Well, here it is – my assessment of how HT3 loudspeakers sound.
First off, here is what comprises the rest of my system:
Musical Fidelity A3CD Player
McIntosh C15 Preamplifier
2 McIntosh MC162 Power Amplifiers, each running in bridged mode, one for the left channel, one for the right channel.
My turntable is a Music Hall MMF5, but it is hooked up to my secondary system and has not been used with the HT3s.
My HT3s were born on November 1, 2007. I received them the third week of November and have been listening to them regularly since then. My first impression when listening to them for the first time was that they seemed to have too much bass. They replaced a pair of Definitive Technology BP30 speakers that, for as long as I owned them, seemed to have well balanced sound. After experimenting with placement within my listening room and removing/reinstalling the spikes, I settled on leaving the spikes off the HT3s and placing them so that the rear of each speaker is fifteen inches from the back wall, the outer side of each speaker is five feet from its respective side wall and the toe in of each speaker is set to thirty degrees. All of my experimenting made only minor changes in how the speakers sound. But, I believe that I have found the best placement and set up for my listening room.
Okay, now for how the HT3s sound. For lack of a better term, the HT3s sound…ACCURATE. What I initially thought was a surplus of bass turned out to be a deficit of bass in the BP30s.
I have listened to nearly all types of music through the HT3s during the past five months. I have listened to music recorded over the span of several decades, with greatly varied recording quality. I have listened to music played softly, satisfyingly loud and loud enough to have my neighbors across the street ask me to turn it down. I have listened when I am well rested and when I am tired. I have listened at all times of day and night. I have listened when I am in a good mood and when I am in a bad mood. And I have listened when I am well and when I am ill. So, I have covered pretty much all combinations of music, volume, recording quality, emotions, and physical health.
The most revealing thing I can say about the HT3s is that they reproduce exactly what is present on the source material. If there is a lot of bass, the HT3s produce a lot of bass. If there is a lack of bass, they produce a lack of bass. If the recording quality is poor, they produce music that sounds like it was recorded poorly. If there are any timbral inaccuracies in the source material, they reproduce the inaccuracies faithfully. But when the source material is just right and all the other variables are just right as well, the HT3s sound better than any other loudspeakers I have ever heard. And I have heard many, many other loudspeakers, from bookshelf speakers to floor standing behemoths that cost more than a new entry level luxury car.
The greatest compliment I can pay to Jim and Dennis is to say that I plan to keep my HT3s for a long, long time. In fact, I might not ever let them go. They are that good.
Regards,
Bob