Steve Dallas
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Introduction
@Dennis Murphy is generously sending a pair of his Philharmonic BMR Monitor speakers on a road show to various listeners east of that big river over yonder. Somehow, they found their way across it to rural-ish Texas and landed in my home first, before heading back east to continue the tour.
This thread will contain two reviews of these speakers in my home. The first review pits them against the Dynaudio X18s in my home office. I thought this would be a fair fight. It was not, as you will see. The second review has them mano-a-mano with the F206s in my media room / home theater. I thought that would be an unfair fight. It was not, or not exactly.
I took numerous in-room measurements along the way and will obviously include them as appropriate.
I have read about these speakers on various forums over the years and have intended to build a DIY pair for years, but never got around to it.
In preparation for testing them, I sequestered myself and refreshed my memory not at all. I read no reviews and perused no measurements, as I did not want to enter the testing experience with any expectations beyond vague remembrances of supposed awesomeness.
The specifications are available here: http://philharmonicaudio.com/
The Name
The model name is “BMR Monitor,” and as Dennis Murphy seems to be a serious and deliberate man, I think this deserves deconstructing. BMR refers to Tectonic Balanced Mode Radiator, which identifies the midrange driver he chose for this design, and the fact that he included it in the model name leads me to believe it may be front and center. While grossly overused in present times, “Monitor” indicates studio level accuracy. I am interested to see whether “Monitor” is a marketing term or an accurate descriptor in this case.
Appearance, Fit and Finish
In a word, these speakers are GORGEOUS. The quality of the mirror finish on the cabinets surprised me, as I removed the protective covers—it is nearly flawless on both units. The drivers are utilitarian in appearance, excepting the white ceramic SB Acoustics woofer, which I cannot help but associate with Revel.
Mounting hardware is all visible, which is a “problem” being attacked by many manufacturers at all price points, however the Revel Performa3 series also has visible hardware. The port is an unexpected work of polished, flared tubular art.
As I examined the pair, I found no notable flaws of any kind, nor any annoyances like leftover polishing compound.
As evidenced by the linked specs, these speakers are very large standmounters at 20” H x 8.5” W x 12.5” D. I thought the Polk LSi703s were huge when I had them in for review. These are right up there.
More to come...
@Dennis Murphy is generously sending a pair of his Philharmonic BMR Monitor speakers on a road show to various listeners east of that big river over yonder. Somehow, they found their way across it to rural-ish Texas and landed in my home first, before heading back east to continue the tour.
This thread will contain two reviews of these speakers in my home. The first review pits them against the Dynaudio X18s in my home office. I thought this would be a fair fight. It was not, as you will see. The second review has them mano-a-mano with the F206s in my media room / home theater. I thought that would be an unfair fight. It was not, or not exactly.
I took numerous in-room measurements along the way and will obviously include them as appropriate.
I have read about these speakers on various forums over the years and have intended to build a DIY pair for years, but never got around to it.
In preparation for testing them, I sequestered myself and refreshed my memory not at all. I read no reviews and perused no measurements, as I did not want to enter the testing experience with any expectations beyond vague remembrances of supposed awesomeness.
The specifications are available here: http://philharmonicaudio.com/
The Name
The model name is “BMR Monitor,” and as Dennis Murphy seems to be a serious and deliberate man, I think this deserves deconstructing. BMR refers to Tectonic Balanced Mode Radiator, which identifies the midrange driver he chose for this design, and the fact that he included it in the model name leads me to believe it may be front and center. While grossly overused in present times, “Monitor” indicates studio level accuracy. I am interested to see whether “Monitor” is a marketing term or an accurate descriptor in this case.
Appearance, Fit and Finish
In a word, these speakers are GORGEOUS. The quality of the mirror finish on the cabinets surprised me, as I removed the protective covers—it is nearly flawless on both units. The drivers are utilitarian in appearance, excepting the white ceramic SB Acoustics woofer, which I cannot help but associate with Revel.
Mounting hardware is all visible, which is a “problem” being attacked by many manufacturers at all price points, however the Revel Performa3 series also has visible hardware. The port is an unexpected work of polished, flared tubular art.
As I examined the pair, I found no notable flaws of any kind, nor any annoyances like leftover polishing compound.
As evidenced by the linked specs, these speakers are very large standmounters at 20” H x 8.5” W x 12.5” D. I thought the Polk LSi703s were huge when I had them in for review. These are right up there.
More to come...
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