HifiZine
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Harbeth P3ESR

At RMAF 2010 in Denver I found myself at one point sitting quietly in front of a system that seemed to offer a respite from the hustle, bustle and excessive volume of many rooms. The music was a gentle chamber recording, the details of which have faded, but the memory of my enjoyment has not. At that precise moment I found myself staring at the small enclosure of one Harbeth P3ESR and wondering how something so small could sound so good, and not just good but right. Indeed, I was still thinking there has to be a trick here, some use of subwoofers or perhaps other larger speakers were really playing, when the music stopped and the organizer switched the diminutive Harbeths out for their larger HL5 model. As I blogged at the time, the 5s were good but I was still relishing the sonics of the P3s which had wowed me so much that I left the room shortly after to contemplate just what I had heard. Since then, the diminutive Harbeths have been on my mind and when Walter at Fidelis offered them as an accompaniment to the Audiant 80i I was reviewing, I jumped at the chance to have a listen in my own home.

Unless you’re a complete newcomer to hi-end audio you probably know something about Harbeth speakers since they’ve garnered numerous positive reviews across the globe – and for good reason. Seen as a speaker design that proffers accuracy for serious audio production, the company’s legacy includes several legendary designs that stretch back to the design of monitors for the BBC, and from which engineer Dudley Harwood emerged to found the company 35 years ago (the Harbeth name representing a partial joining of his surname with his wife’s name Beth). Even if you don’t know the history, you probably have seen the speakers in the audiophile press and raised your eyebrows at the seemingly high cost of these small speakers. Well, take a good listen to the Harbeth P3ESR (hereafter, the P3s) and you might find your eyebrows remaining quite level as a result.

Harbeth P3ESR

Harbeth P3ESR

By far the smallest speakers I’ve had in my home in decades, the fit and finish of the P3 is beyond reproach. Cabinetry is solid and elegant, even as the very design of all Harbeth speakers is the use of comparatively thin panels with controlled resonances. The speaker terminals are polished, reassuringly solid under your fingers, and secure. The covers fit so snugly to the front that you might even struggle to remove them at first but when you do you witness to attention to form and function that goes into their manufacture, with a ¼” all-around edge perfectly capturing the front baffle in a seamless grip. Housing a 5” radial bass/mid driver (the “R” in the P3ESR name and built in-house) and 0.75” tweeter, the speaker exudes a kind of old-fashioned elegance that speaks of timeless quality. There is likely a real pride of ownership here, but it is one that is far from the typical, high-visibility, space-intruding form of many speakers. Instead, a visual and indeed hands-on inspection of the P3s give you a sense of refinement, a sense that is enhanced as soon as you hear them in action.

Set up and Listening

In use, I put the Harbeths mainly in my second system, feeding it music from CDs, Mac laptop and even Sony HD tuner through two amps in particular, the Audiant 80i (see review in Sept 2011 issue) and my Naim Nait 2. While there is no doubt the Audiant is a stronger and more capable amp than the old Naim, I ended up loving the Harbeth/Naim combo, especially when playing CD in a Wywires cabled small system. The Harbeths have to be lifted off the floor or desk (if that’s where you use them) and in my rig that involved placing them on 28” QED Tristands, with the speakers 6 feet apart and about 29” from the walls behind them (measured to back of the cabinet). Sitting slightly closer than 6 feet between them in an 18’ x 15’ x 8′ room gave me a wonderful sense of space and depth to the soundstage, with slight toe-in adjustments tweaking the imaging to perfection.

It is difficult to sum up what the P3ESR can do in typical audiophile terms because in a way (to put it most simply) they offer the cleanest window onto the music that I have had the pleasure of ever hearing from a small speaker. I have owned a pair of Kef 103/2s for over 20 years, and while these are good speakers which continue to give me excellent service, they just end up sounding dull in comparison to the P3s. The Harbeths sparkle with detail without ever being etched, and deliver instrumental timbre in a way that just says ‘sit here and listen’. The largest compliment I can give these little beauties is that they encourage you to stop what you are doing so as to listen to music. Now let me be clear on this point as it is fundamental. These are not speakers which capture your attention with details or with phenomenal bass, nor do they lend themselves to checking out the sound effects you can hear in the recording. Fun as that type of experience can be in the short-term, the P3ESR don’t call out to you in that manner. Instead, they invite you into a world where the performance is close and personal, where your connection to the musicians you are hearing is almost intimate, as if the music is being played right there in front of you, and it would be rude to interrupt.

You can certainly pull apart the usual reference points for speakers and examine the frequency extension, dynamics, resolution and soundstaging of the Harbeths, and I don’t think you would be disappointed by any one of these. Every review of the P3s I’ve read speaks of the wonders of the Harbeth mid-range and with good reason, these speakers reproduce the main body of pianos, human vocals, and stringed instruments wonderfully and realistically. With reference recordings such as the Tord Gustavsen Trio’s “Being There,” I revelled in the sheer communicative power of the P3s to capture the group and give you all the details, the interplay, the attack and fade of the piano, cymbals and bass, in a palpable space before my eyes.

Unlike some listeners, I also find the bass reproduction of the speakers to be more than acceptable. No, they do not give me power and punch of rock as delivered on my reference Von Schweikert VR5s but they can deliver rock in a manner that will have you buzzing with the beat, and they present enough of the orchestra to feel the swell of the music rise up before you where, as needed, the punch of the percussion can be felt and heard. As a vehicle for music, these little speakers are truly genre-neutral, despite the impression some might have that they favor small scale acoustic instruments and groups. Yes, they do sound marvellous with chamber, cello or acoustic jazz but they can do so much more too. The excellent remastered package of Rainbow’s 1976 classic Rising has been taking me back in time for the last couple of months and I had no problem getting down with the Harbeths pumping it out. Davey Spillane’s pipes and accompanying bodhran from Atlantic Bridge were as good to listen to with these speakers as Charles Brown’s crooning vocals and laid back grooves on These Blues. If you really need more down below, then I am sure a sub-woofer will get you there, but once I started listening through the P3ESRs I found myself more than satisfied every time and never feeling short-changed or in need of extra punch. I cannot help but think listeners who want much more are being too influenced by the size of the speaker. Just close your eyes when you listen to these before you tell me they are too bass-shy, I suspect your ears will surprise you.

What is really engaging with these speakers is their spectacular soundstaging, especially in relatively nearfield listening. Once set up, the Harbeths threw instruments outside the cabinets with ease, and on some recordings provided a truly holographic sonic picture of the musicians. I’ve never been one who heard much by way of front-to-back depth in my soundstage on typical recordings, no matter where I sat or what speakers I used but remarkably, if any speaker can give you that dimensional depth cleanly the P3s seem to be able to deliver, especially when listened too in this type of nearfield set-up. On top of this, left-to-right distinctions are marvellously realistic, with central players or singers occupying space totally free of the speaker cabinet. Moreover, this sonic picture is not difficult to obtain, the speakers seem remarkably unfussy in many ways and once you have basic symmetry down, they do the rest. It’s likely that really obsessing with placement and in-room acoustics could return even greater rewards but to normal owners, the ease of placement these speakers provide is an added-bonus.

Over many a long summer’s evening I found myself sitting in the spare bedroom with the Harbeths making sweet music. The virtues of small systems are greatly under appreciated I feel, and while large, powerfully amplified floorstanders have the ability to truly wrap the music around you, the idea of building a system that is appropriate to the size of your listening environment is sorely in need of greater advocacy. In most normal domestic environments I am convinced the P3s can deliver the sonics that will keep most audiophiles not only satisfied but engaged. For those who really listen, I suspect the P3s will enrapture you. Yes, they are that good.

What about space and power?

OK, since I had them, I had to try the speakers in my main rig, driven by a pair of Spectron monoblocks in my 26’ x18’ listening room. Obviously needing some help with the physics of bass delivery, I placed them just under 34” from the wall behind them and sat there delighted with the results. These tiny speakers offered room filling sound that clearly benefited from the improved upstream electronics (PS Audio PWT/PWD combo, SMcAudio VRE-1 preamp and Spectron Monoblocks), revealing detail, timbre and resolution up there with the best I’ve heard. For those who tell you that these little monitors do not deliver bass below a certain frequency I say stop listening to Hertz and start listening to music. Surely they lack the articulation and sense of space of my VR5SEs in the lower regions but the P3s can give you discernible bass and even on hard rock, the type of bass that allows the sound to seem balanced, not light.

For the final two weeks of the review period I left the Harbeths in my main rig and amazed people again and again when they heard music. It is no exaggeration to say that more than one person had to be walked over to the Harbeths to convince them that this is where the sound was coming from, not the nearby VR5s. OK, that’s something of a parlor trick, perhaps, but my point is that the P3s gave a sufficiently full, high quality sound in my main room that could not be quickly discerned as limited by size. Indeed, more than once my wife and I sat there and just looked at each other in surprise as the speakers delivered old favorites with a quality that seemed in keeping with the expensive gear driving them. All the old reference recordings got a spin, from Ronnie Earl and Pat Metheny to Holly Cole and Janus Starker, but with new music constantly coming into my house we gave first listens to Nikki Yannofsky and a remastered Ella Fitzgerald, the second album from Black Country Communion and some vinyl rescues from a local used store, never once thinking we were listening to a compromised set-up. Not bad for a speaker that retails at one-tenth the price of my reference pair.

This experience of the P3s in my reference set up gave me pause and clarified for me something very important about choice of speaker. If pushed, I’d say the most audible difference between these speakers is not in the reproduction of bass as much as the reproduction of space. The little Harbeths, in a larger room, tend to push the envelope of sound at you, creating a smaller bubble that you have to move into to gain the most music. The larger Vons just wrap around you more effortlessly, capturing you within their particular space without your effort. I have no real way to describe this effect more other than that, it’s a sonic bubble that comes with proportion and scale. When selecting a speaker, think more about this scale and how it works in your space than worrying about frequency extension or published specs and I think you’ll make a better decision for your long-term enjoyment.

Conclusion

If someone told me now that I had $2k to spend on speakers and I would have to live with my choice for years without chance of exchange, I’d buy these Harbeths on the spot. I would not even bother second-guessing my decision by checking what else was out there at the price. These speakers are that good. For sure I might want to think about stands, possible amps, good cable matches etc – but that would be true of any speaker purchase I made. The quality of this product, their particular combination of construction quality with great sound, speaks to me in a manner that few products ever do. In fact, if I owned a pair of these, I don’t think I’d ever consider selling them, they just sound like music. Like a quality musical instrument, there is a pride of ownership here that transcends mere product categories. This speaker is the nearest thing to an heirloom that many of us will ever be able to acquire in our audio ventures. There is something ineffably right about these speakers and once you hear them make music, there is little more that needs to be said. Expensive for its size? Maybe. A great value? I think so. Something special? Undoubtedly. If this hobby is really all about the music, then buy a pair of these, get into their sonic space and relax, you are in the right place.

Associated Equipment

  • Sources: Digital-PS Audio PWT/PWD digital front end combo, or Denon 2900 into Parasound DAC 2000, Analog-SME 20/2 w/ SME309 arm, Benz Wood Body SL catridge, Whest 3.0 phono stage
  • Preamp: SMcAudio VRE-1
  • Power amps: Spectron Musician III Mk 2 bridged monos
  • Integrated amps: Naim Nait 2, Perreaux Audiant 80i
  • Speakers: Von Schweikert VR5SE,
  • Cables: Elrod custom made, home made 14awg, Spitz Anti-Cables, WyWires speaker cables

 


Readers' comments

    Pat,

    Great review. Very thorough and knowledgable.

    I’ve never met a bookshelf speaker I really liked and believe the physics of trying to reproduce music from a small box is problematic at best.

    I’m sure they are a good compromise for their size, especially based on your review.

    Great work.

  • A comparison between the the small Harbeths and the recent Proac tablette anniversary would be most interesting as a would= be buyer

    • I’d be happy to oblige if I could get a pair of Proac Tablettes in for review. Perhaps someone else reading this has heard both?

      • I own both and they have different presentations, I’ve written a full review on audiokarma but but in comparison to the P3ESR I’d make the following observations.

        Tablette Anniversary

        Treble – Slightly more extended, loads of detail and less sweet.
        Midrange – More analytical, matter of fact, not as rich or full/ fleshed out.
        Bass- More quantity, less quality. Sounds blurred in comparison to the P3 and will require a little work with siting and stands to get the best sound. Once done its okay.
        Sound stage – Works with width rather than depth (Harbeth), you also give you closer perspective.
        Imaging – Think laser etched.
        Dynamics – More headroom to play with, go’s louder and sound less restricted here
        Timing – No issues I can detect and doesn’t suffer the sometimes slower sound of the P3ESR or rounding of of transients.

        Not a speaker I’d use for classical or strings but they tackle most other genres well.

    Fantastic review!

    I had the same experience at RMAF 2010 in the Sound Science room and have finally purchased a pair of P3ESR’s.

    I have a similar size listening room as you mentioned in your review, but do so much late night low level near-field listening, any objections based on size were already evaporating, even before reading your review. Your experience with the P3ESR’s in a larger room confirmed what I already suspected.

    I doubt I’ll feel shortchanged while saving up for the Super HL5’s that I had really wanted.

    Thanks so much!

  • Great write up, the second that has been extremely positive concerning these speakers. They are now officially my next purchase and I intend to partner them with a Lavardin IS Reference amplifier and a heavily modified Arcam Alpha 9 CDP.

    I agree with what you say about building a system that is appropriate to the size of the listening environment. I have a small room and these will be just excellent.

    Thank you.

    • How did that Lavardin IS Ref / Harbeth P3esr work out? I have the same amp and was thinking this speaker might be a good match.

    Thanks for fantastic review! It is giving better insights to the Harbeth.

    I am pretty torn between getting a Spendor S3 and a Harbeth P3…Currently have a intergrated Rotel but am going to purchase a nait 2 sometime soon…

    I am a big fan of the Harbeth – but on the 2nd hand market currently, there’s one going for $3000 (Singapore dollars) vs a Spendor at $700 (and these come with stands; and yes, the price is a big selling point)…

    I generally listen to a lot of psych, folk, noise, and doom metal music. Most reviews usually use classical as a gauge; love to hear your (or anyone) views on these.

    Thanks! Cheers Patrick

    ps I use a Lenco L75 turntable…

  • I am a born again audiophile after years of reading Stereophile/Absolutesounnd?HiFi Choice etc….so I was in Montreal to see my Mom ( I am 62 and my Mom is 80 ) and wandered into a stereo shop that I recognized from the usual ads. Listened to the Harbeths for maybe 2 tracks of Rosanne Cash,s 10 song demo. Had to run away before I bought them on the spot. So later on purchased a used pair to use in my absolutely horrible new 7.5 by 11.5 room. Am now on the upgrade path and am listening to my 3000 cd with a huge grin on my face. These speakers are a `keeper“ and for a mature audiophile these are my last speakers for at least 15 years… (that is 7.5 feet not meters)….Sort of a weird review but the jist of it is these speakers are so close to perfect that you will not do wrong to buy these…thanks Jan

  • Great review, great posts : one always likes to read the lines he’d like to write, isn’t it ?
    I can just confirm famous last words of Jan Woo
    The only dilemma with Harbeth is : do i change for bigger Harbeth if i move to bigger home ?
    I moved, i changed my P3-ESR for SHL5.
    Same smile on our faces. Not on neighbours’.

    • Thierry, thanks for your comment on the review. I’ve removed the “ad” part of your comment as it’s not appropriate here. Thanks again.

    Patrick,

    Thank you for this in-depth, engaging and incredibly insightful review. This review, and a few others online ranging from Stereophile to small-scale bloggers just moved to write by the little Harbeths, convinced me to arrange a demo at the nearest dealer (a two-hour drive, and a 90-minute ferry ride away).

    Needless to say the trip was worth it, and I put a deposit down on a pair of Rosewood P3ESR’s that I pick up at the end of the month. They just blew my current British-built bookshelves away.

    Please keep up the great work, and thanks again.

    Cheers,
    –R

  • Thanks for a great review. I’ve been a happy owner of P3ESR’s since May and these little boxes are the best single buy in my whole life as an audiophile. They play sweet music in my 15 m2 room with good but not very expensive or exotic gear: Baltlab Epoca 1v3 amp, DNM Reson cables, old CD player, turntable… it’s perfectly enough for them. I have a much bigger high-end system downstairs but I hardly listen to it anymore since I bought Harbeths and think about changing loudspeakers for another Harbeths (SHL5 probably). I love the Harbeth P3ESR.

  • If you like the P3ESR’s, wait until you hear the Harbeth 40.1’s. Yes, they’re expensive but they produce music with realism very similar to my alternate system which features the original QUAD ESL’s. But the large Harbeth;s don’t have the limitations that one has to deal with when using the QUADS. They can take a lot of power and will play loudly if one is prone to damaging their ear drums. I have the Harbeths augmented with a subwoofer and the integration of this system goes through a DSpeaker room correction device which eliminates so many of the common room resonances. The resultant output, whether classical or jazz, mimics what live music sounds like, whithin the limitations of our hobby.

  • Patrick, Thank you for great review !
    What i can confirm about P3ESR is:
    1. They play fantastic at low and very low volumes at night… very few can do it and it’s hard to find good ones,
    2. Small room is perfect for them – mine is 2,5mx4m (each P3 is about 80cm from me),
    3. They recreate perfectly acoustics of oryginal recording place – the air,.. atmosphere ..it’s hard to
    describe… they bring you in there.
    4. Some old recordings shine …. old classics, just fun to listen.
    5. Now it is a grat pleasure to watch BBC documentaries & Interviews – it looks that they were just recorded for P3’s and Quads :). You can easly forget that they are still in there – just you and motion picture. Pure joy.
    6. Warning – be ready for spending a lot of time in front of them.

    In my case simple is good – Quad 77 integrated no fancy wires. Wokrs well.

    Have a fun with P3ESR !!!
    Andrzej

  • After being in a position to revisit my audiophile side, I jumped in with a Naim unitiqute, second hand Rega Planer 3 and the amazing Harbeth P3’s. In part these speakers where auditioned due to this and a few other reviews. I am lucky as we have a dealership local in Edinburgh so hearing them in action was not an issue.
    So date set I went along and within the first 30 seconds of listening to Otis Redding I knew I was going to purchase these speakers. Tried Keff ls50, Spendor SA1 etc but nothing came close to the Harbeth for me.
    I agree with this review in that once home you can easily place them and be very happy but if tempted you can adjust positioning to gain ever better return.
    Thanks for the detailed review 🙂
    Cheers

  • Patrick,

    I am debating between the puchase of these P3’s and the next higher up the chain of Harbeths, the Compact 7ES-3 for a room sized 10 x15. The difference in price is 2000 $.

    The music is mostly orchestral from a vast CD collection.

    Your suggestions would be of immense assistance in my quest for the appropriate musical experience.

    Many thanks for a wonderful very astute review. Pierre in Montreal.

    • Bonjour Pierre

      Nice to hear from Montreal, one of my favorite cities. I think you can tell that I liked the P3s a lot, and I would happily have a pair myself in any room, especially one sized 10 x 15. Since I have not actually heard the 7s, unless per chance at an audio show without realizing it, I cannot usefully comment on the added value they might bring. Ideally, you would be able to hear these two side-by-side at a dealer but if you cannot, I would recommend that you pose this query to the very informative forum on the Harbeth site in the UK, you might even find Alan Shaw himself offering input. My suspicion is the Harbeths all sound very good but even when I have heard others in the same room at shows, I find the P3s have something special that makes them a good bet for long-term satisfaction in any rig. Let us know what you decide.

      Best

      Patrick

    I have both the p3 esr and the c7 es3 in rosewood and I drive the p3 with that little NAD bee 316 and love them both equally I agree with all your comments on the p3 s thanks for the conformation

  • Hi Patrick! Update on my purchase. I decided to obtain both the P3s and the SHL5. Your review and recommendations are spot on in that the smaller Harbeths are worth their weight in gold. Suffice to say that they are sufficiently outstanding for most ears, including demanding ones like mine. It is a relief to know that reproduced sound can attain such a level of purity and perfection.

    The bigger Harbeths were intended to satisfy the need for a larger soundscape in select orchestral and operatic works……and they do, quite nicely, even at low volume. But the charm and special qualities of the P3s which your review so perfectly distills into words would have more than compensated for the lesser soundstage.

    Like you say it is hard to walk away from music reproduction of this calibre!

    • Well Pierre, you definitely went for it with the double purchase. I am envious. Congratulations on the new set up and if I ever head back to Montreal, I’ll swing by for a listen! Thank you for following up on this.

    Hello to all. Today I wanted to buy a pair of Harbeth P3ESR ​​SE speakers in the market I used. Much money remains on it. I discovered this web page, started in 2011 and still active! Congratulations for the review, spectacular. I am convinced of making a big purchase. That is, the Harbeth P3ESR ​​SE are good speakers to connect to my Sugden Aignature amplifier. English sound, I like even if I’m at ROma eh eh eh …

  • Harbeth P3esr beautiful,organic,thick midrange,sweet treble,luscious depth,full soundstage,pinpoint imaging,blue bass beautiful, gorgeous to look at, gills on or off ? Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!

  • Harbeth P3 new owner. Listening to Apple Music from phone to apple tv HDMI through Samsung then optical toslink out of one connect to teac dac then into Cambridge audio integrated amp which sounds good if not played too loud. I am extremely happy

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