Philharmonic 3... Packing and shipping

ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Well... there’s a simple reason I became a Dennis Murphy fan boy.

I dropped the system into pure direct with the mains set to large.

Melody Gardot, Currency Of Man (Artists Cut)

Simply: clear vocals, deep and rich bass. These things are vibrating the floor at -10. Everything is in balance and the instruments sound pure. The very stripped down “No Man’s Prize” is somehow even more revealing and intimate than on the BMRs. “Morning Sun” was 4 minutes of goose bumps and chills.

Tori Amos, Boys For Pele and From The Choirgirl Hotel
“Mohamed My Friend” strikes such a great mix in the vocal over piano with bass guitar highlights... and the brief soprano sax part is seamlessly integrated. “Northern Lad” is s track my room had some troubles handling in the 2kHz area... with these on full tilt, the miss in that range are smooth and not strident in any way... the full band doesn’t detract from Tori and her Bösendorfer at all... she and the piano are holding their own in leading the show.

Fiona Apple, When The Pawn...
“Paper Bag” makes me fall in love with her voice all over again. Her strange husky-songbird vocals never get lost in the full band; I hear every little quirk in her voice and love it even more.

Rosey, Be Somebody Blues
“It’s A Ruse” Again, this woman is standing in front of a full swing band, she is right in front of me, and just like in my audition 6 mos ago, her vocals are lush and the very epitome of sexy.

Grateful Dead, Europe ‘72
“Morning Dew” is... stunning. Turnt up to -4.5. Yeah, I hear the quirks of a live recording, but considering the story that surrounds this cut, with the engineer ditching the console in the truck... this is one of those moments in music where all that’s pure resides: Jerry’s voice and guitar are clean, emotions of the moment are right there like a fruit ready to pick, and I dare anybody to say this isn’t something magical. No acid necessary.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, No More Shall We Part
“Love Letter” is one of the most amazing love songs I’ve ever heard. Here, Nick’s baritone voice and piano over strings, Bass, and light drums never get lost. “The Sorrowful Wife” is a stunning study in sheer dynamics as Nick and his piano build up tension teasing the eventual unleashing of the full Seeds in an all out frenzy. Never does Nick disappear in this frenzy... his piano is still there... not trying to be a guitar, but still leading the pack. The same continues in a less dramatic fashion in “We Came Along This Road.”

I’ll wrap this session with something completely different. One of my Sax heroes, crushing it with a violinist, and a changeover from his EWI to his Tenor... Michael Brecker, Don’t Try This At Home. “Itsbynne Reel” is led by the EWI with the violin and piano coming in shortly after. Each layer is distinct and identifiable clearly for the individual musicians. Just after the 2 minute mark, the full combo hits and the violin drops out... with Michael and the EWI still up front. Around 4:15, he hits the tenor, and this to me is still a magical thing. The rest of the cut is sheer brilliance as one of the modern eras greatest saxophonists struts his stuff. The violinist comes back near the end and they take it out in class. Never once do the artists or the mix get lost. “Scriabin” gives us a proper quartet ballad with a lush tenor sound from Michael, a great bass solo, and all around impeccable musicianship.

The same that I heard before holds true here and now: the reproduction of sound is just so easy and real coming from these speakers. What the BMRs do to the nines, the 3s do to the 11s! These bad boys are dropping spades on every hand and running the table with clean neutral sound that is the closest thing to real I’ve heard since being in the band.

A parting shot: Rza as Bobby Digital, Digital Bullet
What’s a subwoofer? Clean bass, clear vocals front and center. Every articulated syllable is spot on and distinguishable.

Delicious.
 
Kvn_Walker

Kvn_Walker

Audioholic Field Marshall
Well... there’s a simple reason I became a Dennis Murphy fan boy.

I dropped the system into pure direct with the mains set to large.

Melody Gardot, Currency Of Man (Artists Cut)

Simply: clear vocals, deep and rich bass. These things are vibrating the floor at -10. Everything is in balance and the instruments sound pure. The very stripped down “No Man’s Prize” is somehow even more revealing and intimate than on the BMRs. “Morning Sun” was 4 minutes of goose bumps and chills.

Tori Amos, Boys For Pele and From The Choirgirl Hotel
“Mohamed My Friend” strikes such a great mix in the vocal over piano with bass guitar highlights... and the brief soprano sax part is seamlessly integrated. “Northern Lad” is s track my room had some troubles handling in the 2kHz area... with these on full tilt, the miss in that range are smooth and not strident in any way... the full band doesn’t detract from Tori and her Bösendorfer at all... she and the piano are holding their own in leading the show.

Fiona Apple, When The Pawn...
“Paper Bag” makes me fall in love with her voice all over again. Her strange husky-songbird vocals never get lost in the full band; I hear every little quirk in her voice and love it even more.

Rosey, Be Somebody Blues
“It’s A Ruse” Again, this woman is standing in front of a full swing band, she is right in front of me, and just like in my audition 6 mos ago, her vocals are lush and the very epitome of sexy.

Grateful Dead, Europe ‘72
“Morning Dew” is... stunning. Turnt up to -4.5. Yeah, I hear the quirks of a live recording, but considering the story that surrounds this cut, with the engineer ditching the console in the truck... this is one of those moments in music where all that’s pure resides: Jerry’s voice and guitar are clean, emotions of the moment are right there like a fruit ready to pick, and I dare anybody to say this isn’t something magical. No acid necessary.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, No More Shall We Part
“Love Letter” is one of the most amazing love songs I’ve ever heard. Here, Nick’s baritone voice and piano over strings, Bass, and light drums never get lost. “The Sorrowful Wife” is a stunning study in sheer dynamics as Nick and his piano build up tension teasing the eventual unleashing of the full Seeds in an all out frenzy. Never does Nick disappear in this frenzy... his piano is still there... not trying to be a guitar, but still leading the pack. The same continues in a less dramatic fashion in “We Came Along This Road.”

I’ll wrap this session with something completely different. One of my Sax heroes, crushing it with a violinist, and a changeover from his EWI to his Tenor... Michael Brecker, Don’t Try This At Home. “Itsbynne Reel” is led by the EWI with the violin and piano coming in shortly after. Each layer is distinct and identifiable clearly for the individual musicians. Just after the 2 minute mark, the full combo hits and the violin drops out... with Michael and the EWI still up front. Around 4:15, he hits the tenor, and this to me is still a magical thing. The rest of the cut is sheer brilliance as one of the modern eras greatest saxophonists struts his stuff. The violinist comes back near the end and they take it out in class. Never once do the artists or the mix get lost. “Scriabin” gives us a proper quartet ballad with a lush tenor sound from Michael, a great bass solo, and all around impeccable musicianship.

The same that I heard before holds true here and now: the reproduction of sound is just so easy and real coming from these speakers. What the BMRs do to the nines, the 3s do to the 11s! These bad boys are dropping spades on every hand and running the table with clean neutral sound that is the closest thing to real I’ve heard since being in the band.

A parting shot: Rza as Bobby Digital, Digital Bullet
What’s a subwoofer? Clean bass, clear vocals front and center. Every articulated syllable is spot on and distinguishable.

Delicious.
Transmission line bass is the shiz, no? I bet you'll blow some folks' minds with your "puny 8 inch woofer". Ha!
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Well... there’s a simple reason I became a Dennis Murphy fan boy.

Grateful Dead, Europe ‘72
“Morning Dew” is... stunning. Turnt up to -4.5. Yeah, I hear the quirks of a live recording, but considering the story that surrounds this cut, with the engineer ditching the console in the truck... this is one of those moments in music where all that’s pure resides: Jerry’s voice and guitar are clean, emotions of the moment are right there like a fruit ready to pick, and I dare anybody to say this isn’t something magical. No acid necessary.

Delicious.
All right, a DM Fan Boy and a Grateful Dead fan too :). I'll pop Europe '72 on sometime today and give it a listen. I have it on both CD and LP. It's been a while.

As self-appointed President for Life of the DM Fan Boy Club, welcome. (I haven't received your check yet for the 1st year's annual membership dues.) Also, I have some clothes at the dry cleaners. Would you please pick them up?
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Wow those are simply stunning! Congratulations Ryan!
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Beautiful speakers, Ryan. I am sure they sound as good as they look!
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Beautiful speakers, Ryan. I am sure they sound as good as they look!
One of these days, Shady... We'll get you out here to the Bay Area...
In fact... I'm pretty certain they should send you to Oakland for the CAS. You could arrange to do a subwoofer test or two out in the field, have a few listening sessions here at the house... ;)

But short answer is YES, they do.
Nice work Jim Salk!!!
And lets not leave out the man who designed this in the first place!!! @D Murphy !!!
Seriously wonderful!

More later!

Thanks again to all who have watched and chimed in!!! I'm glad I could share this with you guys!!! And even more glad that I get to share it with an audience who gets it!

(The lady?... lets just say I haven't yet broken down all the boxes... o_O so... the living room. :oops: Um... ya. :eek:)

:cool:
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
That’s my Yanagisawa.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Very nice! A friend let me play his curvy Yanagisawa, and I was blown away by how easily the whole range spoke (coming off of my Bari Sax embouchure), I love my Yamaha YSS-52, but it takes a little more premeditation to get the high notes to speak. I always believe the straight sopranos are a little easier than the curvy, so I bet that is a free playing horn!
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
One of these days, Shady... We'll get you out here to the Bay Area...
In fact... I'm pretty certain they should send you to Oakland for the CAS. You could arrange to do a subwoofer test or two out in the field, have a few listening sessions here at the house... ;)

But short answer is YES, they do.
Nice work Jim Salk!!!
And lets not leave out the man who designed this in the first place!!! @D Murphy !!!
Seriously wonderful!

More later!

Thanks again to all who have watched and chimed in!!! I'm glad I could share this with you guys!!! And even more glad that I get to share it with an audience who gets it!

(The lady?... lets just say I haven't yet broken down all the boxes... o_O so... the living room. :oops: Um... ya. :eek:)

:cool:
My brother lives in the bay area, maybe next time I am out there we can do lunch. I will probably not be covering the California Audio Show, that is in Oakland. However, I do want to get out to that area to visit some manufacturers like JBL, Hsu, and Monoprice, all are up around there, but the LA area it is pretty far from the Bay area, as you know.

As for sub testing, one of the hardest things about that is finding a good place to do it. It has a stringent list of criteria that has to be met, and that is not easy to arrange in a suburban area and impossible in a urban area.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
My brother lives in the bay area, maybe next time I am out there we can do lunch. I will probably not be covering the California Audio Show, that is in Oakland. However, I do want to get out to that area to visit some manufacturers like JBL, Hsu, and Monoprice, all are up around there, but the LA area it is pretty far from the Bay area, as you know.

As for sub testing, one of the hardest things about that is finding a good place to do it. It has a stringent list of criteria that has to be met, and that is not easy to arrange in a suburban area and impossible in a urban area.
LOL socal is definitely a fair distance from the bay area and Ryan's in the north part of that! Beautiful drive, tho....
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
What’s a subwoofer? Clean bass,
I think I told you how much I loved the bass from this transmission line design! I don't know that it is the T-L, but one way or another, it is very nice bass!
You probably already know this, but there is an easy setup you can use for comparing because your AVR will maintain settings unique to each input!
Your BDP X700 has two HDMI outputs (#2 is audio only, if it is like my X800).
So take 2 HDMI cables and plug HDMI Output #1 into the Marantz BD input and #2 into the DVD input.
Check to make sure that with the BD input selected you have retained all of the settings you use with your X13's active.
Then switch to DVD input and change the settings to just play the Phil3's.
Double check it, but you should now have your Phil3 w/subs on BD and Phil3 w/o subs on DVD.
Likely the volume level may require minor adjustment, but otherwise you have a pretty effective A-B switch by selecting which input.

I would consider it a no-brainer that you will prefer the subs for movies/LFE, but try it to see the differences (although I guess you will lose video when you switch to DVD since the Sony output HDMI #2 is Audio only).

I also expect you will prefer the subs for music with synthesized bass, but again try it to see what differences you detect not only in frequency range, but also in character of the bass (which may influence what frequency you ultimately decide to cross them at).

In theory, most if not all of the music you used to audition the Phil3's above should be within the Phil3's range. I don't remember Melody Gardot doing anything extra-low, but she does get more experimental in her later albums! So this is one of those classic questions: If your speakers are full range and you do not play them beyond their SPL limits, or play music with unusually low notes, do subwoofers add anything? Of course there are too many factors like the location of your bass sources (subs and speakers) to have a conclusive conclusion, but you can certainly decide for your setup.

I just love that these AVR's have this ability. It is almost like you can have two different systems for two different genres of music if you like. I use this setup to throw in some extra bass (increased sub volume) which I enjoy for HT and to reduce the bass for music.

No rush, but I am hoping you will play with this in the future and decide if there is any content where you would actually drop the subs or whatever observations you have along the path. I especially appreciate your evaluation, because you are so familiar with the live sounds of the instruments!

One more observation:
Looking at the gear in your signature (after you update it) just makes me proud! Not just of myself (though I am),but of Audioholics, and the fact that someone like you can come here and ask questions and end up with such a great system with fantastic sound quality and for a very reasonable price. You could have paid so much more and still not come close to such a good system.
Much of the credit goes to you! Not many have the patience and willingness to really pay attention and do the research. So often someone is convinced that they need to get the high dollar amp recently reviewed positively in Absolute Sound. Many would need to get the 7012 instead of the 6012! Or they just want to buy something from their local store and bring it home today! The leap of faith to buy speakers from Dennis is a bit of a stretch - I mean this is just some old-fart retired accountant working out of his house, what the fu¢k would he know about speakers! Many people need to be able to say a brand name (like Bose?:eek:) that their friends will recognize and agree are "the best". You had the intuition (?) to recognize many of the guys here are not just buddies of Dennis trying to push your money his way (as if Dennis is walking away with wads of cash). You took the time to find and listen to Dennis' speakers in your area, and (something many would not be able to do is) you immediately recognized just how exceptionally good they are! So bravo to you for taking your time, being thorough, and understanding what you were getting before you bought it!

I probably should re-frame this, we have had several people who end up with great systems for their situation. You are unique in that you were looking for a top level system right out of the gate - generally someone comes here, gets a good system and optionally upgrades it over time to an upper level system over several years and a couple of iterations. You went straight for "the top"!

But thank you for helping us (AH) be our best! Like I say, it makes me proud!!!:cool:
 
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ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Very nice! A friend let me play his curvy Yanagisawa, and I was blown away by how easily the whole range spoke (coming off of my Bari Sax embouchure), I love my Yamaha YSS-52, but it takes a little more premeditation to get the high notes to speak. I always believe the straight sopranos are a little easier than the curvy, so I bet that is a free playing horn!
I find the curved neck, bending the air column ever so slightly, softens what can often time be a harsh sound in upper registers. I also approach the Soprano a little differently, bringing my big-tenor lungs to produce the most sonorous sound I can.
I've often found it interesting that many saxophonists look towards vocalists to imitate their sound, and some vocalists look towards the saxophone. Most notable of the latter group is Frank Sinatra. ;) Regardless, I always enjoyed the idea of letting my own sound develop rather than trying to emulate one musician or another. Though, if I were to liken the sound I try to achieve on my Tenor with another saxophonist, It would be Dexter Gordon. That characteristic then permeates my approach the the other instruments.
A great book my first Jazz instructr turned me on to is Dave Liebman's Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound.
Cheers!
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I find the curved neck, bending the air column ever so slightly, softens what can often time be a harsh sound in upper registers. I also approach the Soprano a little differently, bringing my big-tenor lungs to produce the most sonorous sound I can.
I've often found it interesting that many saxophonists look towards vocalists to imitate their sound, and some vocalists look towards the saxophone. Most notable of the latter group is Frank Sinatra. ;) Regardless, I always enjoyed the idea of letting my own sound develop rather than trying to emulate one musician or another. Though, if I were to liken the sound I try to achieve on my Tenor with another saxophonist, It would be Dexter Gordon. That characteristic then permeates my approach the the other instruments.
A great book my first Jazz instructr turned me on to is Dave Liebman's Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound.
Cheers!
Cool!
Thanks!
 
wldock

wldock

Enthusiast
That’s my Yanagisawa.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm a drummer since I was very young but I play sax in middle school and 9th grade in H.S. Back in the late 70's in middle school had a chance to purchase a Yanagisawa higher end horn through a school discount program for a pretty good savings. I don't remember why I didn't get it or if it was bad timing for the parents but, that would be worth a little something today. Horns are crazy expensive today.

Check out this new saxophone company started by a longtime friend / sax player and Darron McKinney and partner the great Jazz saxophonist Najee.

https://chaserwinds.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/macksax/videos


Nice speakers by the way! myself, I desire a set of the BMR Philharmonitors in a Salk ebony veneer finish.
 
sven1olaf

sven1olaf

Audioholic




And lastly... @KEW I hope this make up for the previous mental trauma I may have caused:




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Dayum!!! Those bad boys look good! From your review I can only imagine how nice they must sound.

What are your thoughts on break-in periods?
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
@ryanosaur

Congratulations on your wonderful new speakers. Enjoy them for a very long time.

Thanks for the entertaining photos, especially the speaker striptease. Were those magnetic boards that cover the tweeters during shipping the pasties?

Take time to enjoy the blue curly maple veneer on your speakers. Look at them on a sunny day, and in the evening with electric light. Watch the curly chatoyance as you move your eyes. Just try and get photos of that. Maybe a video?

Finally, I've always struggled at adequately describing the sound of transmission line bass. I know what it sounds like, and now that I know that sound, there's no going back speakers without it. But its hard to find words that convey that sound to someone who hasn't heard it. It reminds me of the old joke, "Talking about how speakers sound on the internet, is like dancing about architecture."

Once you get over the initial flush of your new Phil 3s, and after you've re-listened to your entire music collection, I'd appreciate it if you took a crack at this. Purely optional, of course.

Can you remember when I told you to wait until you've heard your Phil 3s, in your own home, before you make any plans on new sub woofers?
 
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