description

Very good condition, includes matching stands.  We do not have the original boxes but will be well packed for safe shipping.

 HARBETH MONITOR 30.1

Harbeth M30.1 are made from relatively thin walls made of veneered MDF with two side walls braced together. It is a BBC originated design, where front and rear panels are screwed on, and all the walls inside are dampened with bitumen pads. The idea behind this design is not only to reduce transfer of the resonances between the enclosure panels, but also to tune them so they are way below critical midband frequencies. I recall reading somewhere that the whole idea behind screwed on front and real panels originated when BBC engineers were auditioning their speaker prototypes and realised that some cabinets, despite the same construction sounded better than others. When they investigated it, they realised that that enclosures that sounded better, did not have their panels glued properly. This was the beginning of the screwed on front and real panels design.
But back to the actual speakers. The veneer on each enclosure is matched, and then both enclosures are matched with each other. It has a satin varnish finish, you can see and feel the wood texture – very nice. There is a single set of gold plated binding posts – nothing fancy but it shows the down-to-earth approach of the designer. The grills are an interesting design – thin metal frame with fabric stretched over it. The frame slides into a narrow grove in the front panel of the speakers and it is held there purely by friction. I kind of like it, because it prevents side reflections that you may find it in more traditional thick wooden grilles, but it is not a great design from a usability point of view. Although, these are not really intended for removal. I’ve seen people removing these by inserting paper clips or other sharp objects between the metal frame and groove, and damaging the fabric as a consequence. I found that removing these with neodymium magnets is by far the easiest and least invasive method.
Both the Seas tweeter and the Harbeth mid-bass unit appear to be very well made. The crossover is rather complicated and appears to be made of good quality components, but you will not find huge film capacitors or large air-core inductors here.
Overall, Harbeth Monitor 30.1 are very beautiful, especially without the grills. I feel that I have to mention that the speakers where designed and tuned with the grilles on, and this is how they were supposed to be listened to. Apart from musical enjoyment, I like my HiFi equipment to be ascetically pleasing too and I wish that Harbeth M30.1 speakers were designed with an intention of using them without the grilles.