Philharmonic BMR Tower Review

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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
BMR Tower pair4.jpg
We were pretty stunned at what Philharmonic Audio delivered for the cost in our review of the BMR Philharmonitors a couple of years ago: a phenomenal bookshelf speaker with true full-range extension and near-perfect response on and off-axis. Needless to say, the BMR Philharmonitor has its fans, and we were some of them, so it was of particular interest to us when Philharmonic Audio announced the BMR Tower. The basic formula is simple; take the BMR Philharmonitor and tower-ize it. However, as we will explore in the design overview section, the engineering challenges aren’t as straightforward as just taking the BMR Philharmonitor and making it bigger. Nonetheless, Philharmonic Audio has now released the BMR Tower which they claim offers the same BMR Philharmonitor sound but with a larger dynamic range and deeper bass extension. It’s a lot more speaker and priced as such at $3700/pair, and the question that it naturally poses is does it still have the same ridiculous level of value that the BMR Philharmonitor does? Let’s take a deep dive into the BMR Towers to find an answer…

READ: Philharmonic BMR Tower Review
 
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D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
We were pretty stunned at what Philharmonic Audio delivered for the cost in our review of the BMR Philharmonitors a couple of years ago: a phenomenal bookshelf speaker with true full-range extension and near-perfect response on and off-axis. Needless to say, the BMR Philharmonitor has its fans, and we were some of them, so it was of particular interest to us when Philharmonic Audio announced the BMR Tower. The basic formula is simple; take the BMR Philharmonitor and tower-ize it. However, as we will explore in the design overview section, the engineering challenges aren’t as straightforward as just taking the BMR Philharmonitor and making it bigger. Nonetheless, Philharmonic Audio has now released the BMR Tower which they claim offers the same BMR Philharmonitor sound but with a larger dynamic range and deeper bass extension. It’s a lot more speaker and priced as such at $3700/pair, and the question that it naturally poses is does it still have the same ridiculous level of value that the BMR Philharmonitor does? Let’s take a deep dive into the BMR Towers to find an answer…

READ: Philharmonic BMR Tower Review
Better watch out Shady @ryanosaur is going to freak out over these! He loves these like I love my ports Lol
 
B

Beave

Audioholic Chief
Thanks for the informative review. They look great in that finish and the measurements are generally excellent*.


*I did notice the hump in the response curves around 600Hz and wondered if that's from the port. Were you able to do a close-mic measurement of the port to see what's going on there? As you stated, it's probably not very audible if at all.

*I also noticed a small glitch in the impedance curves around 220Hz. I wonder if that's a cabinet resonance?
 
tyhjaarpa

tyhjaarpa

Audioholic Field Marshall
Really promising looking speakers and nice to hear that Dennis is doing well.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
I came pretty close to buying these... if I hadn't just bought the Sierras when Dennis announced them I would have.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Great measurements for sure but for some reason I would still prefer the bookshelf monitor with a suitable sub such as SVS's micro.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
I just finished reading the review … Wow! Just wow! I can't wait to hear these speakers.

James Larson's review revealed just how excellent these speakers are. In addition, his writing style made his technical analysis easy to understand, no matter what background the reader has. Very well done!! It was a pleasure to read.

If one picture can say a thousand words, this one graph says a million.
1635950067367.png
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
I've been looking at these for a while, as these would be my ultimate speaker, good luck upgrading once you own these.

But, it's also hard to justify an upgrade from the BMR monitors!
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Indeed, great write up, yet again, @shadyJ !!!

More importantly still, congratulations to
@D Murphy … another amazing Speaker.

To all those that wonder, this is why I am so grateful to Dennis, as well as the friends here who encouraged me back in 2018 to check out his Speakers. Shady nailed it when he discussed the accuracy and neutrality of these designs! They simply do not get in the way, rather Dennis’ designs allow us to really hear and feel sound reproduction in the most lifelike manner. For music, it’s as if I were back among the musicians at a performance: the recorded performance as it were. For movies and gaming, all I can say is that any Speaker capable of faithfully reproducing musical instruments is going to sound great with movies, too. Perhaps there is a dynamic limit, but my ears haven’t identified that limit.

Lastly, as I am a fortunate owner of the fore mentioned Phil 3s, one of the last pair ever built, I know almost perfectly well what purchasers of this BMR Tower are in for. It is an absolute treat being surrounded by such capable Speakers as these and the BMR Monitors. Not a day passes I don’t find myself slipping into my own little world of sound.
Regardless of the program I choose to engage with, from many genres of Music both stereo and multichannel to HT and Gaming, Dennis’s designs perform impeccably well and aid in that ‘escape.’
Pairing his Monitors and Towers is a natural choice as well with a single Monitor as a Center.
Suffice it to say, any Music-minded person will find this one of the best ways to build a multipurpose rig capable of the highest quality music reproduction for any critical sessions one may wish to partake in. After my own experience at an Audio Show (pre-COVID), I can safely say that there is nothing I heard at $60k+ that I don’t have in my system, yet at a far greater value.
Dare I say, I have much more than any such 5-figure Speaker may offer, to the extent I wouldn’t trade “up” for anything.
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
I was so looking forward to hearing these at Capital Audio Fest this weekend but I'm scheduled for some (routine) testing and had to cancel my plans. I am even more bummed out than I was before. ;_; With the conversion rate these are near the top end of my budget but offer great value in my opinion. There was a lot of debate over the grills but I like that they chose a minimalist solution that shows off the beautiful veneer. Great job Dennis and I wish you a lot of success with these.
 
BluesDaddy

BluesDaddy

Audioholic Intern
Great measurements for sure but for some reason I would still prefer the bookshelf monitor with a suitable sub such as SVS's micro.
Yeah, when Dennis announced these I was sorely tempted to order a pair, but the only room I have they would go in is the one already occupied by BMR Philharmonitors and a pair of Rythmik L22 subs. It simply didn't make sense for me, either economic or audio. But one can still lust after them...
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Thanks for the informative review. They look great in that finish and the measurements are generally excellent*.


*I did notice the hump in the response curves around 600Hz and wondered if that's from the port. Were you able to do a close-mic measurement of the port to see what's going on there? As you stated, it's probably not very audible if at all.

*I also noticed a small glitch in the impedance curves around 220Hz. I wonder if that's a cabinet resonance?
I did do near-field measurements of the drivers and port, and that hump does look to be an artifact of the port. It's not significant enough to be audible, and anyone who would try to make a big deal out of it would be living in crazytown.

As for the glitch at 220Hz, my guess is it has something to do with a transmission line artifact. 220 is a harmonic of 22, obviously, and the enclosure is tuned to 22Hz. Again, this is not something anyone could hear.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
Nice review. They performed as expected. That finish is excellent, but I'm hoping this one will also be available as a kit from somewhere.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Thanks for the informative review. They look great in that finish and the measurements are generally excellent*.


*I did notice the hump in the response curves around 600Hz and wondered if that's from the port. Were you able to do a close-mic measurement of the port to see what's going on there? As you stated, it's probably not very audible if at all.

*I also noticed a small glitch in the impedance curves around 220Hz. I wonder if that's a cabinet resonance?
The cabinet is tuned at 22-24Hz and most of the resonance and port action is in the vicinity of that frequency. No, the slight emphasis around 600Hz nears the crossover point and should not cause any audible concern.
The small glitch around 220Hz is of no importance. A resonance would definitely show a more pronounced irregularity in the impedance curve.
 
J

jeffca

Junior Audioholic
Wow! Those speakers are beautiful.

Looking at the measurements you took, this speakers radiation pattern is incredible. In a room that has proper absorption on the speaker end walls to deal with BMR Tower's exceptionally wide dispersion, this rig should sound pretty awesome.

Two thoughts:
  • While the speakers may have a lot of bass extension for a single 8" woofer each, they just can't move enough air for home theater use.
  • BMR drivers are actually really inexpensive. They run less than $20 each, but, hey, if they sound really good, who cares? Just because something is 20 times the price does not necessarily mean it's better. I could see making a slender tower with 8 BMR's in a line array and a ribbon tweeter in the middle. That would offer plenty of headroom to play really loud and have them crossover low enough to work with a pair of subs.
 
C

chuckychuck7

Audiophyte
Ummm... Where is the 'Spin-O-Rama' for these speakers?
 

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