Harbeth was founded in 1977 by BBC veteran Dudley Harwood to produce the HL Monitor (Mk1), built around his newly-patented polypropylene-coned bass-midrange woofer, the world’s first. The name Harbeth came from his surname, Harwood, and his wife’s first name, Elizabeth–Har-beth. In1986 the company was taken over by Alan Shaw who set about streamlining production whilst retaining the heritage of the brand. In the early 90’s a radical new cone material called Radial was developed which has been used in first generation and now Radial II form in every speaker since. Harbeths are known for their easy natural sound that just makes you want to listen to music. They are a very easy load which means almost any amplifier can drive them. This is extremely useful when you’re wanting to move into the Harbeth universe from an existing system. The only thing you really need to change is the speakers. The selection of the optimum Harbeth for your system is just a matter of size, power handling, and budget as all excel at believable, natural, realistic, engaging sound.