Asian Company that makes Philharmonitors Review

[Kruz]

Lately I've been reading about the Philharmonitors and remember seeing someone post a thread about a recent review of them (except under the name of the asian company that handles sales over seas). Does anyone have this link? I've looked but can't remember where I saw it.

 

[Kruz]

you have to love answering your own question. First I found the name of the asian company and then finally found the review:

Alexis Sound Rebecca Monitor loudspeaker

 

[agarwalro]

This is the product page, http://www.alexissound.com/rebecca/

 

[Swerd]

Make no mistake, it was a positive review. And, in my own opinion, the reviewer got it right.

I often feel, after reading reviews like that, that the reviewer was more interested in talking about his collection of various amps and cables. If you delete all the paragraphs that talk about those things, the review gets much shorter. But I'm not complaining .

According to various accounts I've heard from Dennis Murphy, Ken Lin is the guy in Taiwan that he worked with when he first introduced the Philharmonic 1, 2, and 3. Ken Lin found the manufacturer who built the black Phil 1 and 2 cabinets, and shipped them to the USA, where Dennis did all the assembly and shipping. The Phil 3 cabinets were made by a local cabinet maker as orders were received.

The Philharmonitor/Rebecca cabinets are made in China and assembled somewhere in China or Taiwan (?), but they are built to Dennis's design. They are made in only one finish, but that is one of the reasons why they are available at such a low price. Dennis sells them as Philharmonitors in the USA through Philharmonic Audio, and Ken Lin sells them as Rebeccas in Taiwan and, I believe elsewhere in Asia, through Alexis Sound. But they are the same speaker.

 

[slipperybidness]

Make no mistake, it was a positive review. And, in my own opinion, the reviewer got it right.

I often feel, after reading reviews like that, that the reviewer was more interested in talking about his collection of various amps and cables. If you delete all the paragraphs that talk about those things, the review gets much shorter. But I'm not complaining .

According to various accounts I've heard from Dennis Murphy, Ken Lin is the guy in Taiwan that he worked with when he first introduced the Philharmonic 1, 2, and 3. Ken Lin found the manufacturer who built the black Phil 1 and 2 cabinets, and shipped them to the USA, where Dennis did all the assembly and shipping. The Phil 3 cabinets were made by a local cabinet maker as orders were received.

The Philharmonitor/Rebecca cabinets are made in China and assembled somewhere in China or Taiwan (?), but they are built to Dennis's design. They are made in only one finish, but that is one of the reasons why they are available at such a low price. Dennis sells them as Philharmonitors in the USA through Philharmonic Audio, and Ken Lin sells them as Rebeccas in Taiwan and, I believe elsewhere in Asia, through Alexis Sound. But they are the same speaker.

For the price/performance ratio, I'll take it! In fact, I did take a pair that DM used to demo at one of the audio shows (at a slight discount).

One of the selling points for me is that they are front-ported. You don't seem to see a lot of front-ports for hifi speakers, but it tends to give a little bit more placement options, or can be a little less problematic in less-than-ideal placement.

I plan to visit Dennis in the next few months while I'm in the area.

 

[agarwalro]

Fwiw, I like the name Ken chose better than Dennis' utilitarian nomenclature.

 

[Swerd]

For the price/performance ratio, I'll take it! In fact, I did take a pair that DM used to demo at one of the audio shows (at a slight discount).

If I ever knew that, I didn't remember it. Congrats! How long have you had them? Please tell us what you think of them. I think are the best sounding monitor speaker available for under $2500 a pair. And I don't remember ever hearing a monitor speaker that cost more than that.

I plan to visit Dennis in the next few months while I'm in the area.

Dennis's house is a speaker junky's heaven. Have fun.

Fwiw, I like the name Ken chose better than Dennis' utilitarian nomenclature.

Buy a pair and you can call them Rebecca, Delores, Imogene, or even Wanda .

 

[Kruz]

That is what I have read as well else where. One thing popped up for me looking at the Alexis site though. Why do they and Dennis call the ribbon tweeter by a different name?

Alexis Ribbon 1 vs. Fountek Ribbon

Make no mistake, it was a positive review. And, in my own opinion, the reviewer got it right.

I often feel, after reading reviews like that, that the reviewer was more interested in talking about his collection of various amps and cables. If you delete all the paragraphs that talk about those things, the review gets much shorter. But I'm not complaining .

According to various accounts I've heard from Dennis Murphy, Ken Lin is the guy in Taiwan that he worked with when he first introduced the Philharmonic 1, 2, and 3. Ken Lin found the manufacturer who built the black Phil 1 and 2 cabinets, and shipped them to the USA, where Dennis did all the assembly and shipping. The Phil 3 cabinets were made by a local cabinet maker as orders were received.

The Philharmonitor/Rebecca cabinets are made in China and assembled somewhere in China or Taiwan (?), but they are built to Dennis's design. They are made in only one finish, but that is one of the reasons why they are available at such a low price. Dennis sells them as Philharmonitors in the USA through Philharmonic Audio, and Ken Lin sells them as Rebeccas in Taiwan and, I believe elsewhere in Asia, through Alexis Sound. But they are the same speaker.

 

[agarwalro]

Buy a pair and you can call them Rebecca, Delores, Imogene, or even Wanda .

LOL! I call my pair Tom and Harry .

Yeah, but its not like naming your car. You gotta use the name given by the maker.

 

[slipperybidness]

That is what I have read as well else where. One thing popped up for me looking at the Alexis site though. Why do they and Dennis call the ribbon tweeter by a different name?

Alexis Ribbon 1 vs. Fountek Ribbon

Marketing.

When these were first announced, we gave DM a hard time about it on this site (mostly in good fun).

I believe the Alexis tweeter does have a custom face-plate, but otherwise (performance) it is the same.

 

[slipperybidness]

If I ever knew that, I didn't remember it. Congrats! How long have you had them? Please tell us what you think of them. I think are the best sounding monitor speaker available for under $2500 a pair. And I don't remember ever hearing a monitor speaker that cost more than that.

Dennis's house is a speaker junky's heaven. Have fun.

Buy a pair and you can call them Rebecca, Delores, Imogene, or even Wanda .

I've probably had the pair for ~1 year. I'm not the type to wax poetic about speakers, so you may not have realized that I bought them, or my thoughts on them. I do believe they are great, nice and smooth response, etc. I would certainly recommend them without any hesitation to anyone looking for bookshelf speakers. In all honesty, I'm more of the tower speaker type myself if given the choice, but that's part of my decision to buy these (getting perspective from the B/S speaker side of the hobby).

Short and to the point: The Phils are in a different league than most anything on the "normal" retail market. I agree, you probably have to spend AT LEAST double the $ from a B&M store to hit this level of performance. For the price, the fit and finish is also pretty dang good (with only a small complaint on the cheap/flimsy pins on the grills, but I prefer grills off anyway).

Swerd, have you heard the Sierra 2 yet? I'm itching to hear those. Those measurements look amazing! I wonder how they compare to the Phils? Those Sierras might just be giant-killers.

Yup, my friend just happens to live in Bethesda, so it seems that I'm pretty much obligated to pay Dennis a visit. I'll also have an EE friend and an electronics tech friend with me that are both into electronics and music, so it should be a blast.

 

[Kruz]

Have you seen the long thread on AVS comparing the Seirra 2 to the philharmonitors? Good read.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1518709/ascend-sierra-2

I've probably had the pair for ~1 year. I'm not the type to wax poetic about speakers, so you may not have realized that I bought them, or my thoughts on them. I do believe they are great, nice and smooth response, etc. I would certainly recommend them without any hesitation to anyone looking for bookshelf speakers. In all honesty, I'm more of the tower speaker type myself if given the choice, but that's part of my decision to buy these (getting perspective from the B/S speaker side of the hobby).

Short and to the point: The Phils are in a different league than most anything on the "normal" retail market. I agree, you probably have to spend AT LEAST double the $ from a B&M store to hit this level of performance. For the price, the fit and finish is also pretty dang good (with only a small complaint on the cheap/flimsy pins on the grills, but I prefer grills off anyway).

Swerd, have you heard the Sierra 2 yet? I'm itching to hear those. Those measurements look amazing! I wonder how they compare to the Phils? Those Sierras might just be giant-killers.

Yup, my friend just happens to live in Bethesda, so it seems that I'm pretty much obligated to pay Dennis a visit. I'll also have an EE friend and an electronics tech friend with me that are both into electronics and music, so it should be a blast.

 

[Swerd]

Swerd, have you heard the Sierra 2 yet? I'm itching to hear those. Those measurements look amazing! I wonder how they compare to the Phils? Those Sierras might just be giant-killers.

Thanks for your comments and observations.

No, I haven't heard the Sierra 2. The Sierra 1 and the Salk SongSurround are the only other 2-way monitors I've heard that are close to the Philharmonitor, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Sierra 2 is in this same league. Are they in the same price range of $800 to $900? The Salk HT1 is also excellent, but it costs even more at $2700.

Yup, my friend just happens to live in Bethesda, so it seems that I'm pretty much obligated to pay Dennis a visit. I'll also have an EE friend and an electronics tech friend with me that are both into electronics and music, so it should be a blast.

When are you coming to town? I live about 15 miles away in Gaithersburg.

 

[Ricardojoa]

I believe that the rebeca uses a different woofer and the original fountek round faceplate. I believe it is a ER18 from seas while the phil is a SB acoustic woofer. I also beleive that when the phil first came out, it uses the ER18 as well.

 

[slipperybidness]

I believe that the rebeca uses a different woofer and the original fountek round faceplate. I believe it is a ER18 from seas while the phil is a SB acoustic woofer. I also beleive that when the phil first came out, it uses the ER18 as well.

I believe you are wrong because Dennis tells us that if you buy from him then he gets the Alexis and sends it to us. The Alexis/Philharmonitor are identical. If you buy a "Philharmonitor", the badge on it says "Alexis"

 

[slipperybidness]

Thanks for your comments and observations.

No, I haven't heard the Sierra 2. The Sierra 1 and the Salk SongSurround are the only other 2-way monitors I've heard that are close to the Philharmonitor, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Sierra 2 is in this same league. Are they in the same price range of $800 to $900? The Salk HT1 is also excellent, but it costs even more at $2700.

When are you coming to town? I live about 15 miles away in Gaithersburg.

The Sierra 2 is about $1500, so almost double the price. So, it may not be a fair comparison, but perhaps the Sierra offers some marginal improvements.

 

[slipperybidness]

Have you seen the long thread on AVS comparing the Seirra 2 to the philharmonitors? Good read.

Ascend Sierra-2

Thanks Kruz! I had not seen that yet. I don't visit the other HT forums too much, seems like too much voodoo-science on most other forums, except the Parts Express Tech Talk is usually really good.

 

[Swerd]

I believe that the rebeca uses a different woofer and the original fountek round faceplate. I believe it is a ER18 from seas while the phil is a SB acoustic woofer. I also beleive that when the phil first came out, it uses the ER18 as well.

There originally was a 2-way monitor that Dennis sold with an ER18 woofer and a Fountek tweeter. He mounted them in pre-made cabinets from Parts Express. The price of those cabinets went up, causing Dennis to rethink the design.

The second version has the same tweeter (different face plate) and the SB woofer in cabinets built in China. This is the Philharmonitor/Rebecca.

As shown on Philharmonic Audio beside Dennis's piano:

And as shown on Alexis Sound

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Thanks Swerd. They're one and the same speaker. A couple of notes--first, the Asian audio market is a jungle. Ken Lin had to try and differentiate the tweeter because he fully expected the design to be stolen and marketed by some Chinese outfit or other. The faceplate is a custom unit, but the tweeter is a Fountek. Second, I didn't arrange for that review, and I'll certainly accept it gratefully. But truth to tell, the drivers are not super expensive, and we actually make a couple of bucks. That's mainly because we combined our efforts and settled for one cabinet finish in order to make the minimum cabinet order. There's no way to market a speaker at a bargain price unless you can get cabinet costs under control. Alexis is a better name than Philharmonitor? I beg your pardon. You would have preferred Stan or Doris?

 

[Steve81]

You would have preferred Stan or Doris?

I vote for "The Schmetterling". It sounds like something that could blow your house down, but in reality is a delicate butterfly