Pros:
- Amazing furniture-grade finish
- Spectacular mid-range
- Same great treble smoothness as the BMR bookshelf
- Capable bass / Clean bass extension for most
- With the correct placement a killer sound stage
- Price - probably the best sound quality that you can get from a loudspeaker in the price range. They could easily sell a pair of these for 7/8k.
- Sound quality justifies the price tag
- Great packaging
Cons:
- Subwoofers are needed for basshead like myself. Certainly not a deal breaker
BMRs vs BMR Towers:
I've owned the speakers for over a month now. I wanted to wait for a little to do the write-up. Simply because I wanted the "new" speaker feeling to wear off a bit. Hopefully, without that feeling, I can give a more objective opinion of the speakers. Coming from the BMR to the BMR Towers there are three differences. Not huge differences but differences. The first and biggest difference to me, there is a more pronounced and present mid-range. Especially with vocals, I feel like the breaths are more audible. Second, the soundstage is a little grander. Third, the bass digs deeper and plays louder than the bookshelf.
Unboxing Pics:
The packaging was exceptional. Everything was double-boxed with custom foam inserts.
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I added furniture sliders so I could more easily test out different speaker placements without scratching the floors.
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I used sofa cushions to lie the speakers on while I installed the carpet pegs.
Track Impressions:
Note, I listened to the following tracks two times: 1st listen 2-channel direct with no subwoofers or EQ. The second listen with EQ being applied and subs. I had to pull the speakers off the wall to get the best soundstage in my room. Unfortunately, the speaker placement is still not perfect but I have to work with the living room I got; unless I emptied out all the furniture from the living and re-arranged things. However, my wife would not be happy about that. For everyday use, my speakers will have to live closer to the wall until I can get this massive L-sofa sold. So for this listening session, I moved my speakers to the spot where they had more room to breathe at a 30-degree angle from my listening position.
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Bubbles - Yosi Horikawa
generally, a trippy experience of treble sounds panning hard left and right. This is my go-to imaging track.
Talking Walls - Hippie Stabatoge
The bass does dig deep around 2:30. not bad at all!
Do The Astral Plane - Flying Lotus
This is a favorite song of mine with swelling synths.
Subwooler Test - Powersupply
Chan Chan - Buena Visa Social Club
Between both listen there is the same instrument separation between each track.
My room felt bigger than it is
A real sense of depth
Clear instrument separation but very cohesive mix
A very well-recorded song
Quake - Iceland Symphony Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycxVmYv2A18
The Grants -
Lana Del Ray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZegtK54DC4c
Losing the Light - Explosions in the Sky
'Losing the Light', off the new album The Wilderness Music by Explosions in the SkyOrder The Wilderness http://smarturl.it/EITSStoreFollow Explosions In the ...
www.youtube.com
Generally, I preferred my second listen to everything with subs and eq. Also with house shaking bass
They blended very nicely with the x-13s with the crossover at 80. I would say for 2 channel listening, generally, the speakers are fine on their own, however, when watching an action movie I would recommend subs. If I had extra money to blow it would probably be on bass traps/ more acoustic treatments. Now that my BMR bookshelves are the new surround speakers, I would be interested in purchasing an SACD player and putting my 1700-dollar surrounds to use. lol
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Power:
There is no real need for additional external amplification at this time even with a sensitivity of -86db. I do notice some distortion being introduced from my AVR when I go over -20db, however, it's not noticeable when music is playing. 120 wpc is plenty enough for the size of my room and the volume I'm listing at. Upgrading to an external amp would just be a bonus right now but not really needed.
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Bass Note:
I have zero remorse buyers remorse and this is a pair of speakers that I plan to keep for many years to come, if not indefinitely. If you're a bass head like myself I would highly encourage subwoofers. Or if you're looking for an "all in one" true full range maybe look for something like the Polk L-800. It's in the price range. From what I've read even the L-800s come with their problems as well. While I haven't listened to it, apparently they can play lower frequencies like a sub. I would be interested in listening to the Polk L-800 someday. I've read the bass can hit on hip-hop/ electronic music. As for the BMR towers the laws of physics start to kick in, you can't get crazy bass out of a cabinet this size. But it's pretty damn good. And there is clean bass extension down to 25htz, however, not at the SPL I would prefer. Note the BMR bookshelves did not impress me at all with their bass but the BMR tower did.
Soundstage Note:
The vintage Infinity IRS V speaker system consisted of 4 speaker towers. To date has the most magnificent soundstage I've heard from a pair of speakers. It's also like a 100k pair of speakers. The soundstage from the BMR towers gets me 70% of the way there. If I had 4 BMR towers and stacked them on top of each other I could probably help recreate this sound stage. It's probably possible. That would be wild. The soundstage is large and focused in the center of the room. I had my wife listen to a couple of songs and she thought the audio was coming from the center channel speakers. She even went over and put her ear close to the center. She seemed surprised lol.
Conclusion:
If you are on a budget I would recommend the BMR bookshelves with a sub. If you're not, I would recommend the BMR towers. The difference in sound quality between the BMR and the BMR towers is not huge but still there. In my subjective opinion, the midrange, bass, and rosewood finish are the three big things that set the BMR towers apart from the BMR bookshelves. The bass is bolder and digs deeper. The midrange is more pronounced. The finish is to die for. I'm happy to say that I would recommend the BMR towers to anyone looking at a pair of reasonably affordable end-game loudspeakers. It's sonic nirvana. To improve SQ further at this point, I would need a larger more rectangular living room and more acoustic treatments. Now time quit chasing the dragon for a while and enjoy the music. Also, check out
@shady's review which has all the measurements. I hope this helps someone with any hesitations about pulling the trigger on the BMR Towers.
Sorry if there were any formatting/ SP issues. Disclaimer: I'm dyslexic
