Philharmonic Audio Philharmonic 2 Loudspeaker Review
When setting the Phil 2’s up for auditioning and final system placement I played a bit with the midbass/tweeter cabinet stuffing and placement within our room. I started with the mid/tweeter consoles filled with the rock wool, and kept pulling a quarter of it out, while playing the same cuts over and over. I also started with the speakers out in the room quite a bit, even though I knew the CEO of my household operation wouldn’t allow for such placement. The placement you see in the pics was…ah…mandated. In our room, I much preferred the upper cabinets to be ~half-full (half-empty?
?). The grills are removed from the upper consoles and diffuser pads are used on the RAALs. That setup allowed for a nice balance of soundstage depth, imaging and acoustic richness. While the speakers were out in the room, I was absolutely amazed at the soundstage width. You might notice that I’ve become a big fan of these speakers, and perhaps use glowing terms to talk about their fantastic performance. I unabashedly admit that these speakers have charmed the socks off me. But the one aspect above all others that impressed me was the width of the soundstage. I don’t exactly know how it’s done, but the music from some of my audition cuts extended WAY outside the speakers. I’ve had speakers provide the illusion of width beyond the cabinets before. But the Phils put instruments and voices incredibly beyond the boundaries of what I have ever experienced before. ‘Twas a wonderful experience.
SevenMoore by SevenMoore
I began with this rare gem because it is one of my favorite albums. You may not be aware of it, as it had very modest circulation. If you own one, congratulations. The only cd I have been able to find (other than mine) is available on Amazon/Ebay for 200 bucks!! The band includes Marshall Tucker graduates, Jerry Eubanks and Paul Riddle. This is an album with some sweet country rock and dual lead guitars. The dueling guitars are not like the Outlaws or Skynyrd. SevenMoore’s music is much smoother, melodic, and well recorded. If you can find a good download of this, the band’s lone album, get it! You won’t be disappointed. Great voices, musicianship, song writing, and as mentioned, it’s very well recorded and edited. The cut used in the audition is named 406 Whisnant St. Why? Dunno. I chose this cut because of the great bass test that it provides as well as a run through most of the frequency range. Bass is clean and striking in a good speaker…dull and odd sounding in a not-so-good speaker. I’ve heard it in plenty of both. The bass line presentation by the Phil is the best I’ve heard this cut sound. Certainly there are other speakers out there that can reproduce these notes as elegantly. But from my experience, they would cost you a LOT more money. The sweetness of the bass singer’s voice and Winter-night-clear cymbals round into a great experience.
Sibelius Symphony No. 3 by the London Symphony Orchestra
I chose this piece from my modest classical collection for its complete range of emotion. In this symphony, Sibelius gives us the soft, peaceful, and soulful points counterposed with highly charged, dynamic, lifting and powerfully emotive music. The Phils again handled the piece brilliantly. I found no congestion in the busier, complex elements of the symphony. Power and dynamics were without complaint. In fact, this piece provides a great rendition of the clean, straight-line power response of Dennis’ design. I unabashedly admit that the 3 dimensionality of the soundstage imaging was nothing short of amazing. One can hear the location, anchored in place, of virtually every instrument in the orchestra. And a very wide and deep soundstage it was!
New Favorite by Alison Krauss + Union Station
This album, and the title cut specifically, are more or less a staple of the breathy female vocalists favored by many high quality speaker aficionados. I’ve listened to this piece extensively on my old Aerials, and the Phils put them in a lesser place in the world of class audio. The audio presence of the Phils and Aerials are equivalent, but the RAAL tweeter illuminates the lovely harmonics and highs from this lonely piece. Overall, there was a much greater feeling of Alison’s presence in my room than has ever been the case with the Aerials. I love this entire album more than ever, now.
Romanza by Andrea Bocelli
Most of you surely know of this unbelievable man and voice. An Italian blind (from a football injury) attorney, he has a voice to shame the angels. Powerful, huge, effortless and controlled. In the song, Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro), Bocelli duets with Sarah Brightman, another classical luminary (and said to be the richest classical artist in the world). The song, if anything, is powerfully emotive and beautiful in music and lyrics. This is another piece, that when my wife and I closed our eyes, could really see them in our living room, singing just for us. If it’s in the source, the Phils will play it with ultra accuracy. The song’s emotion touched us more than usual.
Time Well Wasted by the Freddy Jones Band
This is another under-the-radar band that produces some terribly entertaining music. This particular cd is, in my opinion, a very well recorded live album. If your toes don’t tap while listening to this cd, then your toe tapper is broken. Take The Time is the upbeat cut that I am most familiar with and listen to a LOT. (It’s also a little motivational.) Commanding guitar work tiptoes from mild to symphonic. All instruments (as in all of these audition songs) sounded exactly like I know they should. (I’m an old musician of lost and of minimal talent.) The Phils presented the song in all its toe-tapping delight. The mids are as clean as any I’ve heard. I recall someone else on this thread, or perhaps over on AVS, saying that the BG NEO-8 driver is the secret weapon of the Phils. I whole-heartedly agree. (The RAALs don’t count because everyone already knows what monster performers they are.) The Accutons are dynamite mid drivers, but don’t underestimate the performance of the NEO.
Booker's Guitar by Eric Bibb
Eric Bibb is a modern folk-blues artist. His guitar work is wonderful. For his voice...think a little cleaned up Muddy Waters with great recording. This album is mesmerizing in its intimacy. There is no doubt that Bibb was in my living room singing
A-Z Blues! The Phils show off to a fine extent the richness of the guitar work. The RAAL's presentation of the harmonica work was nothing short of phenomenal.
(See next post.)
