Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review

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erinh

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Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« on: 31 Jul 2020, 04:29 pm »
This is another speaker review I completed about 2 weeks ago.  I know a lot of you share my DIY enthusiasm and might be interested in learning about this if you haven't heard about the Philharmonic BMR.  Or if you have, getting a look "under the hood" via measurements.

As always, I listened to the speakers first in various manners.  Took notes.  Then performed my objective testing with my Klippel products.  Then typed up the review and tried to correlate what I heard with what shows up in the measurements.  It's a process but my goal is to help improve my own understanding and help others understand where data can be used to accurately predict performance as well as what specific features I liked or did not like about the product I am reviewing.


Here's a link to the written review:
https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/philharmonic_bmr/

YouTube version:
https://youtu.be/7JZjb293HVo

poseidonsvoice

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Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #1 on: 31 Jul 2020, 05:57 pm »
 :thumb:  :popcorn:

You can read, psychoanalyze and learn from this review. Give it a try folks!

Best,
Anand.

RolandButcher

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Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #2 on: 31 Jul 2020, 08:10 pm »
Terrific work - I look forward to reading more of your reviews!

RonN5

Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #3 on: 31 Jul 2020, 09:51 pm »
Erin

There is so much to appreciate about your reviews....where to start and yet keep it short...

First, thanks for listening first and measuring second...the goal should not be to confirm what you measure or vice versa...just an honest portrayal of what you measure and what you hear....even if they are at odds in certain respects.

Second, thanks for trying to explain what the measurements mean...as well as some references for where else to go to read further explanations.

Third, thanks for providing your play list.

Fourth, thanks for providing comments on what you heard without running Dirac...many of us with 2 channel systems are not trying to make digital corrections and so we need to know what you hear in your room without correction.

Fifth, thanks for providing a lot of information about your room and set up as it allows us to compare to our own rooms and setups.

Sixth, thanks for providing thoughts about digital filters that could be beneficial to those who may want to use them.

One additional thought...and this applies to something that is important to many audio aficionados.  When you are giving your subjective comments based on listening, it would be great if you could provide more insight as to what you heard with respect to the soundstage that the speakers present....width beyond the speakers, depth, height and an overall sense of realism.

Again...thanks for the great reviews you have been doing!


JohnR

Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #4 on: 1 Aug 2020, 04:32 am »
Erin, nice work. I'm still digesting it but initially a bit surprised by the narrowed dispersion 500 - 2k.

Quote
The one thing I find a bit odd is the 1dB shelf below 300Hz. I can’t imagine this being baffle step because, from what I can tell, the crossover point between the woofer and the midrange is about 550Hz.

Isn't baffle step independent of the woofer-mid crossover? My thought would have been that Dennis has not applied a full 6dB compensation, do you know if he has commented on this?


johzel

Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #5 on: 1 Aug 2020, 12:36 pm »
Nice informative review. Enjoyed reading it.

mresseguie

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Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #6 on: 1 Aug 2020, 03:30 pm »
Erinh,

Thank you for taking the time to create an excellent evaluation.  :thumb:

As time allows, I'm going to watch your other videos to see what I can learn.

Michael

AJinFLA

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Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #7 on: 1 Aug 2020, 11:52 pm »
Isn't baffle step independent of the woofer-mid crossover?
Yes, the baffle dimensions determine the 2>4pi transition, not the filter itself.

cheers,

AJ

erinh

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Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #8 on: 2 Aug 2020, 12:40 am »
Erin, nice work. I'm still digesting it but initially a bit surprised by the narrowed dispersion 500 - 2k.

Isn't baffle step independent of the woofer-mid crossover? My thought would have been that Dennis has not applied a full 6dB compensation, do you know if he has commented on this?

It is.  What I meant was that, in most cases that I am aware of, BSC is usually an "across the board" filter; the entire bandpass region is affected the same because the crossover is not made at the same point where it is transitioning.  Or, that was something I'd always tried to avoid in my active designs.  I was off-handedly making the assumption that BSC should have been resolved closer to the crossover (or above it).  I was thinking that, too, because it was a rather steep shelf and not a trending transition.  Once you hit 300Hz it's nearly a straight line below that.  Going back and modeling a 10" wide baffle with a 6.5" woofer the difference from 300Hz to 100Hz is about 2dB, indicating it is still transitioning.  Unlike the 0dB delta between 100/300Hz like my measurements show. 

Dennis did briefly discuss this in his reply to my thread on AVSforum:
Quote
Both the BMR and the Pioneer BS22 mod have tested with a slightly shelved-down bass response starting around 300 Hz. That's because I don't set the response above that point by splicing a near-field woofer plot to the anechoic plot. Instead, I measure how the bass response is doing in my office room and I set the overall system response to match that. If I used some kind of woofer measurement free of typical room effects, the bass could easily turn out to be too heavy in most rooms. There's probably more art than science to the process, but so far it's worked out well.

Not sure if that helps answer your question or not, though.

erinh

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Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #9 on: 3 Aug 2020, 05:17 pm »
Erin

There is so much to appreciate about your reviews....where to start and yet keep it short...

First, thanks for listening first and measuring second...the goal should not be to confirm what you measure or vice versa...just an honest portrayal of what you measure and what you hear....even if they are at odds in certain respects.

Second, thanks for trying to explain what the measurements mean...as well as some references for where else to go to read further explanations.

Third, thanks for providing your play list.

Fourth, thanks for providing comments on what you heard without running Dirac...many of us with 2 channel systems are not trying to make digital corrections and so we need to know what you hear in your room without correction.

Fifth, thanks for providing a lot of information about your room and set up as it allows us to compare to our own rooms and setups.

Sixth, thanks for providing thoughts about digital filters that could be beneficial to those who may want to use them.

One additional thought...and this applies to something that is important to many audio aficionados.  When you are giving your subjective comments based on listening, it would be great if you could provide more insight as to what you heard with respect to the soundstage that the speakers present....width beyond the speakers, depth, height and an overall sense of realism.

Again...thanks for the great reviews you have been doing!

Thanks for the feedback!

I thought I talked about the soundstage a bit in this review.  I'd have to go back and read it again (or watch the video... ugh... I hate seeing myself talk; it's just weird).  I do recall mentioning the Paul Simon track sounding layered and also talking about the horizontal dispersion but maybe I forgot to tie that to the soundstage characteristics.

At any rate, thanks for the feedback.  I'm still learning my way how best to provide the data as concisely but thoroughly as possible.  It's a very hard thing to juggle because no everyone understands the data off the bat and it's not something you can just blow over and not lose people on.

NORTH4

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Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #10 on: 26 Sep 2022, 12:06 am »
Thanks for the great review!
Your video helped push me over the edge to go out and build some for myself. I have had mine up and running for a couple months now. Nothing but good things to say about the BMR's.

,NORTH
« Last Edit: 26 Sep 2022, 01:11 am by NORTH4 »

Yog Sothoth

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Re: Philharmonic BMR Speaker Review
« Reply #11 on: 26 Sep 2022, 01:32 pm »
This is great!  I have all the parts and the flatpack and am just about to begin building a pair!