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Harbeth Super HL5plus XD - LOUDSPEAKER

Stereophile

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September 2023

What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits-the 1974 album by those San Jose yacht-rock sages the Doobie Brothers-could also describe an audiophile's life.

- KEN MICALLEF

Harbeth Super HL5plus XD - LOUDSPEAKER

The journey begins with booze and bong money spent instead on an entry-level turntable and cartridge; it did for me anyway. Then starts the churn, through many components and configurations seeking that elusive, blissful audio fix until finally we find our audio oasis, our own sonic peace, our gearhead nirvana. We achieve a system that satisfies our listening indulgences, whether it be based on streaming or spinning, class-D or tubes, with Belden wire or 0.999999% pure-silver single-strand wire that costs more than a Range Rover. It doesn't last.

My audio evolution began in the late 1970s, with a Garrard 42M Automatic Record Changer, a skanky, toneless Lafayette LA-25 solid state integrated amplifier with fake woodgrain wrap on its yucky tin shell, and a Utah Radio Products A-70A speaker system. Not pretty.

Soon enough, a Bang & Olufsen Beogram RX turntable joined the mix; that led to a pair of Cary Audio Design CAD-300SE monoblock amplifiers-progress-an Oracle Alexandria turntable, a chunky Audio Research SP-9 preamplifier, and an Art Audio Diavolo SET 300B amplifier. More recently, I've locked down my jones with B&W, ProAc, Gallo, DeVore Fidelity, Shindo Labs, Thorens, Kuzma, and VPI.

Good stuff, it makes me happy, but satisfaction is fleeting and soon I-weneed another new fix. You find yourself exploring again, dodging hurricanes and meteorites to reach new audio vistas. It would be wise advice not to listen to those urges. We know this, but we do it anyway because we know in time we'll stumble onto something new that rocks our world.

More than one audiophile has found hi-fi contentment in a pair of Harbeth loudspeakers. Founded by former BBC engineer Dudley Harwood, in West Sussex, England, Harbeth Audio Ltd.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA Stereophile

Stereophile

Stereophile

Doing it for themselves—and for us

Women have undeniably become the most dynamic and vital creative force in music today. Without their good energies and ideas, music, which in the digital age has become more background than art, would be much less interesting and inspiring.

time to read

3 mins

November 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

15 FOR 50 1975 IN 15 RECORDS

WAS IT SOMETHING IN THE AIR, SOMETHING IN THE WATER? COSMICALLY INSPIRED BY THE STARS AND THE MOON? OR MAYBE THE DEVIL WAS FINALLY CLAIMING HIS OWN AS ROCK MUSIC IN ALL ITS VARIANTS WAS UNASSAILABLY ASCENDENT.

time to read

12 mins

November 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid

These days, listeners the wide world over enjoy hearing their music recreated for them by equipment whose origins are international; trade isolationists might consider the example of PrimaLuna.

time to read

10 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Bricasti Design M21

Those of us who review audio equipment, and even audiophiles who don't, often talk about our reference systems.

time to read

11 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Pablo Records via Granz and Kassem

Way back in my ignorant youth I thought that Pablo Records, the label of jazz producer/promoter legend Norman Granz, was where jazz artists went to fade away, where they were put out to pasture.

time to read

3 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

Hi-fi for (very) small spaces

For the past few months, I've been getting ready to move. Those of you who've looked for an apartment in New York City know that it may be the single most dismal thing about living here.

time to read

12 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

RECOMMENDED RC2025 COMPONENTS

Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable. Occasionally we get complaints from manufacturers who object to being included in, say, Class B. That's their error: Inclusion in Class B is a significant honor.

time to read

34 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

The Shanling ET3 CD transport

Costing just $899, Shanling's top-loading ET3 CD transport appears to have been designed by people who recognize the multitude of big and small fails (or lost opportunities) of previous CD transports. In use, the ET3 felt like a distillation of what I've always wanted in a transport: strong, solid, compact, cool-looking, and feels good to use. Everyone knows I like pro-audio cool with no froufrou. This Shanling deck looked so damn smart and felt so good to touch that it kept my mind repeating, \"Yep! That's how a CD transport should be built!\"

time to read

11 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

JOHN GIOLAS ASSUMES MARKETING LEADERSHIP AT CH PRECISION AND WATTSON AUDIO

Industry veteran John Giolas, global director of marketing for Swiss-based Wattson Audio since November 2024, has expanded his portfolio by also becoming global director of marketing for Wattson's parent company, CH Precision. The appointment, effective July 16, 2025, consolidates marketing strategy across both Swiss brands under Giolas's direction.

time to read

8 mins

October 2025

Stereophile

Stereophile

CH Precision C10

It takes audacity for a company that already builds one of the finest DACs on the planet, which is already expensive, to set out to build one that's so much better that it warrants an extra digit in the model number and a much higher price tag. But then CH Precision has never lacked audacity.

time to read

16 mins

October 2025

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