What are you looking at for home theater that competes with the PHHTs at their price point? The HTs are a heck of a bargain for a theater setup. I've stated on other forums that I would like to do a Genelec setup for home theater, but it's not realistic for a medium size room for the cost.
I have the HT Towers in my home theater, yes. For critical listening, I prefer nearfield, narrow controlled directivity. I like both, but they are very different in sound.
They really that good? I have Focal Aria 936 now and after 5 years I'm ready for something else. They are bright and fateging
I have an HSU ULS 15in sub. I have a wide living room area so dispersion is great. I listen to music loud at times (metal) along with a ton of movies. They will be a part of my 5.1.
None of Dennis's designs are fatiguing at all and with the driver selection you will get low distortion and high SPL output. Paired with a good sub, they're hard to beat. If I needed another pair of his speakers, these would be at the top of my list.
I have a Denon x3800h with Dirac Live. I pre out my LCR to an Emotiva XPA (eyeing a Buckeye Purifi). I'll get the center later this year once credit card cools down. Do you have pics of the Piano Ebony in your space?
Wow those are dark. I wonder how they would look in my space. My focals are a darker walnut already. Wonder if I should get the lighter trim in my room (the PA HT Walnut looks darker in actual photos so might be a better matc
I don't find the 936's bright and fatiguing at all, and I especially love them for listening to music. I have the HT Towers in my theater (since late 2024), and the Aria 936's in my living room (since 2018), so I currently own both. When I first got the HT Towers, I put both in my living room for a side by side for comparison, and for the music I tested, I actually preferred the Focals by a tiny bit, but both are fantastic. The 936's fill my living room vertically with sound more effectively and present a larger sound, and it's pretty noticeable. My guess is that it's related to the narrow vertical directivity of the HT's ribbon tweeter, and the higher 700 Hz crossover to the Purifi drivers, possibly anchoring the sound lower. Totally unscientific testing. Just back to back listening, and only in my living room. I've never tried the Aria's in my theater.
Thank you so much for this response! So cool that you have BOTH the speakers I'm into. I do love the Focals but honestly this hobby is about changing it up sometimes and I'm really excited to try a home built speaker with such high reviews. I like that walnut finish on the HTs...darker than I thought which is good. I'm still undecided on finish
The difference you heard could be a few factors - 1. HT Towers (Same as BMR Towers) is a Midrange-Tweeter-Midrange (MTM) design vs Tweeter - Midrange (TM) alignment. This would present a more "focused" presentation in a relatively term. For example, both BMR Monitors (TM alignment) and HT Towers (MTM) are both wide dispersion. But if we compare the two, HT Towers will have a more focus presentation out of the two because of the MTM alignment. 2. Focal has a higher tweeter position in the picture (if you add outriggers, it should be similar). 3. Musical content and speaker placement.
Changing it up is always a fun way to drum up some excitement! The darker appearance on the finish in that photo is the camera. My theater is very dark, so pictures from that room make them look dark as well. They are lighter in person for sure, and definitely a very natural walnut. I find the photos on their website to be quite accurate.
Yes, that makes perfect sense, and a more "focused presentation" is spot on. I'd assume it's the same reason why I feel I get such good channel separation in my theater. When I was planning my little 14'x12'x8' theater, I was afraid channel separation would be a problem with so many speakers in a small space, but instead I feel the the room has pinpoint accuracy. I've had the HT's for a year now, and I continue to be impressed! My home is going to be going on the market in a month or two, and I'm worried somebody is going to want the theater as is instead of letting me run away with all my gear.The difference you heard could be a few factors - 1. HT Towers (Same as BMR Towers) is a Midrange-Tweeter-Midrange (MTM) design vs Tweeter - Midrange (TM) alignment. This would present a more "focused" presentation in a relatively term. For example, both BMR Monitors (TM alignment) and HT Towers (MTM) are both wide dispersion. But if we compare the two, HT Towers will have a more focus presentation out of the two because of the MTM alignment. 2. Focal has a higher tweeter position in the picture (if you add outriggers, it should be similar). 3. Musical content and speaker placement.
When we compare our own children - BMR Monitor (TM) vs BMR Towers (MTM), in most cases, we slightly prefer the MTM in stereo. It has more low treble energy and slightly different depth of sound stage. In some content, we are indifferent. In some, we might prefer the TM a tiny bit.
