Hi All, new guy here!
I've been reading this forum a lot over the last few months and finally decided to sign up.
I'm an SHL5+ owner, and for me it was an interesting journey and one that I feel might be worth sharing here.
I will start by saying that one of the primary reasons for wanting the SHL5+ was looks. We have a very mid-century themed livingroom and they slot right in and look at home in our lounge. Reviews always seemed good and the descriptions made me think they'd be exactly what I was after.
So, i get a pair (at this point, it was a pair of the 40th anniversary units) and plugged them in. Rather significant disappointment followed. They were bright, sharp, thin, had zero bass. I almost had to check the bass drivers were plugged in properly. What was going on? Well, At that time I owned a McIntosh 2275 Valve amplifier, and the two just did not like each other at all. I ended up moving the amplifier on and changed to a Luxman L505 instead. This was a significant improvement, but still wasn't there for me. I gave up, moved on the Harbeths and got some big tannoys instead.
Fast forward a year, and another pair of standard SHL5+ came up for sale, and for some odd reason, I was tempted. I felt like i'd misunderstood them completely. So to my home they come....
Firstly I had them briefly on the end of a Parasound Halo Integrated, and boy, did this system sing. Suddenly I understood what the reviews had been on about, lucid open yet smooth midband, extended tight bass and clean top end. The Harbeths were on point and sounding fantastic. Sadly that amplifier developed a fault and went back to the dealer and I moved on to order another amplifier. This time a Gato Amp150 AE. Turned out there was a significant wait time on this model so the dealer was kind enough to loan me an Electrocompaniet ECI 80D.
Sadly, now the magic was gone. The Harbeths sounded thinner again, brighter, lacking bass. This from a fairly gutsy 80w amplifier. It just wasn't working out. Eventually the Gato arrived, and this was a huge improvement, the jump from a solid 80w amp to 150w seemed to pay dividends, even at low volumes. I had the chance to audition a Hegel at the same time though, and finally, it all snapped back into focus again, the way the parasound had.
So what's the moral of this story... well, regardless of how silly it seems for domestic listening levels, the Harbeths seem to want amplifiers with large power reserves to sound their best. The more power I gave them, the better they sounded. The Hegel has been by far the best thing I've ever run the Harbeths through. Finally I have a sound that has depth, punch, huge soundstage, holographic imaging, stunning vocals and it does so at any volume I can tolerate.
I guess it's easy to misunderstand a speaker if it's driven poorly, or set up badly. But I can safely say, the SHL5+ are the most enjoyable speakers I've ever owned (and that's a LOT of speakers).
p.s. it's worth noting, I also added quite a bit of rear room acoustic treatment (absorbers and bass traps) which made a difference as well.
I've been reading this forum a lot over the last few months and finally decided to sign up.
I'm an SHL5+ owner, and for me it was an interesting journey and one that I feel might be worth sharing here.
I will start by saying that one of the primary reasons for wanting the SHL5+ was looks. We have a very mid-century themed livingroom and they slot right in and look at home in our lounge. Reviews always seemed good and the descriptions made me think they'd be exactly what I was after.
So, i get a pair (at this point, it was a pair of the 40th anniversary units) and plugged them in. Rather significant disappointment followed. They were bright, sharp, thin, had zero bass. I almost had to check the bass drivers were plugged in properly. What was going on? Well, At that time I owned a McIntosh 2275 Valve amplifier, and the two just did not like each other at all. I ended up moving the amplifier on and changed to a Luxman L505 instead. This was a significant improvement, but still wasn't there for me. I gave up, moved on the Harbeths and got some big tannoys instead.
Fast forward a year, and another pair of standard SHL5+ came up for sale, and for some odd reason, I was tempted. I felt like i'd misunderstood them completely. So to my home they come....
Firstly I had them briefly on the end of a Parasound Halo Integrated, and boy, did this system sing. Suddenly I understood what the reviews had been on about, lucid open yet smooth midband, extended tight bass and clean top end. The Harbeths were on point and sounding fantastic. Sadly that amplifier developed a fault and went back to the dealer and I moved on to order another amplifier. This time a Gato Amp150 AE. Turned out there was a significant wait time on this model so the dealer was kind enough to loan me an Electrocompaniet ECI 80D.
Sadly, now the magic was gone. The Harbeths sounded thinner again, brighter, lacking bass. This from a fairly gutsy 80w amplifier. It just wasn't working out. Eventually the Gato arrived, and this was a huge improvement, the jump from a solid 80w amp to 150w seemed to pay dividends, even at low volumes. I had the chance to audition a Hegel at the same time though, and finally, it all snapped back into focus again, the way the parasound had.
So what's the moral of this story... well, regardless of how silly it seems for domestic listening levels, the Harbeths seem to want amplifiers with large power reserves to sound their best. The more power I gave them, the better they sounded. The Hegel has been by far the best thing I've ever run the Harbeths through. Finally I have a sound that has depth, punch, huge soundstage, holographic imaging, stunning vocals and it does so at any volume I can tolerate.
I guess it's easy to misunderstand a speaker if it's driven poorly, or set up badly. But I can safely say, the SHL5+ are the most enjoyable speakers I've ever owned (and that's a LOT of speakers).
p.s. it's worth noting, I also added quite a bit of rear room acoustic treatment (absorbers and bass traps) which made a difference as well.