it better than
Harbeth”
forward towards an independent
and positive future”, she explains.
“And this is such a worthy cause and
one I was pleased to support.”
Lorna completed her 21km and
thanked Harbeth Audio for their
generous donation. “It helped me
towards making a difference for
those in need and getting young
people off the streets this winter.”
http://www.depauluk.org/
of Harbeth Japan
says, “We Japanese
strongly believe
that the character
of a loudspeaker
is a reflection of its
country’s cultural
and musical heritage.
There is nothing more
British than a Harbeth which perfectly
symbolises the Japanese’s deep respect
for British values.”
“The whole Harbeth philosophy
reflects the Best of British and this article
again emphasises that,” he explaines..
“...midrange
nothing short of
ravishing”
Page 2

Hitting the Rocky Mountain high notes
Harbeth’s Monitor 30.1
loudspeakers produced one of
the most talked about sounds
of the recent Rocky Mountain
Audio Fest staged in Denver,
Colorado. Captured here
in rosewood by Stereophile
magazine’s reporter who said of
the award-winning model, it’s
“handsome, understated, and
just looks right... sounds right,
too” he wrote in his show report.
The international audio
AWARDS just keep rolling in from
around the world for the latest
Monitor 30.1 loudspeaker.
The newest accolade comes from
the influential
High Fidelity
magazine in
Poland.
Editor
Wojciech
Pacuła says
of awarding
the M30.1 a
‘Best Product’
certificate, “Very
few products
reach our
Award standard,
so every winner is really important for
us. Congratulations on a really great
speaker!”
The Polish version of the article is
event welcomed exhibitors and
visitors from over 30 countries.
“Hot on the heels of
Stereophile’s rave by Sam Tellig
(see this newsletter, page 2),
the Monitor 30.1s went down a
storm at the Marriott’s Atrium”,
explains Walter Swanbon of
Harbeth USA. “There were long
lines to experience the cute new
Harbeth babies which melted
hearts throughout the show –
including mine!”
Polling high – M30.1 named ‘Best Product 2012’
here: http://highfidelity.pl. The English
version is published on 1st December.
“This is a tremendous tribute to
Alan’s latest design”, says Harbeth’s
Trevor Butler. “And a
further endorsement
of the growing
global success of
the M30.1 spacesaving
reference
monitor which is
finding favour in
homes as well as
with professional
sound engineers
who demand the
most accurate
monitoring.”
The speaker was launched at the
High End Show in Munich as a Harbeth
35th anniversary model. It’s already
become one of the brand’s best-selling
Crowds flocked (above) to hear the very best high-end
audio on offer. The successful weekend show closed
with a fanfare (below) from the Denver Broncos
Half-Time Band. Next year’s dates for RMAF are 11-13
October 2013. (Photos courtesy Stereophile.com)
models, with
its outstanding
midrange
clarity and wellcontrolled
bass.
The review concludes that the M30.1
is “...a beautiful speaker, beautiful
engineering, beautiful sound. Classic.”
More details from Audio Systems
(Harbeth Poland) of Warszawa.
http://www.audiosystem.com.pl/
Page 3

Sound-only Ambisonic cinema
Harbeth mini monitors provide
unique sound-field...:
As reported in our September
issue, Harbeth is involved in a very
exciting project with soundscape
designers to create a whole new
mass-audience listening experience
– cinema without the pictures!
“Finally, after months of
planning and preparation, we have
built our Ambisonic production
studio in Devon”, explains Daniel
Marcus Clark of EarFilms who are
masterminding the project. The
studio is designed as a geodesic
dome and features nineteen
accurately positioned Harbeth
M20.1s. “The speaker array is fully
scalable up to the full-size rig of
22m which we need for an audience
of 200 or more.”
As you can see from the images,
rigging a system of this precision is
rather more complex than plugging
in a pair of speakers. “It’s a real
treat to ‘close your eyes’ and fully
concentrate on the immersive
experience this array of M20.1s can
generate. The sound really stirs the
emotions. Who needs the silver
screen?”, asks Harbeth’s Alan Shaw.
FINISH OF THE MONTH
OUR usual look at a veneer of the month
is slightly different this time as we focus
on one of the stunning new, high gloss
finishes.
Gun Grey is a modern metallic-looking
lacquer which will suit many stylish
environments from the contemporary
home to the hi-tech studio. It is perfect for
audiophile living rooms, bedrooms, offices,
home recording studios. and even the
music lover’s kitchen.
This high sheen mirror-finish silver is
available on the P3ESR, Compact 7ES3,
SHL5 and new Monitor 30.1 subject to
availability. As always, please check with
your local Harbeth dealer.
Harbeth Audio Ltd, 3-4 Enterprise Park, Lindfield, West Sussex RH16 2LH, United Kingdom
Follow the team’s story
on their blog at www.
earfilms.com
More pictures and an
update next month when
we hear of their project
going global.
www.harbeth.co.uk Page 4