See you at Capital Audiofest - Nov 5-7

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DMurphy

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Re: See you at Capital Audiofest - Nov 5-7
« Reply #20 on: 15 Nov 2021, 07:40 pm »
That's certainly a fair and interesting question.  And spoiler alert--I'm indeed not going to claim one speaker is "better" than another.  There are a bajillion speakers out there, and when I started the Philharmonic Audio operation, I thought it was important to position my speakers to fill a very specific niche that wasn't getting much attention--namely designs with extremely broad and even horizontal dispersion.  That decision was based in large part on my music listening preferences, which focus on symphonic works and opera, plus chamber music and jazz recorded in natural acoustic spaces.  In my experience, that radiation pattern produces the most realistic renditions of this type of music.  That's why I've stuck with the 64-10 RAAL tweeter with its narrow ribbon element and lack of any horn loading, and that's why I use the little BMR bending mode driver with its 180-degree radiation.   

Jim has so many speakers that's it's hard to generalize, but I think there is more emphasis on power handling and focus, with the exception being the open-back design of the flagship model, which achieves much of the sound staging effects I get with broader dispersion drivers.  I think a good example is the new Purifi 2-way.  The sound is quite different from the BMR's, and for symphonic works I think I would prefer the BMR series.  But when I walked into Jim's room at CAF, I immediately sensed a mid-bass impact that I wasn't getting in my room.  The volume was quite low and I have no idea what was playing, but I could feel the bass pressure coming from the Purifi drivers.  The sound wasn't boomy or exaggerated--it just had more impact.  The SB Acoustics Be dome is just as flat as the RAAL and has lower harmonic distortion at high output levels.  The result is an extremely clean, focused sound, but not quite as spacious as you would get with the RAAL.   So it's all about trade-offs and market segmentation. 

RonN5

Re: See you at Capital Audiofest - Nov 5-7
« Reply #21 on: 15 Nov 2021, 08:07 pm »
Dennis....thanks for the reply, and I totally get what you are saying about the sound differences. 

I had the opportunity to listen to the Salk Veracity ST with the RAAL ribbon and the Song3Beat with the Beryllium dome tweeter side by side on the same equipment with the same music for several hours in a very large living room and could never quite adequately explain the differences I heard.  Both were musically fantastic and engaging with the Veracity being more like the BMR Tower with a huge soundstage and a very textured low end and the Beat being more like the BePure2 with a strong midbass punch and more overall low end.

I have no doubt that all four of the speakers mentioned above would be loved by almost everyone that could hear them at home in their own systems...and the woodworking and finishing would just take the enjoyment up another notch!

Again, congrats on the great reviews for you and Jim and best to both of you in the months to come!

Big Red Machine

Re: See you at Capital Audiofest - Nov 5-7
« Reply #22 on: 15 Nov 2021, 08:10 pm »
Thanks for that Dennis. Trade-offs and preferences is what makes the hobby fun. :roll:

RonN5

Re: See you at Capital Audiofest - Nov 5-7
« Reply #23 on: 17 Nov 2021, 06:15 pm »
A follow up question for either Jim or Dennis....why do you sometimes use transmission lines and other times use ported or passive radiators?

jsalk

Re: See you at Capital Audiofest - Nov 5-7
« Reply #24 on: 17 Nov 2021, 06:51 pm »
A follow up question for either Jim or Dennis....why do you sometimes use transmission lines and other times use ported or passive radiators?

Some drivers have T/S parameters that work well in transmission line cabinets.  Others do not.  So the decision as to which cabient to use is pretty much determined by the driver in question. 

If the driver is a good candidate for a TL design, we normally look at a mass-loaded QWT cabinet design as well as folded TL design and a ported design and compare results.   Which ever is best is the one we go with.  But if the T/S parameters are not conducive to a TL design, they will normally be ported.

- Jim