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Harbeth Super HL5plus XD loudspeaker Page 2

Setup
"Overall response is optimized for use away from walls," states a document on the Harbeth website. I followed that direction, assisting Swanbon, who visited for setup. We ultimately positioned the speakers roughly 3' from the front wall, 5' apart, and 4' from sidewalls.

I began my evaluation with vinyl but soon jumped to digital, including the over-performing HoloAudio May DAC fed data from a Roon Nucleus+ powered by Andrew Gillis's excellent Small Green Computer power supply, via a Sonore OpticalRendu and a TRENDnet switch. I controlled Roon with my Apple iPad mini. A…

Harbeth Super HL5plus XD loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, standmount loudspeaker. Drive units: 0.787" (20mm) aluminum dome super tweeter, 0.984" (25mm) ferrofluid-cooled aluminum tweeter; 7.87" (200mm) Harbeth RADIAL2 polymeric composite-cone bass/mid driver. Frequency response: 40Hz–20kHz, ±3dB. Impedance: 6 ohms. Sensitivity: 86dB/2.83V/m.
Dimensions: 28" (711.2mm) H × 13" (330.2mm) W × 12" (304.8mm) D. Weight: 40lb (15.8kg) each.
Finishes: cherry, rosewood, walnut, okoume.
Serial number of units reviewed: 1759L, 1759R. Designed and manufactured in the UK.
Price…

Harbeth Super HL5plus XD loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog sources: VPI Avenger Direct turntable, VPI Fatboy tonearm, VPI Shyla MC cartridge.
Digital sources: HoloAudio May DAC, Sonore opticalRendu, Roon Nucleus+, Small Green Computer power supply, TRENDnet switch, Apple iPad mini.
Integrated amplifier: PrimaLuna EVO 400.
Preamplifier: Sugden LA-4.
Power amplifiers: Ayre VX-8, LKV Research PWR-3.
Loudspeakers: Spendor BC-1.
Cables: Interconnects: AudioQuest Pegasus, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II. Speaker: Analysis Plus Silver Apex Speaker. AC: Triode Wire Labs Obsession NCF.
…

Harbeth Super HL5plus XD loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Harbeth Super HL5plus XD's behavior in the farfield and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. I measured the speaker without the aluminum-frame grille and performed the primary response measurements on the super-tweeter axis. I measured the speaker's impedance magnitude and phase with Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system, but for consistency with Stereophile's presentation of impedance graphs, I plotted the impedance measurement with the Audio Precision System One software…

Rabbit Holes #6: The Curse of Composition

Something has happened in jazz culture in the new millennium. There is more emphasis on original composition than ever before. There has been remarkably little discussion and analysis of this phenomenon, perhaps because many assume it is a positive development. Jazz, after all, prioritizes originality.

There is a counterargument. It goes like this: Jazz today is vital and dynamic because great players keep popping up, all over the world. Very few of those great players are also great composers. Yet they apparently feel obliged to be. A large proportion of new jazz albums contain all or…

Spin Doctor #4: Platter Mats, Clamps, Weights & the Timerette

The next time you're preparing to play a record, try doing a little experiment. Once you have the record mounted and spinning but before you lower the stylus into the groove, lower your gaze to just below record level and look for a gap between the platter and the record. It helps if there's a light source or a brightly colored wall behind the platter. You may discover a gap—that very little of the record's playing area is making true contact with the platter mat or (if there is no mat) the platter. Another way to test this is to take a record you don't care much about, put it on the platter…

Spin Doctor #4: Platter Mats, Clamps, Weights & the Timerette Page 2

Going to the mat
An important question to ask is whether you need a record hold-down at all. Some turntable manufacturers are adamant that best performance is achieved by letting the record lie in its natural state, coupled only by its own mass and gravity, in conjunction, usually, with some type of compliant mat or interface. Felt mats are sometimes dismissed as cheap and static prone, but several serious turntable manufacturers continue to use them: Linn, Rega, Roksan. Over the decades, I've noticed, the mats supplied by all three companies have become progressively thinner, which I…

Astrud Gilberto, RIP

Her first professional recording became a career-defining global hit, changed the culture, and helped make bossa nova a worldwide phenomenon. but there's a dark side to the success of "The Girl From Ipanema," which followed the Brazilian chanteuse until her recent death.

In 1966, French rock star Serge Gainsbourg, a party-hearty lothario, asked a teenage protégé named France Gall to sing a new song he had written. "Les Sucettes" was ostensibly about lollipops, but the lyrics contained multiple heavy innuendos. One line claimed that "lollipop juice" flowing down a girl's throat could…

Astrud Gilberto, RIP Page 2

Flawed
Bucketloads of complimentary things can be said about Astrud Gilberto's voice, but she wasn't technically a great singer. Her range was barely two octaves, her performances often shaky. In pop music, a certain degree of (let's say) limited vocal competence is not necessarily a hindrance to a successful interpretation. When Nico sang "All Tomorrow's Parties," or whenever Bob Dylan got nasal and mumbly, it didn't kill the song; in some ways, the flaws are an enhancement: Imperfections bring out the performer's humanity. But in classical music and to a lesser extent in jazz,…

Infigo Method-3 monoblock power amplifier

I should have trusted my ears. When I first encountered Infigo (pronounced In-FEE'-go) electronics, paired with Alta Audio's Adam loudspeaker, at T.H.E. Show 2022 in Long Beach, California, I wrote, "Timbres were beautiful on bass and high-pitched percussion. The chimes and vibes sounded special and clean, colors were plentiful, and deep bass was all of one piece." Nor was I exaggerating. In that system, Infigo's Method 3 monoblocks ($55,000/pair) pleased my ears as much as their blue-illumined interiors delighted my eyes.

Rather quickly, Editor Jim Austin suggested I review the Method 3…