Collection: Harbeth Speakers

Alan Shaw became a Saturday assistant at his local BBC radio station in the 1960's. This gave him access to presenters live and through the glass in the control room to their reproduced voice over the monitor speakers. It fuelled his curiosity about the BBC monitor concept, and to Shorter (LS5/1) and Harwood’s inventions (LS5/5, LS3/5a).

Some ten years later, Shaw, working in the Japanese semiconductor industry, had the opportunity to visit Harwood, about whom he had read extensively. Harwood’s commercial predicament now that he was well past retirement age was self-evident — the premature launching of the new-technology Mk4 Monitor but having to revert to producing the diaphragm technology of the previous models. Shaw’s, half Harwood’s age and having first-hand experience with Japanese Quality Control, supply-chain management, and product innovation suited the Harbeth commercial challenges perfectly. Over forty years on with Shaw at the helm, Harbeth was to steadily grow and evolve.