Philharmonic BMR Tower Review: The Best Audiophile Speakers You Never Heard Of?

[@chrishewitt5826]

Got a pair of these last month and they are amazing

[@uncola6028]

Never doubted these would test well. My 2 way Philharmonitor bookshelves are excellent

[@MrDevinDinosaur]

Great Review! I just took delivery of the BMR Towers and love them! I find the efficiency to be just fine and not hard to drive. Would love to see you review the new Salk BePure with Beryllium tweeter and Purifi woofers. Keep up the great work! PS if anyone is interested in purchasing the towers, Dennis only has one or two pairs left and next shipment won't arrive until October.

[@zacksainz1368]

I went to CAF this past weekend and heard the towers and monitors. Dennis is a great guy and his speakers are incredible. Both sets of speakers were effortless in their musical reproduction. Another thing to note, at CAF, Dennis’ room was small and untreated, and these speakers were still very articulate and engaging. I did the sweet spot test, stand up, sit down walk around, it was hard to find a bad listening position. Not to knock other speakers and their designs, but I have demo’d expensive speakers and when I stood up from the sweet spot the image shattered, not the case with the philharmonics. Dennis also indulged me in playing the heartbeat from Dark Side of the Moon on the towers. WHOA, these speakers dig deep. So basically everything in this review was very accurate, even in a small hotel room in Maryland.

[@jctai100]

Awesome, thanks for the field report! May I ask, what kind of electronics was Dennis using to drive those towers? Thanks again!

[@tugboatamerica]

The heart beat from Pink Floyd is a true test of how low a speaker will go and still sound great, thanks for adding that now i really want to demo these

[@calebkeen8967]

I got a demo of these at AXPONA and heard the story. The BMR's are assembled in Northern VA. The cabinets are sourced from China, and the other parts are sourced from a number of other countries.

[@ghostnoterboomboom9119]

Heard these @ 2022 caf show. Giant killer. Price wise too! I'm buying a pr!!

[@ArthaxtaDaVince777]

Ascend, Philharmonic and Salk Sound are the big three.

[@GamerWordDotNet]

I have the BMR Monitors (not the towers) and they are pretty amazing speakers. More or less the best sounding speakers I have yet to experience.

[@ken33935]

Got the BMR too, the pair won the WAF award which is a big deal!

[@x-techgaming]

Do you find the imaging to be vague, because the soundstage is so wide? Is the bass awesome, and no sub needed?

[@MrDevinDinosaur]

Great Review! How about a review of the New BMR HT Towers. They look very promising for home theater.

[@zoroluva]

I heard them at DC Audiofest and they were stellar. Price to performance through the roof

[@empoweryou1]

If I didn't already have my Salk SC SongTowers, these would probably be my choice. At ~the same price, they seem to measure about the same with an even lower end to 25hz. Pretty incredible!

[@bomt697]

Thanks for the details review but I have a question. What speakers does James use for music and movies??

[@a3marketing991]

I just received my Philharmonic BMR Towers in Zebrawood. Beautiful craftsmanship and the sound is unbelievable with my NAD M23 amplifier. You're not going to find this quality at this price point. I am using a REL T/9x subwoofer and it blends very nice. I love bass and the sound is very full adding a sub.

[@x-techgaming]

Didn't you find that quality, at that price point..?

[@a3marketing991]

@@x-techgaming I did this time, obviously.

[@x-techgaming]

I mean you literally said "you WON'T find it at this price", but apparently you did lol. So you don't think the Tower has enough bass to use without a sub..? :\@@a3marketing991

[@bruceandt]

How loud? That is the quintessential teenage question. My mother in law was loud. My lawn mower is loud. I think we can all agree that loud doesn’t equate to an immersive experience. Off axis… wow! Do they disappear? I bet they do. They are sold out as of today. Most other offerings are as well. Great discussion. Thanks.

[@marcgoldin8937]

2 Channel Listening just did a review of the stand mount version of these. Spoiler alert Jason thought very highly of them.

[@willbrink]

I'd really like to hear those speakers at some point.

[@C-man553]

Is Dennis operational? He was having some health problems. Hope he’s ok. I had the Ellis 1801b Which is excellent. Lost in fire.

[@nc3419]

Anyone driving the BMR Monitor with less than 50 watts? How well do they do at low to moderate sound volumes?

[@joelopez7459]

All that space can't help but wonder if another woofer would have made better bass.

[@toby9999]

@@Roof_Pizza Home theatre yes. For audio, I want the mains to go down well below 60 and most decent speakers do it.

[@jctai100]

That space is taken up by transmission line

[@kens.213]

@@jctai100 Exactly! Another 8" woofer would probably require a much larger cabinet. The Salk Song Towers have a pair of 5.25" woofers in a transmission line cab, and they are relatively large as compared to the air the 2 woofers move. With a transmission line cabinet it's all about getting the resonance to work with the woofer and cabinet. I own both the Salk Song Towers and the BMR Towers, both transmission line speaker design, not a lot of difference between them for sound quality, the BMR's dig much deeper, but on most music it doesn't make that much difference. Both of these speakers were designed by Paul Kittinger (cabinet) and Dennis Murphy (crossover wizard). The Song Tower has been in production for over 14 years, I predict the BMR Tower will be as successful, if not in numbers, at least in aging well. They are that good!

[@ArthaxtaDaVince777]

​@@kens.213 How is the sound signature of the BMR towers?

[@RennieAsh]

29:05 Harbeth p3esr actually measures better with the grill. But that's a well designed grill. Many speakers come with afterthought grills - a ring of square MDF with a bit of cloth stuck on it. Even my speakers which are quite expensive new, have such grills. I'm going to make them magnetic attachment, or design my own magnetic grill but which also is better acoustically, so I can leave it on and still have somewhat decent sound!

[@x-techgaming]

15:30 Orthogonal inductor placement? So they are at right angles to each other?

[@isaacsykes3]

Will you guys be reviewing any speakers from Totem??

[@seanb3303]

Not if totem can help it. They are not designed to appease flat frequency response pundits

[@Audioholics]

@@seanb3303 in other words thry deliberately make inaccurate speakers? That's odd.

[@seanb3303]

@@Audioholics Yes it’s a big part of hifi with brands such as B&W, Klipsch, and Totem having house curves. Gene knows this.

[@raphaelmeillat8527]

@@seanb3303 love house curves. Make the hi-fi world less boring!

[@JamesWilliams-gf8gm]

Best audio channel out there. Good work.

[@dilbyjones]

The matte woofer is soon dope and the transmission line is my dream

[@ghostrecon3214]

I am generally not a fan of 'Red" but i have always wanted a pair of the Focal 836W in Red. For now my White 726's will suffice.

[@christopherlewis3615]

Should of got Dennis in. He's the one that knows more than James.

[@calvincurry8496]

Ps How about Reviews on the New SongTower 2 from Salk Sound around $2700. ( Dennis Murphy desighed)I think you Reviewed the originals

[@Justwantahover]

6:00 I built up some 8" coaxials from separate drivers. I used 2" vc woofers (to fit the tweeter in). I started with small dome tweeters and they sounded good. Then a I tried 1.5" drivers from a Bluetooth speaker and it sounded way better! The tiny cone is semi open and that gives an extra octave (you hear the highs coming from both sides of the cone). My soft dome tweeters are closed in and the tiny FR dtivers aren't. It's a different sound to the highs, that I like much more. But there's more: I can trickle some med into the tiny FR driver (in the center) and it's made for med so it handles it (with a cap to stop cone movement). And that clears up the 8" cone med like magic! Doesn't sound like an 8" med driver, sounds "out of place" (in a good way). When 90% of the med is through the big 8" driver. It's a 3-way. A coaxial made from a Bluetooth driver, and an 8" bass/med driver and also a 10" woofer.

[@isaacsykes3]

I will be there at Capital Audio Fest today!!

[@Shalmaneser1]

What's the acoustic signature of the tree? 😀

[@mikhailtkachuk7955]

excuse me please, tell me where can I listen to demos of different models? Thank you...

[@jamesmadore3234]

iron core inductors and bennic caps with sandcast resistors

[@Luke-qs2cg]

As @ Danny richie would say, full of cheese

[@WillyLax24]

There are not iron core inductors, plural, there is just one on the woofer, which is typical of most speakers under $10K. He uses air core inductors on the mids and tweeter. Ultimately, all that matters is how a speaker sounds, and I recently heard this at CAF and they were among the best sounding speakers there, and by far the best for any under $10K I heard (I did not get to hear the new Mofi Point Source Speakers). Not only did these speakers sound great, with great imaging, but they were in a very small room with no treatment and being powered by a class "D" amp. Most of the other speakers at CAF were being powierd by $15K amps in larger, treated rooms. For anyone wanting a simlple 2-channel systerm withoug the complexty of intergrating subs, and on a budget, these are as good as it gets.

[@jvburnes]

@@WillyLax24 There are some exceptionally nice class D amps these days. I've built dual mono nc400-based hypex units and they are powerful and neutral with class leading SINAD.

[@jonuiuc]

I thought philharmonic closed their doors.

[@overgme]

Dennis did shut it down for about a year, but found a business partner to help take a bunch of stress off of him. They've now shipped a couple big orders so far this year, and will hopefully have another out before Christmas.

[@avro66]

Cambridge audio have used BMR drive units In many of there loudspeakers, it's nothing new,

[@drhone1982]

You guys ever going to go back to reviewing the more mass market or even less esoteric speakers as videos? I know Shane still does and the more “exotic” AVRs and integrateds.

[@drhone1982]

@@Roof_Pizza no Klipsch and it’s not just the price range. It’s about speakers folks will actually put in their home

[@erickibler901]

@@drhone1982 q

[@kenc_sr.8857]

How do these speakers compare to Klipsch Reference 7 III?

[@Luke-qs2cg]

Not even in the same universe. The rf7 is a mass market consumer curve loudspeaker with less than 200$ of actual parts value in them. The woofers in these towers cost more than the entire klipsch speakers

[@nathaneldogo]

Review this Russound ADP-1.2 Speaker-level to Line-level Adapter

[@brucemibus9523]

Balanced Mode Radiator!

[@lio1234234]

I use those 2.5" BMRs in my speakers, don't see any need to the extra tweeter in between, they are beautiful drivers up to 20khz! Although my speakers each have active crossover and FIR linear phase equalisation (that might be something to do with why they need the middle tweeter?). BMRs are balance mode radiators. You know those flat panel speakers with the exciters on? It uses that kind of technology but refined (a lot) and integrates it onto a moving cone, changing it from DML technology into BMR technology. Damn, I'm looking at this thinking it's just like a really expensive (probably better too) version of the speaker I've been designing for the past several years. Even down to the mass loaded transmission line. Difference is, mine can be made for about £300 of components including amplifier and DSP. It reaches down to 20hz, 0db point. But then again I don't need as much volume as most. This Philharmonic is a very impressive speaker! Just glad I still designed mine, I could never afford something like this 😂. Especially currently since I'm a student. And I'm planning on making mine for each channel of an Auro system (eventually 🤞)

[@C--A]

You designed built made your own speakers at age 16, that's impressive. You should send them to Amir Audio Science Review to test measure them. It would be good feedback finding out the flaws and stuff you could do better next time round. Anyway stick at it. Maybe one day you will have your own speaker company producing great speakers.

[@ErinsAudioCorner]

This seems like a very shortsighted reply.

[@lio1234234]

@@ErinsAudioCorner Mine Erin? If so, I'm sorry. What part would you say is short sited so I could learn from it? I was merely commenting on how similar it is to my current design project in certain aspects.

[@lio1234234]

@@C--A Thanks C A. Those speakers I did at 16 were only a simple full range vented design though, I didn't understand port resonances etc at that time so there was some amount of distortion caused by the port even if I did use room correction. As for sending them for testing, I live in England so that's not really feasible for me, nice idea though. Thanks

[@lio1234234]

@@C--A also, I'm probably keeping this as just a hobby anyways, unless I go and work for a company after getting my engineering degree. I'll just be making these speakers for myself, friends, and family

[@poturbg8698]

These are strictly mail order?

[@isobutylquinoline]

Luke Hsieh. Taiwanese. Based. I want these speakers.

[@calvincurry8496]

It would be nice for a shoot out $2500 - $3800

[@ChristianGoergen]

Does anybody know how to listen to them in Germany?

[@parapobabam]

Better yet. Cover top half of the speakers with an aluminum plate and mount the drivers on it to maximize rigidity and try to make the speakers seamlessly blend in. Definitely hide the mounting hardware. Either with beauty rings or by screwing them in from behind.

[@ronreyesmilton]

Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) drivers.

[@parapobabam]

I would have designed the front baffle to be entirely black and hid the mounting hardware. Better yet, cover it with leather. The grille should be a full size one, or half-size. the two small grilles like that look horrible. Really kills this speakers desirability for me..otherwise I'd consider buying a set. When you design high end speakers, details like this matter.

[@ufarkingicehole]

I would like the DIY version of these

[@joelopez7459]

they exist but no flatpack

[@bobdrake7604]

@@joelopez7459 No, not for the tower unfortunately, I've asked Dennis, only for the original BMR bookshelves. Think he's worried about cutting into finished speaker sales. Despite all the discussion, he's actually making some money on these, but I feel he deserves it!

[@yuckysamson]

balanced, mode, radiator

[@neverknowit11]

Balanced Mode Radiator

[@vicg5323]

Revelatory drivers are good but the crossover parts are cheap, and are expected in a 2000 to 3000 dollar pair of speakers.

[@markdunham9949]

the woofers are too small. just get a large floor standing speaker

[@konstantinost3185]

That Revelator woofer working up to 850Hz and positioned so low on the baffle though.... meh...

[@DanielPerez-dl2gs]

This guy James doesn't seem to be sure of much.

[@DigitalDonAV]

140 DB!!

[@waterlover]

Wonde if the dude from GR research is going to sell crossovers for these beauties

[@Shorby99EK]

I hope not

[@sloboat55]

Boss Lab.

[@warlockboyburns]

I think the use cases of bmr speakers are discussions about the medium of media or interactivity... or expression of slavery. Not my favourite speakers. Actually they also sound good for voice acting e.g. borderlands 2.

[@parapobabam]

They are pretty ugly though.. especially with the grilles on. Wish they did something about the baffle width up top too. Can't be good for their transparency.

[@GamerWordDotNet]

He put the woofer grills on sideways which looks quite a bit worse lol. The speakers with the veneer are actually quite beautiful

[@jctai100]

How about you manufacture your own instead of tearing down those who create and actually get something off the ground.

[@joppepeelen]

the BMR are not really a midrange doing work from 850hz...

[@edwardbalboa5528]

Amazing + v high value speakers ..... The young guy knows nothing + is a waste of time