Affordable Accuracy Monitor Review

[Dennis Murphy]

There is no reason to go into the extremes. The speakers in discussion, namely Pioneer BS22 are by far too small to serve as a monitor. I did the math, I think somewhere here. Even with a sub they cannot deliver decent high fidelity levels in a family room. All this tedious optimization is lost in "too quiet".

On the other hand, one doesn't have to take such a big one as the BIC. An eight inch bass/ lower midrange is enough. Complemented by a small, dedicated midrange and even smaller, cheap tweeter, a 25L box would serve nearly everbody perfectly. The preferred wide dispersion would ease the task considerably. (As compared to controlled and more narrow.)

Why is it so, that things get out of proportion, once a "real one" is the aim? Only as to exemplify on this, the "BMR" from Mr. Murphy sports a ScanSpeak bass, which cost is partly wasted. And it should be a special, proprietary ribbon, which cost is surely wasted. Without such bells and whistles, in the same from factor, it could be made really affordable and worthwhile at the same time. It would at least not be a waste of talent.

This will strictly be a fun project. I'm pretty old, but I've never broken a lease before. I have a couple of neighbors I wouldn't mind antagonizing with 102 dB of decent sound. Speaking of which, you don't need 102 dB to make Mozart come out of a little cabinet unscathed. There's plenty of room for small, accurate speakers that don't meet your dB needs.

 

[GelbeMusik]

^Who knows what is the pricing on those Scans if you buy large quantities ... and can play cleanly higher up.

I can only imagine - at least less than ... and the "higher up" is not used with the "BMR", since that sports a midrange for good measure.

What I was after is questioning the attempt to ask somebody competent to do unreasonable things:

- optimized BS22, wasted on "too quiet"

- optimized BIC, wasted on too big (and sure many other issues)

- "high ends" bells and whistles on BMR, which in different fields counteract a wider distribution

Long throw 8" woof reflexed, 3..4" mids, miniature 3/4" tweet in a 25 metric liters rectangular volume, competent XO spinorama approved, with o/k material THD and IM wouldn't be of any issue, e/g by 3-way design. There You are with an affordable monitor. Btw, the Neuman KH 310 has a pretty humble Peerless woofer in, as far as I know … avoid the "special" and do, what remains just right. Engineering is an art, which shall respect proportions..

... antagonizing with 102 dB of decent sound. Speaking of which, you don't need 102 dB to make Mozart come out of a little cabinet unscathed. There's plenty of room for small, accurate speakers that don't meet your dB needs.

I did the math somewhere. Recommended level for the infamously hilarious "critical listening" is 84dB or so, plus some dynamics. These little guys here wouldn't deliver at all. Not even with subs. I personally use 2 x 12" for bass/mids and a horn (per side) for directivity purposes only. It was the easiest way, I'm lazy. Mozart--hmm, I'm more in contemporary music, Schönberg and later, mostly composer/performer things like jazz, electronica etc. I'm not too much in ancient musical history.

But once in a while I play the harpsichord, Xenakis did some nice compositions for it. On stereo: boring to death, but live, with all the noises, the deep fat banging of the wooden frame and all. It needs competent full range speakers to become alive! Music shall be experienced, not rendered a distant object to be scrutinized under a magnifying glass. If high fidelity is expected to be "true", available volume is one criterion.

So, I didn't want to bug You at all. But there is need for a humble, yet not too small speaker, see above.

 

[JohnBooty]

I did the math somewhere. Recommended level for the infamously hilarious "critical listening" is 84dB or so, plus some dynamics. These little guys here wouldn't deliver at all.

[...]

But once in a while I play the harpsichord, Xenakis did some nice compositions for it. On stereo: boring to death, but live, with all the noises, the deep fat banging of the wooden frame and all. It needs competent full range speakers to become alive! Music shall be experienced, not rendered a distant object to be scrutinized under a magnifying glass. If high fidelity is expected to be "true", available volume is one criterion.

I'm having a very schizophrenic reaction to your post.

On one hand, I typically listen at 75dB or far less (I would like to protect my hearing) and when crossed over to a subwoofer the unmodified Pioneers manage this well with acceptable headroom for dynamic peaks. With DM's crossover and tweeter upgrades I imagine that would be a very good listening experience.

On the the other hand... I agree that for some kinds of music, absolutely massive amounts of SPL on tap is the only way to make it sound remotely like actual live music. Not because you need large amounts of sustained SPL, but for those momentary dynamic peaks. Accordingly, I have decided that all future speakers I buy/build will be well over 90db sensitive with decent power handling. Not because I want to rattle the house but because I want to capture that feeling of live music.

 

[GelbeMusik]

On one hand, I typically listen at 75dB or far less ....

My current system, in charge since many years would easily handle 110dB of sustained noise. But for sure, it never is used this way, while 75dB ( A-weighted ) seems to be loud to me. It depends on the compression, though. What I mean is the "air" that comes from a very clear lower midrange. To some it may even sound boring, devoid of all the used-to and lived-in loudspeaker artifacts, the drama of what is actually overload.

Whatever it is, there is a limit, and from my personal perspective these little AAM fall way below. You must not be sad about it. The JBL SR305 I know quite well. It sells for 300 a pair, active. If one would have 170 for the "AAM" without the amp plus shipping, one might, in case of any interest in high fidelity, spare a bit longer for the 305s. These won't have the fancy curved side walls, though.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

My current system, in charge since many years would easily handle 110dB of sustained noise. But for sure, it never is used this way, while 75dB ( A-weighted ) seems to be loud to me. It depends on the compression, though. What I mean is the "air" that comes from a very clear lower midrange. To some it may even sound boring, devoid of all the used-to and lived-in loudspeaker artifacts, the drama of what is actually overload.

Whatever it is, there is a limit, and from my personal perspective these little AAM fall way below. You must not be sad about it. The JBL SR305 I know quite well. It sells for 300 a pair, active. If one would have 170 for the "AAM" without the amp plus shipping, one might, in case of any interest in high fidelity, spare a bit longer for the 305s. These won't have the fancy curved side walls, though.

Speaking as an economist, I've always considered specialization to be a virtue, not a vice. My mod of the BS22 was targeted at a specific market, which I'm sure didn't include people seeking outstanding dynamics. Still, Amir seemed to enjoy listening to the mod, and no one has ever accused him of harboring a bias toward speakers with reticent bass or limited dynamic range.

 

[JohnBooty]

Whatever it is, there is a limit, and from my personal perspective these little AAM fall way below. You must not be sad about it. The JBL SR305 I know quite well. It sells for 300 a pair, active. If one would have 170 for the "AAM" without the amp plus shipping, one might, in case of any interest in high fidelity, spare a bit longer for the 305s. These won't have the fancy curved side walls, though.

I'm not sad about it. In fact I agree with you. The JBLs are the primary speakers in my music room, crossed over to a pair of stereo subwoofers.

(The Pioneers are in my TV room)

 

[KEW]

- "high ends" bells and whistles on BMR, which in different fields counteract a wider distribution

I'm at a loss to understand what you are saying! When you speak of "wider distribution", are you talking about the dispersion of sound into the room?
What do you mean by different fields?
And how do the "high ends" bells and whistles counteract a wider dispersion?
Sorry, I followed the rest, but completely failed in my attempt to unpack this one!

 

[GelbeMusik]

I'm at a loss to understand what you are saying! When you speak of "wider distribution", are you talking about the dispersion of sound into the room?
What do you mean by different fields?
And how do the "high ends" bells and whistles counteract a wider dispersion?
Sorry, I followed the rest, but completely failed in my attempt to unpack this one!

Sorry, language barrier. Wider distribution: it is sold to a wider public. Many people decide to buy it. Why not? It's a bit special, in that it focusses on, as I feel it, typical "high end" triggers, as "ScanSpeak" and "ribbon". The term "bells and whistles" I looked up. It describes, according to the dictionary, stuff that isn't needed.

 

[Severian]

I have now tentatively convinced my wife to let me stack a second pair of BICs on top of the existing pair to use as Dolby Atmos front height speakers. The tweeters will be the same height as speakers hung high on the walls!

 

[KEW]

Sorry, language barrier. Wider distribution: it is sold to a wider public. Many people decide to buy it. Why not? It's a bit special, in that it focusses on, as I feel it, typical "high end" triggers, as "ScanSpeak" and "ribbon". The term "bells and whistles" I looked up. It describes, according to the dictionary, stuff that isn't needed.

Actually, your English is pretty good! Distribution is definitely used correctly and were I not second-guessing you with the understanding that English is not likely your native tongue I might not have asked!
However, to say that the BMR is widely distributed is the reason why widely distributed did not fit!
The fact of the matter is that Dennis Murphy assembled the crossover for each BMR sold! That is in addition to performing the mods for each set of the AA's sold (which is much higher volume sales due to the lower price) and the other 2 or 3 models he was selling. He was also performing in a couple of orchestras last time I checked! He never advertised any of his speakers and relied on "word of mouth" to drive sales. So this was a one-man shop, with no paid advertising, which in my mind does not fit the "widely distributed" category. What he has accomplished is very impressive given these constraints, but not at all "widely distributed" in a general sense!
I know he has tested many different drivers over the years and there may be a little truth to his selecting a well respected name for the drivers if there was not a very big difference in price. However, as I have watched Dennis grow his business, I know if he was aware of a significantly less expensive driver which would do the job, he would have used it and passed the savings to the customer.
Now Salk who he designs for is in the upscale market and Salk would definitely want that high quality name brand recognition with the drivers to attract the people who would pay the premium for his wonderful craftsmanship in building/finishing the cabinets. So it may be that Dennis used what he was familiar with and knew would do what he needed!
However, I have to dispute the notion that the BMR or Dennis' philosophy was anything other than striving for the highest value possible! In the case of the BMR, mine were fully assembled by Dennis (early 2019, IIRC) and the price was $1350 for the pair (the price has fluctuated over the years as Dennis had to arrange different sources for components). The kitted version currently being sold is around $200 more than that and if you were to buy the parts and raw mdf, I bet you would still be right around $1200 and have many hours of wood and soldiering work ahead of you!
One factor you may be missing is any normal speaker manufacturer would be trying to put food on the table and maximize profits. With them, if a driver cost $50 more, they are likely going to charge you $100 more as is the nature of modern business. Dennis is retired and more interested in sharing in his passion for high sound quality than adding a second income. I don't know how Dennis arrived at his final costs but I do know that for my Philharmonic 3's he made less than minimum wage for the labor he put into them!
Last, as another point of dispute, the BMR driver which is the midrange he used goes for $15 - $20 each and does not have a reputation for being an exceptional driver. As he says in his description, this is a tweeter that did not perform that well in the upper frequencies, but he found it to be an exceptional driver for upper midrange frequencies. So, in this case, he is doing the exact opposite by taking a very inexpensive tweeter which does not have an impressive reputation and figuring out how to use it as an exceptionally high quality midrange! Who would use a $20 midrange in between a Scan Speak woofer and RAAL tweeter?

The most unique feature of the new design is the Balanced Mode Radiator midrange driver. Conventional drivers function in simple pistonic fashion across their frequency range. Eventually the response becomes chaotic as severe breakup modes develop from the applied mass of the voice coil interacting with the driver mass, which greatly restricts the usable range of operation. The BMR is a flat-diaphragm speaker that uses strategically placed weights in the diaphragm to counteract the mass of the voice coil at higher frequencies.

The driver operates as a piston at lower frequencies, but shifts to a bending wave motion mode in the lower treble, and to a second bending mode in the upper treble. The result is greatly reduced breakup and extremely broad dispersion above 2,000 Hz. This driver is used as both a midrange and tweeter in several commercial applications. Although the BMR can function acceptably in this fashion, its true strength is upper midrange performance. The highest frequencies are much better served by the RAAL ribbon tweeter.

On another day, you might have some very valid points, but Dennis is "not the guy you are thinking of"!
If you truly know of drivers he could substitute, please suggest them. I cannot speak for him, but I believe he would love to further reduce the cost of the BMR kits if said drivers are indeed viable!

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Yeah, I own a pair and use them in my living room. I think they sound bright out of the box, but if you use EQ to adjust the tonal balance slightly by either rolling off the treble or boosting the bass they are shockingly good. I choose the latter approach, since I am using them full-range in a 5.0 home theater setup where they (very convincingly) take the place of subwoofers. The tweeter is far from the last word in detail, but it sounds reasonably smooth to me once the tonal balance is adjusted to warm them up. An L-pad could be all it really needs.

I think there is some magic in having a single 15 inch woofer that produces solid sub-bass playing all the way up to 300Hz (or wherever these cross to the midrange - I have no idea). Bass guitar in particular sounds exceptional.

Well the BIC Lease Breaker (or Back Breaker according to Eric the UPS delivery dude) arrived today. What I expected to hear was a somewhat bright, narrow sound with some horn coloration, and a whole lot of mid-bass slam. From about 800 Hz on up it sounds about like I anticipated, but below that something seems off. The sound is very thing, and with none of the slam I was expecting. My BMR goes about a half octave lower than the BIC, which isn't too surprising given the wide difference in sensitivity, but the BMR is also much fuller sounding in the upper bass and lower midrange.

I whipped out my OmniMic and lap top and took some plots of each speaker in the same position in my large living room. There are two things to know about the plots I've attached. First, ignore anything above 10 kHz. OmniMic is notorious for defective mic calibration files in that region, and I haven't had a chance to (literally) straighten things out up there. Second, OmniMic starts to transition to a room measurement when you get down to around 700 Hz. So the hills and valleys down there are room modes, and on virtually every speaker I've measured, and every other OmniMic plot I've seen, the peaks and dips average out to about the same level as the overall anechoic measurement. You can see that in the BMR plot. But with the BIC, there's a definite dip that just shouldn't be there. Also, there appear to be some interference patterns in the anechoic region. I'm wondering whether either the woofer or midrange got wired with the wrong polarity at the factory. I'll try and pin that down tomorrow. I hope that's the case, because right now there would be little point in trying to mod this speaker because I don't think anyone wants to end up with a 62 lb speaker and a 15" woofer with bass like I'm hearing (or not hearing) now. To be continued.

 

[richard12511]

Well the BIC Lease Breaker (or Back Breaker according to Eric the UPS delivery dude) arrived today. What I expected to hear was a somewhat bright, narrow sound with some horn coloration, and a whole lot of mid-bass slam. From about 800 Hz on up it sounds about like I anticipated, but below that something seems off. The sound is very thing, and with none of the slam I was expecting. My BMR goes almost an octave lower than the BIC, which isn't too surprising given the wide difference in sensitivity, but the BMR is also much fuller sounding in the upper bass and lower midrange.

I whipped out my OmniMic and lap top and took some plots of each speaker in the same position in my large living room. There are two things to know about the plots I've attached. First, ignore anything above 10 kHz. OmniMic is notorious for defective mic calibration files in that region, and I haven't had a chance to (literally) straighten things out up there. Second, OmniMic starts to transition to a room measurement when you get down to around 700 Hz. So the hills and valleys down there are room modes, and on virtually every speaker I've measured, and every other OmniMic plot I've seen, the peaks and dips average out to about the same level as the overall anechoic measurement. You can see that in the BMR plot. But with the BIC, there's a definite dip that just shouldn't be there. Also, there appear to be some interference patterns in the anechoic region. I'm wondering whether either the woofer or midrange got wired with the wrong polarity at the factory. I'll try and pin that down tomorrow. I hope that's the case, because right now there would be little point in trying to mod this speaker because I don't think anyone wants to end up with a 62 lb speaker and a 15" woofer with bass like I'm hearing (or not hearing) now. To be continued.

I've never bothered to learn what frequency ranges constitute the various descriptors(bass, midbass, midrange, ect.) . Looking at those graphs, though, the BMR looks to have much more energy in the 200-500Hz range. That, combined with the much greater extension, seems to jive with what you're hearing.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

I've never bothered to learn what frequency ranges constitute the various descriptors(bass, midbass, midrange, ect.) . Looking at those graphs, though, the BMR looks to have much more energy in the 200-500Hz range. That, combined with the much greater extension, seems to jive with what you're hearing.

That's the point I was trying to make. The BMR measures like most speakers do in the 200 - 500 Hz range or a little higher, but the BIC has a clear dip there that looks very much like the woof and mid are out of phase, and I'm thinking that's not the way it's supposed to be. One way to make sure is to see whether the woofer goes out or in when it's challenged with a positive signal. If it goes in, it's almost certainly miswired, since virtually every other speaker woofer is wired with direct polarity, and the BIC would cancel out the other speakers' bass if they were used together in a HT setup.

 

[GelbeMusik]

That's the point I was trying to make. ... out of phase, and I'm thinking that's not the way it's supposed to be.

Or it needs some break in. Most probably the mid is xo'ed cheap. A small capacitor, no coil => peak at the resonance, but phased. Break in would shift it. But, not so well designed anyway. Aperiodic damping of the mid may be of use, smoothing its impedance mechanically. Same el cheapo with the dips in the upper mids. A too shallow filter which interferes with the horn. Let alone the phase probs with the horn driver sitting deep in the box.

To "do" this is a challenge, especially if aiming for affordable. It won't ever be really good, yet costs will shoot up everywhere. Quite hard decisions to be made. An easy one would have been to leave it in favor of e/g the "econowave" route. A 12" bass/mid** plus constant directivity waveguide / driver. A few options were already taken, but nobody addressed the phase prob of the combo. A passive allpass was never considered.

Or: a 4 channel amp (AV type, pre-owned?) plus digital XO/EQ, like .. so many starting at 120$--plus cables, of course.

And: I'm waiting for the first to ask for a spinorama ( uups, it's me! )

** if folks wouldn't think of such a beast as already BIG, what then is it about, to eagerly discuss the merits of 4" "woofers"?

 

[celroid]

I would have bought the Affordable Accuracy Monitors if they were still available after this review, I wish that amir reviews the New Affordable Accuracy Plus Monitor too and If they score as good as this then I would purchase those

 

[Sonny1]

I would have bought the Affordable Accuracy Monitors if they were still available after this review, I wish that amir reviews the New Affordable Accuracy Plus Monitor too and If they score as good as this then I would purchase those

I don’t believe they are available anymore. If Dennis Murphy sells sells a Plus version of something, you know it’s going to sound better. I hope Amir tests the new BMR or other available models. Testing discontinued models is a tease, although you might luck out and find a pair on the used market.

 

[Sonny1]

Or it needs some break in. Most probably the mid is xo'ed cheap. A small capacitor, no coil => peak at the resonance, but phased. Break in would shift it. But, not so well designed anyway. Aperiodic damping of the mid may be of use, smoothing its impedance mechanically. Same el cheapo with the dips in the upper mids. A too shallow filter which interferes with the horn. Let alone the phase probs with the horn driver sitting deep in the box.

To "do" this is a challenge, especially if aiming for affordable. It won't ever be really good, yet costs will shoot up everywhere. Quite hard decisions to be made. An easy one would have been to leave it in favor of e/g the "econowave" route. A 12" bass/mid** plus constant directivity waveguide / driver. A few options were already taken, but nobody addressed the phase prob of the combo. A passive allpass was never considered.

Or: a 4 channel amp (AV type, pre-owned?) plus digital XO/EQ, like .. so many starting at 120$--plus cables, of course.

And: I'm waiting for the first to ask for a spinorama ( uups, it's me! )

** if folks wouldn't think of such a beast as already BIG, what then is it about, to eagerly discuss the merits of 4" "woofers"?

You could break those drivers in until the dawn of time and it’s not going to address the out of phase wiring. I love that you are giving Dennis Murphy crossover advice. Why don’t you offer some of your crossover designs or better yet, provide a set of speakers you have designed for Amir to measure? If you are such an expert, I believe people would really benefit from your knowledge and design prowess. I could use a laugh.

 

[Severian]

Well the BIC Lease Breaker (or Back Breaker according to Eric the UPS delivery dude) arrived today. What I expected to hear was a somewhat bright, narrow sound with some horn coloration, and a whole lot of mid-bass slam. From about 800 Hz on up it sounds about like I anticipated, but below that something seems off. The sound is very thing, and with none of the slam I was expecting. My BMR goes about a half octave lower than the BIC, which isn't too surprising given the wide difference in sensitivity, but the BMR is also much fuller sounding in the upper bass and lower midrange.

I whipped out my OmniMic and lap top and took some plots of each speaker in the same position in my large living room. There are two things to know about the plots I've attached. First, ignore anything above 10 kHz. OmniMic is notorious for defective mic calibration files in that region, and I haven't had a chance to (literally) straighten things out up there. Second, OmniMic starts to transition to a room measurement when you get down to around 700 Hz. So the hills and valleys down there are room modes, and on virtually every speaker I've measured, and every other OmniMic plot I've seen, the peaks and dips average out to about the same level as the overall anechoic measurement. You can see that in the BMR plot. But with the BIC, there's a definite dip that just shouldn't be there. Also, there appear to be some interference patterns in the anechoic region. I'm wondering whether either the woofer or midrange got wired with the wrong polarity at the factory. I'll try and pin that down tomorrow. I hope that's the case, because right now there would be little point in trying to mod this speaker because I don't think anyone wants to end up with a 62 lb speaker and a 15" woofer with bass like I'm hearing (or not hearing) now. To be continued.

That is unfortunate. It does seem likely to me that there's something wrong, because I get tons of output in that region. As I said before, I'm using these things to run a 5.0 home theater and I think only people who live on AVS and worship huge subwoofers would ever notice that my system doesn't use them. I do apply a +3dB using my Yamaha AVR's crude EQ (and this tonal balance correction is part of why I think they could benefit from a mod) but I don't think that could account for what you're seeing.

To be honest I've never actually pointed my measurement mic at them because I didn't have a PC laptop to allow me to use REW away from my desktop PC-based two channel system. But I recently got one so maybe I'll take some sweeps today. They will necessarily be in-room rather than quasi-anechoic if we want to see the bass response of course.

Beyond that, I'm in Silver Spring and probably not far from you if you wanted to compare units...

 

[MZKM]

Well the BIC Lease Breaker (or Back Breaker according to Eric the UPS delivery dude) arrived today. What I expected to hear was a somewhat bright, narrow sound with some horn coloration, and a whole lot of mid-bass slam. From about 800 Hz on up it sounds about like I anticipated, but below that something seems off. The sound is very thing, and with none of the slam I was expecting. My BMR goes about a half octave lower than the BIC, which isn't too surprising given the wide difference in sensitivity, but the BMR is also much fuller sounding in the upper bass and lower midrange.

I whipped out my OmniMic and lap top and took some plots of each speaker in the same position in my large living room. There are two things to know about the plots I've attached. First, ignore anything above 10 kHz. OmniMic is notorious for defective mic calibration files in that region, and I haven't had a chance to (literally) straighten things out up there. Second, OmniMic starts to transition to a room measurement when you get down to around 700 Hz. So the hills and valleys down there are room modes, and on virtually every speaker I've measured, and every other OmniMic plot I've seen, the peaks and dips average out to about the same level as the overall anechoic measurement. You can see that in the BMR plot. But with the BIC, there's a definite dip that just shouldn't be there. Also, there appear to be some interference patterns in the anechoic region. I'm wondering whether either the woofer or midrange got wired with the wrong polarity at the factory. I'll try and pin that down tomorrow. I hope that's the case, because right now there would be little point in trying to mod this speaker because I don't think anyone wants to end up with a 62 lb speaker and a 15" woofer with bass like I'm hearing (or not hearing) now. To be continued.

Wow, those dips at 1/2/5/8 kHz are pretty knarly.

 

[MZKM]

I would have bought the Affordable Accuracy Monitors if they were still available after this review, I wish that amir reviews the New Affordable Accuracy Plus Monitor too and If they score as good as this then I would purchase those

Dennis doesn't sell any speakers anymore, but with the occasional BMR request I believe, though he also has stated he wants to sell some speakers again.