Philharmonic BMR Tower Review

[Swerd]

Monday morning after CAF … (while drinking some coffee)

(Added as an Edit, because I forgot the obvious in my first draft.)

I’ve heard the BMR Monitors several times, one of them in my home for several hours. I think they sound wonderful. Most of Dennis Murphy’s speakers are uncanny in how well they create audio images plus a wide and realistic soundstage. In my opinion, the BMR Monitors are the clear and undisputed champions at imaging and soundstage. This was the first time I heard the BMR Towers, and they don’t disappoint – they sound just like the Monitors but with deeper and more potent bass. The Monitors can go down to roughly 36 Hz and the Towers reach down to 25 Hz. I could hear that easily in the small hotel room. If there are other audible differences, I’d have to hear them under different conditions. In short, they’re marvelous. At their price, they’re miraculous.

I think CAF was a big success for Dennis Murphy and Philharmonic Audio. His room was very busy Saturday & Sunday afternoon. Apparently on Saturday there was some chatter on Facebook about Philharmonic Audio, room 306, and the two speakers, the BMR Monitor and BMR Tower. That brought in large numbers of people. Dennis said he was very busy, and that helped the time fly by.

I was there on Saturday and saw some of that crowd. People were there from up & down the east coast. I spoke to several in the hallway after they came out of the room, making sure they knew how to look up Philharmonic Audio's web page and how they could contact Dennis Murphy. Several people there mentioned reading James Larson's AH excellent review of the BMR Towers. (@shadyJ , nice work!) And nearly all of them were surprised at their low price compared to other speakers they saw at the audio show.

At least one listener asked Dennis to comment about the lack of high-priced electronic audio gear and cables. He didn't press hard on that, but clearly did wonder how the BMR speakers could sound so good without all that other stuff. Dennis's responded politely, but I suspect, as he answered, that he was thinking "real men don't use boutique cables or overpriced tube amps".

A correction: In my earlier CAF post, post #31, I said Dennis used Hypex NC400 monobloc amps. The amp was a 2-channel Ncore Hypex NC400 amp (with two NC400 boards in one chassis), and the preamp was a Topping Pre90 preamp. This was the first time I heard a class D amp in a hi-fi setting. In my opinion, it stood up well to the very expensive amps I saw used in other speaker rooms. It easily drove both the BMR Monitor and the Tower, without trouble. The amp is the small black box sitting on top of the much larger Onkyo CD player. To the right is the Topping preamp. On the lower shelf is a device that allows volume-matched instantaneous speaker switching. Notice the name MurphyBlaster Productions.

The first thing on Sunday morning Dennis was visited by someone who was representing a certain well-known (I will leave it's name out for the present) audiophile review magazine. He was an orchestral trombonist, and brought along several CDs, all of classical music. Dennis, also a classical musician, was happy to talk both music and speakers with him. It was early on Sunday, roughly 10 AM, before the crowds showed up. As I helped Dennis pack up and move his stuff out of the hotel room Sunday evening, Dennis said he wouldn't be surprised if he was asked to provide a pair of BMR Towers for a formal review by the publication.

 

[ryanosaur]

Nice write up @Swerd ! Thank you for sharing.
And congratulations, again, to Dennis and company!

 

[Swerd]

I did go to see other rooms. Here is Jim Salk's room with his top-of-the-line SS 9.5 speakers (now nearly $10,600 per pair).

Below are the newly introduced two-way towers featuring the Purifi mid-woofers and a beryllium tweeter (about $6,200 per pair), named BePur2.

I liked both speakers – no surprise.

In both photos, you can also see Jim Salk's response to the demands of the audiophile audio show crowd, with prominent use of vacuum tubes and boutique cables.

 

[Swerd]

There were many more rooms. As much as I wanted to report fairly on all of them, I didn't succeed. All or nearly all speakers I heard sounded good. That wasn't a problem. But if a salesman spoke too much about the turntable, esoteric electronic gear, cables, or just plain talked too much, I walked out. I did the same if I hated the music being played.

If it isn't abundantly clear to all readers, I am an unapologetic Dennis Murphy fan-boy, and have been so since 2005. That certainly affects all of my impressions of other speakers I heard at the CAF. There were simply too many tiny rooms and too many speakers in them to give them all a good listen. That comes with the territory at a commercial audio show in a hotel.

Here is a room, that had a sign mentioning Pear Audio Blue, PS Audio, The Funk Firm, and MosArt Furniture. I don't know the name of the speakers, but they were designed to be placed up against the wall behind them without sounding bass heavy. They sounded OK to me, but the salesman spouted so much nonsense that I didn't stay long. I don't recall their price, but I assure you it was not low.

The sign for the next room said Border Patrol, Triode Wire Labs, Volti Audio. Like other Volti speakers I've heard in the past, they made heavy use of horns but actually sounded decent. Don't ask about their price.

The next room mentioned Joseph Audio speakers and Bel Canto. The small 2-way Joseph Audio Pulsars sounded very good. Their price … $9,000 per pair!

This room had Audionec Evo 2 AS speakers with powered subs. They overpowered the small room.

I was also overpowered by their asking price, $49,500!!!

 

[Swerd]

This room displayed Daedalus Audio speakers. Nice veneer finishes, but goofy driver layout. However, they sounded good despite the tweeter and mi-range locations.

The last room I'll mention had a number of Bache Audio speakers. I heard the large black towers and I liked them. I also liked how unpretentious the room was. The guy sitting in the room was a Russian speaker designer – from Brooklyn. He was fun to speak with, and clearly knew his stuff about speaker design.

 

[Mikado463]

Swerd, thanks for your write ups !

Did you by chance get to hear the Kharma 'midis' ?

 

[Swerd]

My last comment about the Capital Audiofest is about vinyl record sales on the lobby floor. I passed through once before leaving that day.

An old Beatles album caught my eye – Yesterday and Today. I bought that album sometime in 1966. For those who don't know this bit of trivia, that album was first released in the US with this controversial cover photo:

It was soon withdrawn and replaced with this:

My album has the second photo. The used album for sale at the CAF had the same photo, but the price tag said $550!! Apparently the second innocuous steamer trunk photo was pasted over the controversial butcher photo. The guy selling the records showed me several features that made identifying the paste-over job easy. As soon as I got home, I found my album, and sure enough it was clearly a paste-over version as well. Hmm … $550 could buy me some medium grade boutique speaker cables.

Even better, my album is mono, not stereo. In the upside down world of oddball collectors, that should make them even more valuable.

 

[Swerd]

Swerd, thanks for your write ups !

Did you by chance get to hear the Kharma 'midis' ?

Maybe, maybe not. If I heard them, they didn't rate a photo.

 

[slipperybidness]

@Swerd
How was the feel for a large show like this, post-pandemic?

 

[Swerd]

@SwerdHow was the feel for a large show like this, post-pandemic?

The CAF did require proof of vaccination upon entry. A filled out vaccination card, or a scanned version on your phone were equally good.

Otherwise, any residual post-pandemic fear wasn't too visible. Most people there, including myself, wore a mask indoors.

Jim Salk thought it was funny to see how prevalent mask-wearing was in highly-vaccinated Maryland. In the Detroit area of Michigan, he said roughly 1 in 5 people wear masks. Both he and his wife wore masks while indoors at the show. Last winter, Mary Salk was infected but has recovered from what was a relatively mild case. She's still waiting for her sense of smell to return.

 

[Mikado463]

Maybe, maybe not. If I heard them, they didn't rate a photo.

Interesting, they were getting a lot of positive feedback on other forums........

 

[D Murphy]

Monday morning after CAF … (while drinking some coffee)

I think CAF was a big success for Dennis Murphy and Philharmonic Audio. His room was very busy Saturday & Sunday afternoon. Apparently on Saturday there was some chatter on Facebook about Philharmonic Audio, room 306, and the two speakers, the BMR Monitor and BMR Tower. That brought in large numbers of people. Dennis said he was very busy, and that helped the time fly by.

I was there on Saturday and saw some of that crowd. People were there from up & down the east coast. I spoke to several in the hallway after they came out of the room, making sure they knew how to look up Philharmonic Audio's web page and how they could contact Dennis Murphy. Several people there mentioned reading James Larson's AH excellent review of the BMR Towers. (@shadyJ , nice work!) And nearly all of them were surprised at their low price compared to other speakers they saw at the audio show.

At least one listener asked Dennis to comment about the lack of high-priced electronic audio gear and cables. He didn't press hard on that, but clearly did wonder how the BMR speakers could sound so good without all that other stuff. Dennis's responded politely, but I suspect, as he answered, that he was thinking "real men don't use boutique cables or overpriced tube amps".

A correction: In my earlier CAF post, post #31, I said Dennis used Hypex NC400 monobloc amps. The amp was a 2-channel Ncore Hypex NC400 amp (with two NC400 boards in one chassis), and the preamp was a Topping Pre90 preamp. This was the first time I heard a class D amp in a hi-fi setting. In my opinion, it stood up well to the very expensive amps I saw used in other speaker rooms. It easily drove both the BMR Monitor and the Tower, without trouble. The amp is the small black box sitting on top of the much larger Onkyo CD player. To the right is the Topping preamp. On the lower shelf is a device that allows volume-matched instantaneous speaker switching. Notice the name MurphyBlaster Productions.
View attachment 51324

The first thing on Sunday morning Dennis was visited by someone who was representing a certain well-known (I will leave it's name out for the present) audiophile review magazine. He was an orchestral trombonist, and brought along several CDs, all of classical music. Dennis, also a classical musician, was happy to talk both music and speakers with him. It was early on Sunday, roughly 10 AM, before the crowds showed up. As I helped Dennis pack up and move his stuff out of the hotel room Sunday evening, Dennis said he wouldn't be surprised if he was asked to provide a pair of BMR Towers for a formal review by the publication.
View attachment 51322

View attachment 51323

Thanks for the comments and pics Richard. Just one small correction--you probably just misunderstood me as we were chatting in the parking lot. I don't have any expectation that this magazine would want to review the towers. The reviewer certainly never said anything that would lead me to believe that was in the offing. He just said the towers were a treat. Given the orientation of the magazine, I was surprised by how down-to-earth he was. I very much enjoyed talking with him, and he knew his stuff.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Thanks for the comments and pics Richard. Just one small correction--you probably just misunderstood me as we were chatting in the parking lot. I don't have any expectation that this magazine would want to review the towers. The reviewer certainly never said anything that would lead me to believe that was in the offing. He just said the towers were a treat. Given the orientation of the magazine, I was surprised by how down-to-earth he was. I very much enjoyed talking with him, and he knew his stuff.

They have to pander to their advertisers, even if they know it isn't a perfectly honest living.

I hope one day Parasound makes a Hypex version of the NC2250 I have.

 

[Swerd]

Interesting, they were getting a lot of positive feedback on other forums........

I just looked on the CAF web page. Kharma speakers were indeed at the show, but they were in one of the larger rooms. I went into several of them, but stayed away from most because the bigger rooms make speakers sound quite a lot different or even better than in the smaller hotel rooms. I tried to 'adjust' my ears between the large & small rooms, but couldn't do it well enough to make fair comparisons. So I ended up limiting myself to the small rooms in an effort at making a level playing field.

Looking at the Kharma speakers web page, I'd guess they might be hideously expensive.

 

[D Murphy]

Looking at the Kharma speakers web page, I'd guess they might be hideously expensive.

Ya think? Looking at the 2012 price list, you could grab a pair of the Mini's for only $56,000/pair, or go a little upscale with the Classique Signature for a mere $125,000/pair. Need speaker wire? You can line up a pair of 2 meter runs of Kharma Enigma Extreme Signature cable for only $32,500. Act fast while the last.

 

[Eppie]

Thanks for all of the comments Richard and Dennis. Sounds like it was a busy but fun weekend. Hope I can make it down there for a future event or maybe just visit the DC area again for a weekend.

 

[D Murphy]

Thanks for all of the comments Richard and Dennis. Sounds like it was a busy but fun weekend. Hope I can make it down there for a future event or maybe just visit the DC area again for a weekend.

I think you better plan on a visit to the Wehawken Road Studio. I don't plan on spending another 3 days in a hotel room. But I'm glad I did theis event, particularly now that it's over.

 

[Eppie]

I think you better plan on a visit to the Wehawken Road Studio. I don't plan on spending another 3 days in a hotel room. But I'm glad I did theis event, particularly now that it's over.

A beer, a burger and a garage demo can be just as much fun. Google street view of Wehawken is very nice.

 

[Mikado463]

I just looked on the CAF web page. Kharma speakers were indeed at the show, but they were in one of the larger rooms. I went into several of them, but stayed away from most because the bigger rooms make speakers sound quite a lot different or even better than in the smaller hotel rooms. I tried to 'adjust' my ears between the large & small rooms, but couldn't do it well enough to make fair comparisons. So I ended up limiting myself to the small rooms in an effort at making a level playing field.

Looking at the Kharma speakers web page, I'd guess they might be hideously expensive.

expensive they are, around 95k and going up 10% first of the year. Just like 200 dollar bottles of wine, way beyond my pedestrian pallet !

 

[mhat]

@D Murphy any photos of the towers in black? Also, any customers in the San Francisco area who might be willing to host a brief audition? Dying to hear these!