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Ascend Acoustics ELX or BMR Tower

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gilency

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I am selling all my electrostatic headphones and amplifiers because I have been very happy with the HD800S and the DCA E3. Now looking for speakers.
I am close to deciding on either of these 2 speakers without having listened to any of them. I have not found a whole lot of information comparing ELX RAAL vs the BMR. The BMR looks gorgeous and is cheaper but my decision needs to be based on sound not looks. Nevertheless there is a significant price differential with the BMR being significantly cheaper.
For those of you who have listened or compared both which one would you suggest? Your input is much appreciated.
 
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Well if this isn't a cause for a first post I don't know what is. I'm in basically the exact space as you. I have reached my headphone end game, (Which is really just a compromise as I prefer speakers but don't have the space for it at the moment) and have spent many hours glazing over internet about speakers for the impending construction of a suitable room. I've narrowed it down to 4 which includes those two alongside Kef R7 meta and Revel F208. The latter 2 have plenty of traction online, both in ownership and professional reviews. The smaller companies' offerings have fewer reviews, but these are some of what I've found

Ascend ELX spinorama:

Measurements for speaker Ascend Acoustics ELX Ribbon Tower

www.spinorama.org www.spinorama.org

Audioholics BMR tower review with measurements:
www.audioholics.com

Philharmonic BMR Tower Speaker Review: Strike Gold Twice?

Philharmonic Audio BMR tower is a 3-way wide dispersion speaker that scales up the performance and bass output from of their fabulous Philharmonitor previously reviewed. Read on to see if how it’s done.
www.audioholics.com www.audioholics.com

There's a thread of someone who had the BMR HT and the ELX RAAL in his house at the same time that I'm trying to find (I linked something erroneously which I currently edited out).

There's lots of talk about the ELX's tweeter, but it's hard to say if that's expectation bias. I have no doubt it is excellent, but if it as grand as some of the testimonies say then it's hard to imagine a better speaker anywhere near that price barring some preference for different categories (i.e., coaxial, cardioid, active, etc), provided the narrow vertical dispersion is appropriate for you.

If you're in the states I would not hesitate to order both of them and compare them yourself, and maybe something from KEF if you can get it locally just so you can try a different flavor as you might prefer the coaxial design. That's just my opinion, and what I'll try to do! Then you'll know and get to be the one answering instead of asking (or piping in uninformed... stop looking at me.)

Cheers
 
The Ascends look great, but if I was getting one I'd go for the dome tweeter. Not only cheaper, but just looks better in the measurements. I don't like the way those RAAL tweeters behave.
 
I was in the same boat not too long ago. I was deciding between the R11 Meta, ELX Towers, and the Phil HT Towers (I was also considering Revel Be series as well). Originally I wasn’t even considering the Philharmonic speakers and was seriously between the ELX and R11s.

I was able to audition the R11s at Best Buy, but for the other 3, I had no way of actually hearing them in person. I was mulling over the decision for a while. What swayed me over was member @jlx having experience with all 3. I decided to take a shot in the dark with the Philharmonic HT Towers based on his suggestion. I figured if I didn’t like them, I would just go through the hassle of sending them back. I couldn’t be happier with my decision!

They’re amazing speakers that bring a smile to my face every time I listen to them. I didn’t think I would like the walnut finish (I was really drawn to the white R11s… still am) but it looks amazing in person.

As for the sound, they have amazing low end. More than you expect them to thanks to the purifi drivers. The mids and highs are very articulate and have great clarity.

Personally I don’t think you could go wrong with either the Phils or Ascends, you’d be splitting hairs. But as new Philharmonic owner, I can definitely say that I’m huge fan and definitely recommend them. I also wish I sent these to Erin first to get them measured so there was data on spinorama!
 
ry_ said:
I also wish I sent these to Erin first to get them measured so there was data on spinorama!
Click to expand...
Erin did measure the HT Tower (under contract to Philharmonic) and the main results can be seen at https://philharmonicaudio.com/pages/measurements (scroll to near the end of the page). Missing are the dispersion plots. I'm pretty sure the horizontal plot was posted by Dennis in the massive Philharmonic thread at AVS forums, but the vertical was not. I'd really like to see that vertical plot!
 
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I decided to go with Ascend and purchased the ELX with RAAL. Also ordered a Buckeye NCx500 2 channel amplifier. Already have an adi2 dac.
Newbie question: for speaker wire I understand banana plugs work with the Buckeye. What terminals/ends work for the ELX?
 
They use standard 5-way binding posts AFAIK, so you can use bare wire, spades, or bananas. I'd just go with bananas on both ends.
 
gilency said:
Newbie question: for speaker wire I understand banana plugs work with the Buckeye. What terminals/ends work for the ELX?
Click to expand...
Ascend will answer that question authoritatively. Our Sierra Towers have the terminals that accept bananas or can screw clamp down on a wire end or on a suitably sized spade terminal. I expect it will be the same on yours.

If you order finished cables with bananas all round then you can always cut the bananas off.

gilency said:
I decided to go with Ascend and purchased the ELX with RAAL. Also ordered a Buckeye NCx500 2 channel amplifier.
Click to expand...
Good choice. If you had gone for the also excellent BMR I would have had to schedule a trip to your house to throw eggs and TP at it.
 
Multicore said:
That's what the web site says. What does 5-way mean here? What are the 5 ways?
Click to expand...
I've honestly never known what the 5-ways are on 5-way binding posts. That's just what they seem to call the standard binding posts that can unscrew and clamp down on bare wire or spades or accept bananas for some reason.
 
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Multicore said:
Ascend will answer that question authoritatively. Our Sierra Towers have the terminals that accept bananas or can screw clamp down on a wire end or on a suitably sized spade terminal. I expect it will be the same on yours.

If you order finished cables with bananas all round then you can always cut the bananas off.


Good choice. If you had gone for the also excellent BMR I would have had to schedule a trip to your house to throw eggs and TP at it.
Click to expand...
LOL
 
kyuu said:
I've honestly never known what the 5-ways are on 5-way binding posts.
Click to expand...

During the late 1940s, General Radio created a new binding post that had a jack in a cap. Today it is commonly known as a "five-way" or "universal" binding post, which allows many types of connection methods:
• Banana plugs, inserted into the top open end of the binding post.
• Bare wire inserted through the same hole and clamped.
• Bare wire wrapped around the metal post and clamped.
• Pin connector, inserted into a hole drilled through the metal post and clamped by the screw-down portion of the binding post.
• Alligator clip.
Click to expand...
en.wikipedia.org

Binding post - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Okay, counting wrapping the bare wire around the post and alligator clips is cheating.
 
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