Philharmonic 3 Center Speaker

[herbu]

After listening to my new Phil 3s for a couple weeks, I decided to replace my Center speaker also. I have the Aperion Verus Grand Center that matched my Grand Towers. I like it. But the Phil3s are SO MUCH more crisp and clear than the Grand Towers, I thought it would be worth it if I could get the same improvement in the Center.

I started with the Philharmonic Audio site, (http://philharmonicaudio.com/). Dennis has a couple Center options on his site, but I didn't see one that looked like it was on par with the Phil3s. Since I know he has worked closely with Jim Salk, I looked at the Salk Sound site, (http://salksound.com/). Jim has several there. The Phil3s have been described as "The poor man's SoundScape8", so I kinda focused on the SoundScape Center. The C7 cost $2895.

Now I was ready to talk to Dennis. Throughout the process of buying the Phil3s, I came to trust him. So I told him what I wanted, what I was thinking, and asked what he thought. He came up with several options, then told me about a NEW Center he is just beginning to make. It is a, "WMTW center that matches the drivers in the Slims--two Seas L16 woofers, a titanium midrange, and the new OEM RAAL tweeter". Here is the prototype:

The dimensions are: 24.5" W 12.75" D 12.5" H. That's just a bit smaller than the SoundScape Center. At this point, the cabinet will be made at Salk, and the price will be somewhere around $1200. I don't know if Dennis will offer it sometime in the future with a cabinet by Del for a lower price.

I ordered it, and I may be the first to get a production model. So for all I know, it may sound like a kazoo, but I doubt it and I'm willing to pay $1200 to find out. I'll let you know.

 

[Alex2507]

I saw that sitting in his living room. It's tall. Why is the Slim center so fat?

 

[fuzz092888]

I saw that sitting in his living room. It's tall. Why is the Slim center so fat?

My guess would be the air space needed to get more extension out of those woofers, especially if woofer sections are completely separated from the T/M space.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

My guess would be the air space needed to get more extension out of those woofers, especially if woofer sections are completely separated from the T/M space.

Right--you need twice as much volume for two woofers as for one. This particular woofer comes in a sealed version, and maybe it would need less space. I'll look into it. It wouldn't go nearly as deep, but might work if it were crossed over to a sub at 80 Hz.