Philharmonic 2
Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it. ~Henry David Thoreau
Mr. Thoreau was most certainly correct. That is until I heard the Salon 2. My experience with the Salon 2 revealed to me what a musical experience can be, and what a musical experience should be. That was the day I heard music for the first time. Live, unamplified music is great, but a sufficient recording can be so much more intimate. I enjoy few things more than listening to a good recording and feeling like the artist is performing for me. After the Salon 2 I went on to listen to the KEF Blade, TAD Compact Reference One, and TAD Reference One. While I enjoyed all of these top performers very much, and I think the TAD Reference One is the most advanced, I have a special love for the Salon 2. The Salon 2 was the first speaker I ever heard that truly moved me, and it is the cheapest of the 4. With 99.99% of the greatness of the TAD R1, I believe it has a great price to performance ratio (comparatively speaking). Unfortunately, like most of you, (curse you ADTG) I don’t have $20,000 to purchase a pair of speakers.
What I did have, was ~$2,000, a desire to get Salon 2 caliber sound, and a willingness to wait until I found it. Trying to push a $20,000 speaker into a $2,000 budget is no easy task. Somehow Dennis Murphy managed to do it! I call the Philharmonic 2 the Studio 1.5. The Philharmonic 2 has all the detail and accuracy of the Salon/Studio 2, with a few less bass drivers. If you want deep, accurate bass, and overall neutrality and accuracy, these are most definitely the speakers for you! The RAAL tweeter is absolutely amazing. It is incredibly accurate and detailed. It has been quite a while since I have heard the TAD R1, so I won’t compare it to the R1’s Beryllium tweeter, but when I first heard the TAD R1 (the day after I heard received my Philharmonic 2) I didn’t think the RAAL gave up anything to the Beryllium tweeter.
I could go on about the tracks I listen to, and the drivers Dennis chose, but it has all been said before. The main point I want you to take out of this blurb, is the Philharmonic speakers are probably the best value in loudspeakers today and should most certainly be considered by the budget-minded audiophile looking for world-class sound quality.
The Philharmonic speakers allow you to truly hear music.
Happy Listening!
*I purchased the Philharmonic 2s back when the Chinese cabinets were available so it was a bit cheaper. The Philharmonic cabinets are now being made by a local cabinet shop with your choice of finish.
If anyone wants me to play a specific track and tell them how it sounds, I would be more than willing to do so.
Philharmonic Audio