Harbeth · Compact 7 · Bookshelf

Compact 7ES-3 XD2

Product description
A classic two-way BBC-lineage stand-mount — a 200 mm RADIAL bass-mid and 25 mm ferrofluid tweeter in a thin-wall front-ported cabinet with the XD2 crossover. Long a benchmark for lifelike voices and instrumental tone, it rewards a medium room and quality amplification from ~25 W, on stands.

Performance — where it sits in the catalog

BassTrebleSensitivityEasy loadCone area
Bass reachTreble reachSensitivityEasy loadCone area
Compact 7ES-3 XD245 Hz20 kHz86 dB6 Ω319 cm²
Median45 Hz25 kHz87 dB6 Ω219 cm²
How to read this chart

Each axis spans the range the 448 bookshelves in the catalog actually cover, so equal distance means equal difference — and for cone area and the two frequencies, which are read as ratios, equal distance means equal ratio. The dashed inner ring is where the scale starts, not zero. Ranked within a class because a bookshelf measured against floorstanders is feeble on every axis for the single reason that it is a bookshelf. Cone area is summed from the drive units — no maker publishes it. Bass and treble reach are quoted to different tolerances and only 56% of the catalog says which, so read those two axes as approximate. The grey outline is the median of this speaker's own class, the 377 passive bookshelves — same type, same side of the active/passive line, which matters because the two halves are not the same product: the median active bookshelf carries 155 cm² of cone against the passive median's 219. Median rather than mean, because a handful of very large cabinets would drag a mean above most of the class it claims to describe.

Units
TypeBookshelf
HiFi ladder position#393 of 448 bookshelf
PowerPassive
Height520 mm
Width272 mm
Depth305 mm
Weight13.2 kg
EnclosureBass reflex, front port
Drivers1× 25 mm tweeter (ferrofluid-cooled dome), 1× 200 mm mid-bass (RADIAL polymer cone)
Frequency response45–20000 Hz
Sensitivity86 dB
Impedance6 Ω
Power handling150 W
MAP (USD)$5,290 / pair
Where to buyCheck availability ↗
Manufacturerharbeth.co.uk ↗
Product pageOpen product page ↗

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