Philharmonic Audio BMR Philharmonitor Bookshelf Speaker Review

[ryanosaur]

@Dennis Murphy
Indeed! Get yourself well!
Cheers,
R

 

[CB22]

Hi I've had apretty rough time of it and have had to give up the speaker biz. I'm still hospitalized, but hope to return home fairly shortly (although I shortly may have to spend some time in a recovery facility, ). The timing could't have been worse, since I had just seen all of my efforts with the BMR monitor come to fruition. That may be the best reviewed speaker no one can buy. (Well, you can buy one from Jim Salk, but leaving it I'm it up to him how much he wants to charge.) I have 12 - 15 pairs of blackcabinets with crossovers left, but I can't manage assebembly. I still hope to work something out there. Jim Salk is finshing up all the orders I had I had arranged through him, and I managed to finish all of my own orders except one
Phil 3. I'll do everything I can to tinish when i get back.

Dennis, best of wishes in your recovery and get better soon. Thank you for the amazing musical magic that your speakers have lit up my house with. Sad to hear your getting out of the speakers business but take care of your health as that is most important. Take care and again best wishes. - Chris

 

[Beave]

Take care of yourself Dennis, and get well soon. Great to hear from you!

If I lived in the area I'd be happy to put speakers together for you.

 

[ryanosaur]

@Dennis Murphy
Indeed! Get yourself well!
Cheers,
R

Now that I'm not on the clock...

Dennis. I said it before, and will for a very, very long time to come. Thank you!
YOU made music mean something to me again, after such a long time away from my ears and my heart.
YOU have given many of us a gift that is, frankly, beyond comprehension to many. Hell, my wife doesn't get it!, but she knows I'm happy!
YOU have inspired me to learn how to do this for myself! To go beyond my comfort zone. To be more than I was yesterday.

Thank you.

May you recover swiftly and be well, soon.

I hope, too, we get to speak again.

My thoughts and wishes for your health and wellness!

Best,
R

 

[BluesDaddy]

Hi I've had apretty rough time of it and have had to give up the speaker biz. I'm still hospitalized, but hope to return home fairly shortly (although I shortly may have to spend some time in a recovery facility, ). The timing could't have been worse, since I had just seen all of my efforts with the BMR monitor come to fruition. That may be the best reviewed speaker no one can buy. (Well, you can buy one from Jim Salk, but leaving it I'm it up to him how much he wants to charge.) I have 12 - 15 pairs of blackcabinets with crossovers left, but I can't manage assebembly. I still hope to work something out there. Jim Salk is finshing up all the orders I had I had arranged through him, and I managed to finish all of my own orders except one
Phil 3. I'll do everything I can to tinish when i get back.

Dennis, so sorry to hear recovery taking longer than you hoped. Obviously your health is paramount. Thank you for your wonderful designs and the joy my BMRs give me. Get well and God bless!

 

[Swerd]

Dennis – Glad to hear from you. Best wishes for your recovery.

 

[Pjay99]

My bad The graph on my site is of the earlier version with the offset tweeter and mid. We switched to in-line drivers when we ordered the prefab cabinets because we didn't want to risk having the factory mess up some pairs with the same offset--not mirror imaged. The even spacing of the tweet and mid make for a very small diffraction peak around 30-40 degrees of faxis. I engineered in a little dip on axis because it sounded a tiny bit better due to a more even power response. The little bump in the highs is just a feature of the RAAL that isn't worth throwing components at. I think it sounds better that way. Although the common wisdom is that ribbon tweeters can sound harsh, quite the opposite is true, at least for the RAALs. Also, the bump is also centered around 10 kHz, not 7 kHz, which is even less of an issue. A little bit of a bump doesn't have any negative effect that I can hear, and frankly I prefer it. Virtually all of the recent BMR's I've measured have had it. If you look at the listening window response in the review, it fits within a 2 dB (+/ 1 db) window over virtually all of the frequency range. That's good enough for me.

Dennis. Contact me if you want help with anything. Remember I live in your area. Peter

 

[charmerci]

Here's hoping for a continued and speedy - and complete! - recovery, Dennis!

 

[Tomorrow]

Luv ya, Dennis. And miss your presence here and AVS. A LOT. Please be well.

 

[KEW]

Hey Dennis, I am retired and could come up for a week or two and help you in any way I can!
I'm not very experienced with a soldering iron, but have a good background in woodworking and an "educated touch" for assembly.

 

[Talltexan8]

Hi I've had apretty rough time of it and have had to give up the speaker biz. I'm still hospitalized, but hope to return home fairly shortly (although I shortly may have to spend some time in a recovery facility, ). The timing could't have been worse, since I had just seen all of my efforts with the BMR monitor come to fruition. That may be the best reviewed speaker no one can buy. (Well, you can buy one from Jim Salk, but leaving it I'm it up to him how much he wants to charge.) I have 12 - 15 pairs of blackcabinets with crossovers left, but I can't manage assebembly. I still hope to work something out there. Jim Salk is finshing up all the orders I had I had arranged through him, and I managed to finish all of my own orders except one
Phil 3. I'll do everything I can to tinish when i get back.

Dennis, what would you like to work out with the cabinets and crossovers you have that you can’t assemble? I am open to working with you on that. You can message me here or check you email at philharmonic audio

 

[ryanosaur]

Hi all!
Dennis surfaced on that other forum... Since I know there are concerned friends here, too, I just wanted to pass along the news that he's on the mend! Perhaps we'll see him here soon! *fingerscrossed
Best to you, Dennis. Get well!

 

[Swerd]

Thanks ryanosaur for letting us know. It cheered me up quite a bit to read it. Dennis posts begin at #8225 at this link. He said:

"Hi everyone I was just released from the hospital and am currently in an assisted living facility to ease my transition to normal life. I hope to be back in my house by the end of the month. I have a stash of piano black BMR's that I need to sell, and then I'll suspend operations. I may do some speaker reviews and publish the designs for my current line of speakers, and I'll continue to do design work for Jim Salk. But I'm out of the speaker biz. It's drained my financial and physical resources."​

​

I wish the best to my friend Dennis. Have a speedy and smooth recovery.

 

[nogaro]

Hi I've had apretty rough time of it and have had to give up the speaker biz. I'm still hospitalized, but hope to return home fairly shortly (although I shortly may have to spend some time in a recovery facility, ). The timing could't have been worse, since I had just seen all of my efforts with the BMR monitor come to fruition. That may be the best reviewed speaker no one can buy. (Well, you can buy one from Jim Salk, but leaving it I'm it up to him how much he wants to charge.) I have 12 - 15 pairs of blackcabinets with crossovers left, but I can't manage assebembly. I still hope to work something out there. Jim Salk is finshing up all the orders I had I had arranged through him, and I managed to finish all of my own orders except one
Phil 3. I'll do everything I can to tinish when i get back.

Sorry to hear about your rough time, Dennis. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

 

[Alex2507]

have a good background in woodworking and an "educated touch" ...

That *educated touch* and woodworking background only lacks a Twister reference.

Dennis, hey, it's me. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and a safe transition back to your house. The dozen or so BMRs oughta fly off the shelves as they say so that's an easy solution. I'm not sure what I would do with them but I would love to see published designs on the various Philharmonic Audio speakers. My involvement with your speakers and crossovers in the Salk line has worked out pretty well for me. I want to thank you for that. Right now I am finishing up the grill make-over for the MBOW1 3-ways I picked up at your house a few years ago. I'm going over to magnets.

 

[KEW]

That *educated touch* and woodworking background only lacks a Twister reference.

What happens in Bethesda stays in Bethesda!

 

[ryanosaur]

Saw this at the other forum this morning.
The BMR lives:
http://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=BMR Monitors

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Best wishes Dennis.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Saw this at the other forum this morning.
The BMR lives:
http://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=BMR Monitors

It is nice to see that these amazing speakers will be still available even though I would assume the price will be little higher but they are still well worth the price. I must say that Dennis has the skill to design really good sounding speakers and good heart to let these speakers live even though it is not from hes hands anymore.

 

[JerryLove]

It is nice to see that these amazing speakers will be still available even though I would assume the price will be little higher

$1350 on the Philharmonic site
$2396 on the SalkSound site

So yes. A 77% increase in price.

The design isn't quite identical either. The Salk version has the TM offset from center, and there's more baffle below the woofer (since the height is reported the same, I must assume less baffle above the tweeter).