Harbeth Super HL5 Plus XD Speaker

Mature

By Stefan Gawlickon the 8th July 20216 minutes reading time

Harbeth cultivates evolution, not revolution. The new Super HL5 Plus XD shows how right they are.

IN ALL SHORTS The Harbeth is a no-nonsense speaker that just plays well. It mercilessly reveals the quality of the connected devices, but never sounds "wrong". In addition, so wonderfully timeless that it will always remain modern. Price: from 5950 euros.

Well, with the name of this loudspeaker you could have gotten a little inside yourself at Harbeth, because such a coherent product does not really have to come across as bulky titled. Even friends of the venerable BBC monitors get confused in the stringing of abbreviations for the different stages of evolution. However, this construct can already be explained, since the currently available version is based on a loudspeaker that saw the studio light of the world in 1977. At that time, it was still the "HL Monitor" that acted with only two ways. Several generations later, the super tweeter was added in 1999, after which the box was renamed "Super HL5". Then came the "Plus" and now the "XD".

On board since 1999 - the super tweeter of the Harbeth. "XD" stands for "Extended Definition", as usual, has been filed in detail, fundamental changes to the principle are out of the question with the "stubborn" (quote Bernd Hömke) Alan Shaw. Then it would have to be a completely new model. If you know Shaw and his way of working, you will also be able to explain the step to XD. In Shaw's development laboratory, an acoustically optimized barn, the loudspeaker to be improved is always on a rotating tripod, precisely aligned by laser. In front of this the measuring microphone, empty inside, because the switch is at the master's side in the trade fair equipment. This is designed in such a way that individual components can be replaced in seconds by simply plugging in and heard and measured directly afterwards. Such a construction is otherwise still known from FinkTeam, but many other developers only hear "finished", fully assembled speakers. So, of course, it can be fine-tuned to the detail, turned on the smallest adjusting screws until the sound is really right. Because the memory for new sounds lasts only a few moments. So if you solder something in a new loudspeaker and hear the comparison after an hour, you are inevitably exposed to your imagination, do not trust real knowledge.

One could understand the structure of the characterful British woman as a persiflage of current loudspeaker architecture: a traditional housing with drivers, some insulation material, parallel walls - without internal braces or separate volumes. And the recipe works: With the right ingredients and their neatly tuned crossover, the "box" makes incredibly lively, precise and relaxed music. This obsession with detail deserves the highest respect, since Shaw's path is far more thorny and laborious than simply using a newer, hipper, perhaps better, but definitely different chassis. For the customer, in any case, this evolution is the much healthier way. Because with a new model, it is enough to hear thoroughly to be able to decide for yourself whether this step is worth the corresponding money. However, the once well-founded basic character is not repeatedly called into question.

It is the sum of many details that makes the Harbeth play so musically. Here is the internal damping of the bass reflex tube. This was already evident years ago in the development of a new material for the woofers. After the legendary B 110 from the LS 3/5 was no longer available, all manufacturers of this icon sought their luck from the well-known suppliers, mostly models with polypropylene membrane. However, the material was too soft for Shaw, the sound too undifferentiated. So research and development was carried out by yourself until finally a very hard, light and stiff material was available: "Radial". I understand that even small hollow glass balls hide in the mixture. Harbeth still manufactures the drivers built with this membrane by hand to this day, which provides a plausible explanation for the now quite confident price development. All loudspeakers are not only developed in Lindfield, but also built.

The woofer-midrange driver handmade by Harbeth. Of course, what exactly was done with the new XD softness cannot be understood, and Mr. Shaw prefers to remain silent. So we can only assume that the phase behavior has been improved and played with the crossover frequencies. At least that's my guess. In the XD version of the small P3 ESR, it is said that the crossover frequency has slipped up to just under four kilohertz. Of course, this does not work with the much larger driver of the Super HL5 Plus XD. But if you marched in the same direction there, this could explain the defined, even cleaner voting area.

The switch is the result of years of optimisation. Which would have already made us at the hearing. Anyone who says "BBC monitor" almost has to say "voices", and so first a wonderful recording of Gustav Mahler's song migrates from the earth to the turntable (Christa Ludwig, René Kollo, Berliner Philharmoniker under Herbert von Karajan, DGG). The Harbeths clearly present René Kollo in front of the orchestra in the first movement, "Drinking Song of the Whining of the Earth", but involve him more in the overall sound than many other loudspeakers, which tend to unduly push solo information far forward. At the same time, however, they perform the feat of defining your voice so effortlessly and transmitting it with such excellent speech intelligibility that you do not have to listen carefully to understand everything. Any important information is simply there without distorting the picture in favor of this clarification. Wonderful also the many small details in the middle voices, which so often contradict Mahler's seemingly obvious statement of the leading voices of the orchestra.

The Harbeth Super HL5 Plus XD on the stand specially designed for you. In the "Lonely Autumn" Christa Ludwig sings. Her wonderfully "burgundy red" mezzo is as unmistakable as it is addictive. How wonderful it is when singers not only have talent, but also an understanding of the content to be sing. You can quickly see what she meant when she advised young singers that careers are made with the head and not with the voice. Writing that the Harbeths would portray their unique voice

wonderfully precisely could lead you on the wrong track of technocratic sound generation. No, the voice is there, it is clearly Christa Ludwig, and you listen to her lecture, not the speakers ... PICTURE GALLERY At the concert for orchestra by Béla Bartók (Sir Georg Solti, LPO, Decca) another quality of the Super HL5 Plus XD comes into play, with which the small P3 ESR already thrilled us: When changes from the whole orchestra come to lonely solos (beginning first movement, strings and flute), these soloists are often represented larger thanks to the slightly changed mixture. So it ultimately seems as if you are constantly zooming in and out while looking at the orchestra. With the Harbeth, the perspective is maintained, which is a little surprising at first, since you expect from good (or worse?) Habit a larger soloist between the boxes. Compliment.

Even the special sand for filling the pipes of the speaker stand is supplied. For a sad occasion, CDs and LPs from Chick Corea migrate on and into the drives in wild succession. Amazing how loosely the British woman intruses fine rhythmic structures and follows the finest information. In general, such requirements are not considered the core competencies of the BBC derivatives, which are on the trail of the natural sound rather than the acoustic magnifying glass with softer membranes and vibrating housings. But here, even the finest timing changes by Steve Gadd become easily audible, the sonic diversity of his inimitable Gracenotes on the Snare anyway. It is also worth mentioning that the Super HL5 hangs surprisingly well on the gas for such a large loudspeaker equipped with complex switches. I would like to hear them on a small, fine tube of Audio Note.

According to information, even small hollow glass balls hide in the mixture of the membrane material of the woofer-midrange driver. And before a false impression arises: Yes, you can also listen to music other than classical or jazz with the Harbeth. Even very extremely mixed, purely electronic productions work well here, but the British simplicitys in principle withdraw so much that the effect is somewhat neglected, which you may miss with this music. However, if people and analog instruments were audible at the start, there is far and wide only other things, but hardly better. INFORMATION Speaker Harbeth Super HL5 Plus XD Concept: 3-way floorstanding loudspeaker, bass reflex Equipped: 200 cm woofer with Harbeth "radial" polymerkonus and basket; tweeter 25 mm aluminum dome, ferrofluid cooled; super tweeter with acoustic scatter lens and neodymium magnet, 20 mm titanium dome Frequency range: 40 Hz to 24 kHz Sensitivity: 87 dB (1 W/1 m) Recommended amplifier power: 25 to 150 W Nominal impedance: 8 Terminal: Bi-Wiring Finishes: cherry, walnut, rosewood Dimensions (W/H/D): 64/32/30 cm Weight: 17 kg Warranty period: 4 years Price: at 5950 € (cherry, walnut), at 6100 € (rosene) CONTACT input audio HiFi sales Bernd Hömke

Ofeld 15 24214 Gettorf Phone +49 4346 600601 www.inputaudio.de www.harbeth.co.uk The prices displayed are valid at the time of evaluation. Deviations from this are possible.

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