Distinctive, Audiophile Quality NHT Bookshelf speakers 1.3
$295.00
Out of stock
This one has sold. Looking for one?
We take these in regularly. Leave your name and we’ll email you the moment one arrives, before it goes up for sale.
Email me when one arrives
Whatever you end up with, it needs cable. Build a set to length →
Other bookshelf speakers we have in stock now
3 in stock · $275.00–$295.00 · all ship
NHT SuperOne 6.5″ 2-Way Sealed Bookshelf Speakers — Gloss Black$275.00Ships
Thiel Model 02 — Jim Thiel’s Second Loudspeaker, in Black Walnut$295.00Ships
Klipsch R-41M Reference Bookshelf Speakers$295.00Ships
Whatever you end up with, it needs cable.
We hand-build speaker cable to your exact length and terminate it however you like: banana, spade, pin or bare wire. Tell us the run and the ends, and it ships ready to plug in.
Build a set to length →Finished in a gloss-black high-pressure laminate, the 1.3 is elegant, even beautiful, and is distinguished by its unusual angled front baffle.
This design means that the rear baffle is nonparallel to the driver, thus reducing the amount of internal cabinet energy reflected back toward the woofer. This is said to improve imaging and midrange purity by reducing comb filtering. In addition, the angled baffle puts the listener directly on-axis with the loudspeakers pointing straight ahead. This increases the ratio of direct-to-reflected sound reaching the listener and further improves imaging.
Rather than use off-the-shelf drivers, the 6″ woofer and 1″ soft-dome tweeter are custom-made for NHT. The woofer took 18 months to develop from the ground up, and is manufactured in Asia by KSC. The tweeter is made by Tonegen in Japan, to NHT’s specifications. Tonegen manufactures many drivers for high-end loudspeakers, including, I believe, the EMITs for Infinity. The drivers are mounted symmetrically on the front baffle, vertically in-line. Crossover frequency is 3.1kHz, with second-order slopes and a damping compensation network. Air-core inductors are used, along with some polypropylene capacitors. A single pair of five-way binding posts is mounted in a large cup in the rear panel.
In addition to its attractive appearance, the Model 1.3 has excellent fit and finish.
Excerpt from Stereophile’s excellent review:
“Conclusion
The NHT Model 1.3 excels in those areas that are most important musically: tonal neutrality, uncolored and transparent midrange, and well-defined and articulate bass presentation. In these areas, it rivals much more expensive loudspeakers. The midrange is especially clear and detailed, giving instruments and vocals a natural texture and providing an excellent view into the presentation.
I prefer the 1.3’s somewhat lean mid-to-upper bass to a tubby, underdamped bass. This improves the overall presentation by the absence of that thick, congested sound that often accompanies a loose bass. In addition, the bass was articulate and agile, clearly resolving pitch. The slight loss of body and warmth to some instruments was, in my opinion, worth the increase in definition and control. In addition, bass extension was surprising for the 1.3’s cabinet size. I found the brightness in the extreme treble to be a liability, but not significant enough to preclude a recommendation. This minor fault is more than compensated for by the 1.3’s strengths and overall musical performance.
The NHT Model 1.3 offers the audiophile on a budget a glimpse of high-end sound at a mid-fi price. Highly recommended.”
Description:
Two-way loudspeaker with 6½” woofer and 1″ soft-dome tweeter.
Bass alignment: sealed-box.
Crossover frequency: 3100Hz with second-order slopes.
Frequency response: 53Hz–24kHz ±3dB.
Power handling: 150W maximum. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal.
Sensitivity: 86dB, 2.3V at 1m (as published in owner’s manual).
Dimensions: 7″ W by 16½” H by 10″ D. Weight: 15 lbs each, net.
Finish: high-gloss black laminate.
The NHT 1.3 Bookshelf speakers listed for $480 USD when new ~$740 CND with HST. Asking just $295 for these distinctive, great sounding bookshelf speakers from California’s “Now Hear This”
| Weight | 30 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 22 × 42 × 28 in |
Related Products
Mission 731 Bookshelf — Made in England, Inverted Driver Design
Two things to tell you: a ding on the top side edge of one cabinet, and third-party binding posts a previous owner fitted to one speaker. Otherwise good — and the design is the interesting part, since Mission's inverted geometry puts the tweeter below the woofer to bring the two into step at seated ear height. Made in England.
Bowers & Wilkins WM2 Outdoor Speakers, Pearl White, w/ Brackets
On an outdoor speaker the condition is the whole story — these are almost never retired for how they sound, but for sun turning a white cabinet chalky and yellow, freeze-thaw working at the seams, and grilles blooming with rust. Pearl White shows all of it more plainly than black would, and this pair grades Very Good, factory wall brackets included. B&W did not design a weatherproof box and then find a driver to fit it either: a 130 mm woven fibreglass cone crossed at 3.5 kHz to a 25 mm dome, the same material philosophy as their indoor speakers.
Castle Knight 1 Bookshelf Speakers — Real Wood Cherry, Pair
From a Yorkshire company that spent forty years being known for its cabinets above all else. The cherry veneer is deep-figured real timber, book-matched across the two cabinets so the grain mirrors when they are set up together, then sealed and waxed by hand over more than five days. Underneath is an honest two-way bass-reflex with a 130 mm woven natural-fibre bass/mid driver and five-way binding posts. Very Good condition.
PSB Alpha A/V Shielded Bookshelf Speakers — 6.5″ Woofer, Canada
The final 6.5-inch version of the speaker that made PSB's name — the 1998 Alpha A/V, with the upgraded tweeter, crossover and banana-plug terminals, and magnetic shielding so it can sit right beside a screen. Ninety decibels sensitive, so a modest receiver drives them well. Black ash, graded Very Good, bench-tested here. Pair.
Paradigm Monitor 3 v3 Bookshelf Speakers – 8″ Woofer, Canada
An 8-inch woofer in a cabinet small enough to sit on a stand — a 210 mm ICP cone on a die-cast chassis, with a third-generation titanium dome on the Studio-series waveguide faceplate, crossed at 2.0 kHz. Low frequency extension to 38 Hz and 91 dB room sensitivity, so 15 watts drives them and 150 is just headroom. Built in Canada, in Black Ash. Very good condition.
PSB Century 300i Bookshelf Speakers – 6.5″ Woofer, Canada
MartinLogan Motion 15 Bookshelf Speakers – Folded Motion, Boxed
The reason to want these is the tweeter — MartinLogan's Folded Motion driver is a pleated ribbon rather than a dome, so it squeezes air out from between its pleats and barely has to move. A 5.25-inch aluminium cone below it, 92 dB sensitivity, and the high-gloss black clean of the swirls these show so readily. Original boxes included.
Polk Audio RTi6 Bookshelf Speakers – Real Wood, Bi-Wireable
JBL 62T Bookshelf Speakers – Rosewood Finish, Titanium Dome
Discounted for the aftermarket screw holes a previous owner left in the back panels, and very good everywhere else — original drivers, clean rosewood finish, both tested here. A mid-1980s two-way with a pure titanium tweeter that runs out to 23 kHz, and an easy 89 dB load that a thirty-watt vintage receiver drives properly.
