Harbeth · NLE · Bookshelf

NLE-1

Product description
A compact active two-way — the 'New Listening Experience' — with a 110 mm RADIAL mid-bass and 19 mm tweeter, each driven by its own 50 W Class-D amp. XLR and RCA inputs and no wireless keep it a purist active nearfield or small-room speaker rather than a streaming all-in-one.

Performance — where it sits in the catalog

BassTrebleCone area
Bass reachTreble reachCone area
NLE-175 Hz20 kHz98 cm²
Median43 Hz22 kHz155 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 71 active 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. Not shown: Sensitivity, Easy load — the maker publishes no figure. Active speakers quote no sensitivity and no impedance, because with the amplifier inside both describe the electronics rather than the cabinet.

Units
TypeBookshelf
HiFi ladder position#48 of 448 bookshelf
PowerActive
Height275 mm
Width166 mm
Depth230 mm
Weight7.6 kg
EnclosureSealed
Drivers1× 110 mm mid-bass (RADIAL polymer cone), 1× 19 mm tweeter (ferrofluid-cooled dome)
Frequency response75–20000 Hz
MAP (USD)$3,790 / pair
Amplification (per driver)mid-bass 50 W (class D) · tweeter 50 W (class D)
Total amp power100 W
Max SPL @ 1 m—
Hi-res audio—
Wired inputsXLR balanced, RCA
Streaming / wireless—
Outputs—
Room correction—
Primary + secondary pair—
Wireless inter-speaker link—
Latency—
Idle power0.06 W
Max consumption—
Where to buyCheck availability ↗
Manufacturerharbeth.co.uk ↗
Product pageOpen product page ↗

Suggested TrueScale comparisons

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