Harbeth C7ES-3 XD Loudspeaker

Description

The icon of clarity and detail -

ESSENTIAL NEUTRALITY AND NATURAL TONAL BALANCE

Allow sensational music moments to come to life at the comfort of your home with the multi-award winning, medium-sized C7ES-3 XD loudspeaker. Acclaimed for its accurate three-dimensional sound, this speaker will impress even the most religious demands of an audiophile.

The Harbeth secret for accuracy and lifelike sound is the meticulous attention to detail during the design stage. Critically important, but hidden, is the crossover, which carefully integrates the drive units across a wider horizontal and vertical arc. Incremental changes to this fundamental component have allowed this legendary loudspeaker to present the most challenging instruments with increased presence and transparency.  

No other loudspeaker communicates the emotional power of the artist so eloquently.

REVIEWS:
 

The Absolute Sound: "Generally speaking, when I begin to evaluate a speaker system seriously—or any component, for that matter—I cue up some music, seat myself in the listening position, more or less upright, with ears at tweeter level, and leaning forward in a posture that suggests great concentration. This is how I began listening to Harbeth’s Compact C7ES-3 XD, the latest version of the company’s C7 model, which dates from 1994. Without quite realizing it, within at most, I’d say, a minute or so, I found myself easing back into a more relaxed position as a big smile appeared on my face. Man, this is one beautiful sounding speaker system—right out of the box, sans any of the usual warmup or break-in. Alan Shaw, owner of Harbeth Audio Ltd. and designer of its loudspeakers, has always claimed his speakers don’t need that ritual, which proved substantially true here and with other Harbeths I’ve reviewed (they become a bit smoother over the first few days and a tad warmer, but after that the break-in is effectively complete).

"Over the course of the first few weeks, the members of my usual listening group—fellow audiophiles and other music lovers, a few industry professionals (from both the recording and equipment sides of the business), some musicians—fell by, not to mention random guests curious about new audio gear I have for review. Each and all had almost exactly the same experience as I—within the first minute or so, postures relax and smiles appear on faces. Everyone commented right away on the high listenability of the C7-XDs. Those more experienced, knowledgeable, and sophisticated in audiophile terms, who listened longer or returned on other days with other source material, observed that this listenability is not at the expense of such usual desirable characteristics as detail, resolution, clarity, and transparency, nor did they find any shortage of involvement, definition, vitality, rich colors and textures, rhythmic drive, and dynamic range. Despite its compact size—approximately 20″ x 10″ x 12″—this speaker is capable of some seriously room-filling reproduction in my 21 x 15 x 8-foot listening room and also in my new office, a garage conversion commodious enough to accommodate a lovely listening area, which is where I first set them up.

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"Whenever I evaluate compact speakers like these Harbeths, I always play a lot of “big” music, from classical to big band to hard-driving rock-and-roll, just to see how well they do. The Compact C7 XDs acquitted themselves excellently. They are capable of setting forth a wide and deep soundstage with very precise imaging and placement within the soundstage, including movement of performers if the recording happens to stage a drama or story, as the Bernstein Carmen or the Solti Ring cycle, another of my longstanding references, certainly does. From opera house to Broadway by way of a staged concert performance by the New York Philharmonic of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (CD, New York Philharmonic): I hadn’t listened to this in years either and was swept off my feet by the energy, conviction, enthusiasm, virtuosity, and sheer adrenalin of this brilliant performance, a live recording that places you in ideal seat in the concert hall."

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"Voices? Well, superlative reproduction of voices is by now so solidly inside the Harbeth wheelhouse it seems unnecessary to remark upon it unless it happens to be absent, which is most emphatically not the case here. I recently lucked upon an original LP version of Hyperion’s famous album of sequences and hymns by Hildegarde de Bingen, the twelfth-century abbess who was a mystic, a poet, a composer, and a visionary (eventually canonized as a saint): A feather on the breath of God, by the Gothic Voices. As recorded by Tony Faulkner, the singers should appear slightly set back from the plane of the speakers but palpably present. There are only eight singers. They sing solo, in duet, trio, or quartet, but never the whole group together. Thus, there should be no “depth” between or among the performers in the normal understanding of that word, and if they appear too distant, the response of your playback chain is somewhere recessed. But they are captured with an uncannily real-sounding dimensionality, roundedness, and purity, while the rich atmosphere of the venue, a London church, above, around, and extending well behind them should be very evident. Set the level right with the C7 XDs and you will hear what Peter Walker meant by his metaphor of “a window onto the concert hall” when trying to describe his goals when he was designing his QUAD ESLs.

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"Unengaging? Uninvolving? Unemotional? Not bloody likely with these speakers! Inasmuch as I’ve not come remotely close to hearing all the obvious competition, I can’t and wouldn’t pronounce the C7ES-3 XD the best compact two-way out there, but given my priorities in what I want from music reproduced in the home, it is certainly the best with which I’ve had any sort of long experience or exposure. It’s a really great loudspeaker." - Paul Seydor

Part Time Audiophile: "That’s what the Compact 7 is all about—it is immensely enjoyable, likable and yet rare in terms of performance.

"The Harbeth C7ES-3 XD monitors continue that warm and engaging character into 2022, and it’s clear that Alan Shaw wants to preserve those unique characteristics of each of his speakers and their BBC heritage as well.

"For me, it’s been a bit more personal than usual with this speaker, and I’ll have to relive it all when I review the Naim SuperNAIT on its own. Yes, this is a great match, but it’s bigger than that. The idea of spending about 5K on speakers and 5-6K on amplification is probably a common subject among audiophiles, and here you go, my definitive answer on the subject. The Harbeth C7ES-3 XD remains, after all these years, as a top recommendation, thanks to Alan Shaw’s continuing efforts to improve his now legendary designs." - Marc Philips

Technical specifications -
 

Technical Features:
* 200mm Harbeth RADIAL2™ bass/mid; 
* 25mm ferrofluid-cooled tweeter

Frequency response:
45Hz – 20kHz, ±3dB free-space, grille on, smooth off-axis response

Impedance:
6 ohms, easy to drive

Sensitivity:
86dB/2.83V/1m axial

Amplifier suggestion:
Works with a wide range of amplifiers – suggested from 25W/channel

Power handling:
150W programme 

Dimensions:
520 x 272 x 305 mm
(+12mm for grille and binding posts)

Connectors:
Two 4mm Harbeth branded binding posts 

Weight:
13.2kg each (without packing)

Space needs:
Overall response optimised for use away from walls.

Stands:
Optimally to bring ears level with tweeters. (Tweeter: 440mm up from cabinet base)

Grille color:Black