New Affordable Accuracy Monitor from Philharmonic Audio?

[Lurrus]

I have been completely satisfied with the sound of these speakers, however I note that you say "desktop". My one piece of advice is to look at the dimensions of the speakers. The old saying goes "there is no replacement for displacement" and these get quite low in the bass, but they get there with quite big cabinets. The desk space taken by each speaker is just a little bit larger than a standard 8.5"x11" letter sheet of paper, so make sure you have that much desk space to spare on either side of your monitor (if this is what you are implying with the word desktop). If you have the space I think you will enjoy the speakers.

I am using a pair of yoga blocks under each speaker as affordable speaker risers to get the tweeters up to ear height, depending on how high your desk is.

Thanks for your reply and yoga blocks recommendation. I double checked and I do have enough space for the speakers.

The listening distance would be 2.5 feet away. Would that be an issue with these speakers?

Also, was it difficult to build the speakers? What tools do I need? Did it come with any instructions?

 

[TurtlePaul]

Also, was it difficult to build the speakers? What tools do I need? Did it come with any instructions?

You only need a Phillips head screwdriver. Dennis emails instructions. It takes less than an hour to get everything together.

The kit is based on the Parts Express BR-1, but in the Parts Express kit you have to assemble the crossovers which limits how complex they make the network (the parts express crossover is also cheaper). The Philharmonic kit has crossovers pre-assembled by Bennic so it is able to implement a better 14 component network without the kit buyer needing a soldiering iron. The crossover has wires pre-attached, so you just slip the conectors over the lugs on the drivers and terminal cup.

I don't think a short listening distance would he a problem, the drivers are close together, but I use them at around 7-8 feet so I dont have experience with desktop use.

 

[Smitty2k1]

Would love an on-wall cabinet version of these that would sit more flush with a wall mounted tv

 

[Lurrus]

You only need a Phillips head screwdriver. Dennis emails instructions. It takes less than an hour to get everything together.

The kit is based on the Parts Express BR-1, but in the Parts Express kit you have to assemble the crossovers which limits how complex they make the network (the parts express crossover is also cheaper). The Philharmonic kit has crossovers pre-assembled by Bennic so it is able to implement a better 14 component network without the kit buyer needing a soldiering iron. The crossover has wires pre-attached, so you just slip the conectors over the lugs on the drivers and terminal cup.

I don't think a short listening distance would he a problem, the drivers are close together, but I use them at around 7-8 feet so I dont have experience with desktop use.

If you don't mind me asking, which DAC and speaker amplifier are you using to power the Philharmonic AA speakers?

 

[TurtlePaul]

If you don't mind me asking, which DAC and speaker amplifier are you using to power the Philharmonic AA speakers?

I am using a very old (2002) Yamaha receiver.

 

[sychan]

What do you guys think of the combo? Would you consider this to be the best bang for the buck for $700?

As I understand it, Dennis' goal is usually to offer the best possible "bang for the buck" at whatever price his speakers sell for, assuming that you like the sound that he works to achieve. Generally his speakers also measure very well objectively, but there are often aspects of personal taste in how speakers sound, even among confirmed objectivists!
So, assuming you like fairly flat frequency response (neither bass boosted nor bright), with low extension and low distortion, you probably aren't going to find any better deal on speakers. Also, the way Dennis can keep the prices low is by riding on the coattails of the low prices on the Dayton kits - you can't get those kinds of prices if you want the custom cabinets, or if you pay someone else to assemble them. From what I can tell, the AAM's really *are* kind of a charity offering to people who want nice speakers but don't have a lot of money.

 

[TurtlePaul]

And then they were gone.

Philharmonic have removed this generation of the Affordable Accuracy Monitors from the website.

 

[TimW]

I've built a pair of the Pioneer based AAM's according to the AudioKarma instructions. They were great so I got the AAM+ kit with the Morel tweeter. The Dayton Audio based speakers have excellent extension for their size and sound nice but the Pioneer based model just sounds more neutral with better midrange clarity. I built a custom set of the Pioneer version with external crossovers and a more damped and sealed enclosure paired with some 8" subs for my desktop setup.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

And then they were gone.

Philharmonic have removed this generation of the Affordable Accuracy Monitors from the website.

I just discovered this thread. I'm happy to hear that buyers of the kit have been satisfied with the results. As has been noted, the Dayton tweeter requires some help. That's why I switched to the Morel for the second iteration of the BR-1 mod. Unfortunately, Morel slapped me with a $40 increase per driver, and there went the Affordable part of the kit name. I ended up having to voice the Dayton tweeter down about 2 dB and cooking up an unorthodox crossover topology to flatten in out, but in the end I actually prefer the sound of the latest kit to the Morel.

Parts Express offers great prices and free shipping on orders of over $100, which allows me to get the cabinets and woofers to customers free. That's one of the reasons for the kit approach. The other is that PE refuses to provide the cabinets with sufficient packing protection to handle the weight of a pair of assembled speakers, or even to protect the grills on empty cabinets from damage to the grill guides. If I were to assemble the speakers here in my "factory" (which also functions as a kitchen), I would have to cut multiple blocks of 2" styro blocks and cram them around the speakers. I did that for the first AA back in the day, and I'm still cleaning up electrically charged styro particles.

I sold out of the factory-assembled Xover bords much faster than I expected and I haven't decided whether I'm going to order another batch (the minimum order is very large and expensive). That's why I took the kit down from my web page. I've had a pair of AA's out for a third-party review for several months, but the reviewer came down with a bad case of Covid Delta and is just now finishing up the review. That review might help me decide whether or not to continue. I don't make anything on these, but "loss leaders" are sometimes good business practice, and I really would like to offer a neutral, wide range speaker for people on a budget.

In complete candor, I have had the AA Klippel tested. It did very well in the areas I think are important (on-axis and listening window), and not so well in the area I think is much less important (far off-axis response). The Dayton woofer sinks like a rock after 1900 Hz and also requires a trap circuit to tame a sharp break-up mode (which the PE BR-1 doesn't include), and as a result there is a directivity mismatch at the crossover frequency. There's nothing I can do about that. There's no way to get more overlap between the woofer and tweeter without unleashing the breakup mode, and I can't fashion a tweeter wave guide even if I thought it was a good idea. The issue doesn't bother me when I compare the AA with 2-ways that perform better in this respect. But maybe that's one reason to buy a pair of BMR's instead.

 

[snaimpally]

I missed earlier iterations of the AA speakers but managed to snag the last version. I have a paid of the BMR monitors in my main listening room and have the AA speakers in a secondary listening room. They sound excellent. The imaging is excellent. Anyone want to buy a pair of lightly used Revel M16s?

 

[Destination: Moon]

Any chance there is an AA resurrection in the pipeline?

 

[sychan]

Dennis seems to do a lot of nice new speakers nowadays, like these:

The Ceramic Mini Monitor

philharmonicaudio.com

And these (which are pretty close in price to what you would end up paying for a new AAM):
https://philharmonicaudio.com/True-Mini.html

 

[Destination: Moon]

Dennis seems to do a lot of nice new speakers nowadays, like these:

The Ceramic Mini Monitor

philharmonicaudio.com

And these (which are pretty close in price to what you would end up paying for a new AAM):
https://philharmonicaudio.com/True-Mini.html

I saw those but they probably don't go as low as the AAM since they have a 4 inch woofer.
I think the old ones had a 6 inch?

 

[sychan]

I saw those but they probably don't go as low as the AAM since they have a 4 inch woofer.
I think the old ones had a 6 inch?

The latest AAM used the DC160, a 6.5" driver. There are a bunch of DIY kits that use that driver, such as the C-Note or Paul Carmody's Classix.

 

[Destination: Moon]

The latest AAM used the DC160, a 6.5" driver. There are a bunch of DIY kits that use that driver, such as the C-Note or Paul Carmody's Classix.

Thanks!

Are any of them on par with the last AAM?

 

[Destination: Moon]

Thanks!

Are any of them on par with the last AAM?

The c note is 1000 dollars! What?

 

[Astrozombie]

They're not on par IIRC, have to keep waiting .

 

[TurtlePaul]

Thanks!

Are any of them on par with the last AAM?

I do t think most of these have been extensively measured and it will be very hard to find someone with multiples of these speakers.

The new 4” minis probably sound overall better than the last AAMs but they are meant to be satellites in a system with a subwoofer while the AAMs had acceptable bass stand alone.

 

[sychan]

The latest AAM used the DC160, a 6.5" driver. There are a bunch of DIY kits that use that driver, such as the C-Note or Paul Carmody's Classix.

Thanks!

Are any of them on par with the last AAM?

The last AAM was an odd kit from what I recall, Dennis used most of the BR-1 kit, but upgraded the tweeter to a nicer Morel, and then did his crossover magic. You might want to see if someone is hording one of the kits and willing to sell it. Getting the group purchase worked out with Parts Express was also kind of a hassle from what I remember. Dennis is getting on in years, and who knows how much longer he'll still be willing to do charity work like the AAM's, now that he has a partner that helps him make genuinely nice speakers from the ground up instead of modding existing budget speakers.

You might try getting the BR-1 kit, which has the same DC160, and then using the updated crossover that Dennis published a while ago: http://murphyblaster.com/content.php?f=pe_br1.html

You'll get the benefit of Dennis' crossover design skills, though you won't have the cleaner sound of the Morel tweeter in the last AAM.

ps.
You may want to look at the threads on the HiVi 2.2a with a small crossover mod, that kit is supposed to be something of a bass monster.

 

[badspeakerdesigner]

They're not on par IIRC, have to keep waiting .

Cnotes sound better than AAM IME.