Similar sound signature to previous Altec Model 19's, but more room friendly, better vocals, more coherent, albeit with less bass.
Werner Jagusch crossovers have proven to be a significant upgrade over stock crossovers.
deHavilland Electric Ultraverve 3
Most enjoyable and complimentary preamp I've owned, by a large margin. Responds well to tube rolling. Currently loaded with NOS Tung Sol's in all positions. Exceptional value.
Welborne Labs Laurel mkII
Upgraded tubes, upgraded caps. Psvane Acme 300B & VAIC VV30B power tubes, Tung Sol 6SU7GTY/6881 drivers, Mullard CV378 rectifiers
Roon Labs Nucleus
Roon Nucleus server paired with IFi Zen Stream as a Roon end-point, connected via Black Cat Silverstar SPDIF cable to Weiss 202 DAC. Streaming Qobuz. Surprisingly nice step up in sound quality and enjoyability from my previous Aurender N10 at 1/4th the cost.
Silent Running Audio VR-2 & 3 isolation platforms
I tired of messing with the various footers on the market. These are the real deal... excellent construction, visually appealing and effective.
KCI Silkworm RCA Interconnect
Gold based RCA interconnect cable. Outperforms the Purist Venustas it replaced by a large margin.
Salamander Synergy Triple 20
Cherry Finish
GIK Room Treatments Tri Traps, 244 panels and Alpha 4 diffusion panels
This is the 2nd room I've treated with GIK products. Highly recommended, especially 244 panels.
Weiss Engineering DAC 202
Replaced an outstanding Audio Aero Capitole Reference DAC/CDP/PRE. I can't say the Weiss is better than the Audio Aero, but it's more neutral. This DAC is a bargain on the used market.
Acoustic BBQ 12 gage Dueland speaker cables
I've had significantly more expensive speaker cables from Stealth and Auditorium, but prefer these. I also use ja pair of these in my secondary system. Great bang for the buck.
Are the GIK Acoustics 244 panels purely absorption or absorption/diffusion? You might want to try removing those panels from your side walls if you find the 40.1's to be not very exciting and see whether they are the culprit.
Let me relate an experience that I just went through recently. I have absorption panels on both side walls of the room for the past three years and they have worked great even before I got the Harbeth SHL-5. Most of my previous speakers sound awful without treatments on side walls since the width of the room is narrow at 11'. When I got the Harbeths they still sound great with the panels. It was when I took them out the sound came open and alive. The macrodynamics improved without any issues in brightness and listening fatigue. This has reinforced my belief that the Harbeths are very room-tolerant even when placed close to wall boundaries, bare walls that is. Harbeth speakers are designed to sound good in a live room, even with the large M40.1's.
Another factor to consider is the Plinius has a lush and warm sound.
Not quite ready to pick the final resting spot for the Harbeth's, as the new owner of my C4's lives a few states away and won't be able to pick them up until mid June :-(.
Even though the 40.1's are not dialed in yet, I think I have a pretty good feel for them and can say that they have allowed me to achieve my main objective, which is sounding wonderful at low to moderate volume level's which is something the C4's were not good at, atleast with my moderately powered Plinius amp. The 40.1's are not an exciting speaker with high "wow" factor, but they are well balanced, very musical and easy to listen to. The C4's are great, and I know I will miss them, but every once in a while, I have the need to mix things up to keep my audiophile juices flowing!
Well, I've had my new Harbeth M 40.1's hooked up for approx. 2.5 hours. I don't have them properly set up yet, as they are sharing space with my C4's as their new out of state owner is making logistical arrangements to have them picked up. Also, the M-40.1 are currently resting upon mismatched end tables, as my Skylan stands are on order, but still 2 weeks away from being delivered from Calgary.
For those that are curious about comparisons of the Dyn. C4's vs. the Harbeth M-40.1's, here's a preliminary take after a few hours of listening:
* Transparency, clarity & imaging - advantage C4 * Appearance / WAF - advantage C4 * Leading edge - advantage C4 * Decay - slight advantage to C4 * Highs / extension - advantage C4 * Midrange - advantage M-40.1 * Bass depth - advantage M-40.1 * Palpability - tie * Dynamics - tie (but different in their own ways) * Performance at low to moderate volumes - advantage M-40.1 * Performance at moderate to high volumes - advantage C4 * Smoothness - advantage M-40.1 * Warmth - advantage M-40.1 * Placement of musicians - large advantage C4
At the end of the day, both are exceptional speakers... just different!
Will provide a more detailed review of the M-40.1's after I have them properly set up, dialed in and mounted to Skylan stands.
Well, I know the Harbeth's won't surpass the C4's in the appearance / WAF department, as I think the Rosewood C4's are exceptionally good looking IMO. However, I am hoping / expecting the 40.1's to surpass the C4's in the area of musicality @ low to moderate listening level's and maybe eventually allow me to try a moderate powered tube amp (100 WPC or fewer) if the urge to try a tube amp gets the better of me.
Pdreher, good to know you have pulled the trigger on the "king" of the Harbeth line. I am also equally interested to know the outcome of the comparison between the Harbeth M40.1 and Dynaudio C4 you just recently sold. You would be getting a close to optimum sound as Harbeth speakers and Plinius amps match reasonably well. Harbeth speakers need further distance apart for better soundstaging hence your new M40.1's may need to be placed closer to the side walls compared to your previous setup with the Dynaudios. I hope you would not be disappointed with the M40.1's once they are set up properly. Your benchmark is high and pretty hard to beat but I wish the M40.1's would surpass your expectations.
Samhar... your quite observant. I bought the Harbeth M-40.1's listed by GiorgioP. Kind of an impulse buy, as I've never heard Harbeth's... so I'm betting they are worthy replacements for the C4's based on Harbeth's reputation and research I've gleaned from the web. I love my C4's, just wanted to try something different... and Harbeth 40.1's rarely show up on the used market, unlike C4's, so I figured I'd pull the trigger.
I'm expecting to have the M-40.1's by this coming Wednesday... will report back in later this week to compare & contrast the Harbeth's vs. the mighty Dyn's!
"The Plinius SA-102 paired with a tubed preamp will be an excellent combo for the 1.3SE's "
Moving to an Audio Research sp16 tube pre-amp with existing high current ss amp helped take my Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mkIIs to a higher level in regards to detail, smooth delivery and overall musical flow of the toe-tapping variety.
The Plinius SA-102 paired with a tubed preamp will be an excellent combo for the 1.3SE's (former 1.3SE owner). You'd probably be fine with the less expensive SA-100 as well.
The comparison of Plinius vs. Sim in my experience is one of comparing an apple to an orange.... Plinius is warmer, more robust with emphasis in the midrange & microdynamics, with rolled off highs... Sim is faster, leaner with more emphasis in the highs and macrodynamics. Two totally different sounding amps.
I am considering purchasing a plinius 102 to go along with my dyn 1.3 SE. I already have a simaudio w-5 to go with a dyn 3.3. I was wondering about how these two brands of amplifers compare when you tried them with your C4's. Thank you for your response.
Samhar - The sorbagel definitely reduced the noise floor. I liked it best on my preamp using two Q feet on the front and two wood blocks on the back. I'm selling because I'm upgrading to Silent Running Audio (SRA) VR platforms.
System edited: I'm returning my recently purchased SA-102 due to a mutual resolution to a problem incurred upon receipt. So, I'm in the market again for another SA-102 (2004 vintage or newer) to bridge as a monoblock with my existing stereo SA-102.
System edited: Added a second Plinius SA-102 amp to run in bridged monoblock mode. Also had my Audio Aero Capitol repaired, replacing the Phillips CDM12 transport along with cryo'ed NOS JAN-Raytheon 6021 tubes.
System edited: I've finally taken the plunge and ventured into computer audio. I'm streaming I-Tunes wirelessly via IMAC computer to an Airport Express. Airport Express is connected to the Empirical Audio Pace Car 2 via Van Den Hul Opticoupler toslink cable. Purist Aqueous Anniversary digital rca connects the Pace Car to the digital input of my Audio Aero Capitol cdp. I've learned a lot thru this experience, but still feel like I've got a long way to go when it comes to computer audio.
