[Danny Richie]

Wondering if anyone has compared the NX-Studio and the Philharmonic BMR Monitor.

That is not a comparison.

[catastrofe]

That is not a comparison.

How about something more informative? The Philharmonics seem to be well regarded.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

They have issues, especially in the vertical axis as the drivers are too far apart (esp tweeter/mid) and they cross too high.
They do have a wide horizontal dispersion pattern making for some positive attribute in regards to soundstage, but will also likely call for room treatment as more sound will be hitting the side walls.

We haven't looked at them in house, but Erin has some solid measurements:
https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/philharmonic_bmr/

The NX-Studios will lose in terms of bass extension as it is a sealed design and the Philharmonic is ported. However, the NX use of an open-backed tweeter allows for a much faster attack as well as a better sense of space and layering within the soundstage.
The waveguide also allows for better low-end extension of the tweeter, as well as a more controlled dispersion, keeping the drivers more coherent over a wider rang, especially in the vertical axis.

They're very different speakers, and they will please different people for different reasons, as they do things very differently.

The best way to compare them would be to listen to both of them and come to your own conclusions.

[catastrofe]

They have issues, especially in the vertical axis as the drivers are too far apart (esp tweeter/mid) and they cross too high.
They do have a wide horizontal dispersion pattern making for some positive attribute in regards to soundstage, but will also likely call for room treatment as more sound will be hitting the side walls.

We haven't looked at them in house, but Erin has some solid measurements:
https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/philharmonic_bmr/

The NX-Studios will lose in terms of bass extension as it is a sealed design and the Philharmonic is ported. However, the NX use of an open-backed tweeter allows for a much faster attack as well as a better sense of space and layering within the soundstage.
The waveguide also allows for better low-end extension of the tweeter, as well as a more controlled dispersion, keeping the drivers more coherent over a wider rang, especially in the vertical axis.

They're very different speakers, and they will please different people for different reasons, as they do things very differently.

The best way to compare them would be to listen to both of them and come to your own conclusions.

Thanks for the more detailed response. I'll look for an opportunity to hear them in person.

[Danny Richie]

How about something more informative? The Philharmonics seem to be well regarded.

Honest replies from me regarding comparisons of our products to others is frowned upon. So you'll have to get that feedback from everyone else.

[catastrofe]

Have a look at their vertical off axis response and you'll see huge holes in the response from poor time arrival issues.

The RAAL ribbons have a nice trailing edge to them but lack attack and won't play down very low. They are really no match for our Neo's in an open baffle application like the NX Studio monitors.

Also the ceramic based woofer is not going to deliver the level of clarity and pure natural sound of the N165NQ woofer. It really is not a comparison.

Have a look inside at the parts quality too. No comparison there either. We offer higher quality parts in our base level, budget oriented kits.

Thanks Danny. Maybe I'll get a chance to audition them at some point.

[NXSTUDIO-DRUMMER]

I've personally have never auditioned the speaker manufacturer Philharmonic BMR Monitor, I've heard favorable reviews though. I can only speak for the kit I personally own, which happens to be the NX Studio's. I've yet to read any unfavarable reviews or comments about the NX Stuido's.

 Am I biased?
The speaker performance sold itself to me, and I'm a tough sell. I've been playing music for over 50 years as a percussionist and music enthusiast.

I've yet to hear any monitor speaker, in price or performance, that can match these speakers. Some of the monitors, I've dealt with in recording studio's, simply do not deliver the same of amount of accuracy, which my NX Studio's produce.

I realize your shopping, I was too over a year ago. What I wasn't expecting, was the overwhelming positive support from Danny and his staff at GR Research, as well as the GR RESEARCH FORUM on Audio circle.  It's been such a positive experience. Factoring in what the NX Studio's perform on their own, I feel like I hit the multi-million dollar lottery!  Seriously,  If my house burned down tomorrow, two things I would immeadiately bring out, one would be my drums, as well as, my NX STUDIO'S.


Granted. I realize your taking multiple things into consideration, but weigh them all out! If I was a betting man, I'll put my studio's up over the Philharmonic BMR Monitor alternative speaker kit your considering all day long!  Am I confident, yes, I hear the results in the studio, these speakers are fantastic!!!!!

In summary,
I'm biased to what I hear acoustically, in the Studio mix? .... Answer: Yes 
GR RESEARCH NX STUDIO'S DELIVER THE GOODS!

Best of luck, in your search!

(This is not a sales pitch, I loathe sales pitches tossed around, rather than positive results experienced.)

[VinceT]

  Seriously,  If my house burned down tomorrow, two things I would run out the houuse with, would be my drums and my NX STUDIO'S on my back!

As a drummer myself, a good set of bookshelf speakers are def a plus in case of a fire

[NXSTUDIO-DRUMMER]

As a drummer myself, a good set of bookshelf speakers are def a plus in case of a fire

Amen to that brother!

[Hattrick17]

Thank you for the review.  My interest of buying these will be comparable studio monitors vs these?  Being other passive monitors like Amphion One - 18  would be a close competitor on the commercial side.  https://amphion.fi/products/one18/    Also how do they translate after mixing with them?

[sean619]

Wondering if anyone has compared the NX-Studio and the Philharmonic BMR Monitor.

I have had them next to each other side by side...I expected the BMR's to win....but BMRs sounded closed off and disjointed by comparison.
The NX Studio sound was more focused....BMRs produce a diffuse wide sound...the NX Studios are more convincing that there is a performance in your room.
BMRs would look nice in your living room...no sub needed for music...NX Studio has no grills and you see the No-Rez when you're standing since the top is open...so not a WAF speaker....the curved cabinet of my BMRs made them look like $5000 speakers.
BMRs definitely win for looks (with grills on) and for near full range bass...they got down to low 30hz region in my room.
But every other category the NX Studios won pretty easily in my dedicated & treated room. 

[NXSTUDIO-DRUMMER]

Always good to hear feedback, regarding monitors.

I'm not sure if you purchased NX-Studio's as a kit, or bought a used pair? New kits are provided with top grill frames to add material to, so you won't see the NoRez. To totally cure the WAF factor, if your handy with tools, making a couple of grills is a easy job to do. My front and top grills are mainly used to protect the drivers, not for critical listening. Although, we do leave the grills on for casuaual background listening, plus we think they look better with the grills on.

I see so many drivers, playing out doing gigs, the last thing I want to see, is more exposed drivers in my house. But for critical listening it is
essential to remove the grills.

Thanks again for sharing your views between the two speaker models.

[sean619]

I bought them used for the man cave
That's good to know about the grills....they would definitely help with looks.
The BMRs wiped the floor with everything at the Arizona Audio Club speaker shootout, including the XLS-Encore...so based on that I would say there is a very large performance delta between the NX-Studio and XLS-Encores...possibly two tiers separating them....but I have never heard the Encores.
here's the results of the speaker shootout if anyone is curious.    https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0678/6518/2452/files/azavclubvotes.pdf?v=1704214626

[Danny Richie]

I've personally have never auditioned the speaker manufacturer Philharmonic BMR Monitor, I've heard favorable reviews though. I can only speak for the kit I personally own, which happens to be the NX Studio's. I've yet to read any unfavarable reviews or comments about the NX Stuido's.

 Am I biased?
The speaker performance sold itself to me, and I'm a tough sell. I've been playing music for over 50 years as a percussionist and music enthusiast.

I've yet to hear any monitor speaker, in price or performance, that can match these speakers. Some of the monitors, I've dealt with in recording studio's, simply do not deliver the same of amount of accuracy, which my NX Studio's produce.

I realize your shopping, I was too over a year ago. What I wasn't expecting, was the overwhelming positive support from Danny and his staff at GR Research, as well as the GR RESEARCH FORUM on Audio circle.  It's been such a positive experience. Factoring in what the NX Studio's perform on their own, I feel like I hit the multi-million dollar lottery!  Seriously,  If my house burned down tomorrow, two things I would immeadiately bring out, one would be my drums, as well as, my NX STUDIO'S.


Granted. I realize your taking multiple things into consideration, but weigh them all out! If I was a betting man, I'll put my studio's up over the Philharmonic BMR Monitor alternative speaker kit your considering all day long!  Am I confident, yes, I hear the results in the studio, these speakers are fantastic!!!!!

Look inside at the parts quality. Nothing else need said....

[sean619]

The biggest problem with the BMR for me was that the mid bass...although very tight and punchy....it sounded detached...maybe that's the nature of a 3 way? Or maybe someone like yourself could fix that in the crossover. The BMR doesn't create the illusion that the music is coming from a single point source. 

The wide wall of sound that the BMR produced...I didn't care for that effect as much, but I think that's a personal preference. There didn't appear to be much of an off axis unless I stood up.

The BMR was worlds better than the Tekton Lore before it, but still pretty far behind the NX Studio.

[mkrawcz]

I have a pair of the more square BMRs and yes, they’re not even remotely close to the NX Studios. They have more bass but that’s it. Not a bad speaker, but Danny’s speakers are levels above most.

[fre11111]

I bought them used for the man cave
That's good to know about the grills....they would definitely help with looks.
The BMRs wiped the floor with everything at the Arizona Audio Club speaker shootout, including the XLS-Encore...so based on that I would say there is a very large performance delta between the NX-Studio and XLS-Encores...possibly two tiers separating them....but I have never heard the Encores.
here's the results of the speaker shootout if anyone is curious.    https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0678/6518/2452/files/azavclubvotes.pdf?v=1704214626

I'm not saying that the group who conducted the speaker listening shootout is biased, but the conclusions do come across that way. In my personal experience, I've heard at least  five of those speakers firsthand, and to my ears, they sound better than the BMR. For example,  the GR Research XLS Encore, in my opinion, outperforms the BMR for my taste, it more tonally coherent overall. Just my two cents.

[sean619]

I don't think there was a conspiracy...although Ron used to be a member of this club  ....but I think if you see the room it will make more sense that larger/higher output speakers would have an advantage...: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/speakerfest-2022-august-27th-10am-4pm-fountain-hills-community-center.36617/

[goggle1824]

I don't think there was a conspiracy...although Ron used to be a member of this club  ....but I think if you see the room it will make more sense that larger/higher output speakers would have an advantage...: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/speakerfest-2022-august-27th-10am-4pm-fountain-hills-community-center.36617/

That room, holy smokes! 😂😂🤦‍♂️. Well, even though I’m sure it was fully well-intentioned, how in the world would someone feel confident that they were hearing anything close to the actual speakers? If your personal listening space was in any way similar to the room then sure, you would think, hey maybe I could get “a feel” for what each of these offer… but holy Jimminy Christmas, talk about NOT a good listening space, in sooo many ways.

And I get it, for sure, it was a great event, probably took a lot of volunteer work and was probably a blast to attend and talk audio and get food and all that, I think the hobby could use more of these types of events, 100%.

Simultaneously, for “the results” to be published or used as some sort of data-point for use in an end-user selection process thus a “shoot-out” , to buy and have in their home, that feels as much a set-up for more confusion and ongoing disappointment as anything else in the hobby that I could think of, unless of course it is or was addressed with full transparency during the event, which maybe (hopefully) it was.

Just my $.02 worth of thoughts.

[poseidonsvoice]

Bill,

Excellent point. The room can completely break even the best measuring and well intentioned speakers. It’s very hard to vicariously make any conclusions from that space!

I wouldn’t put too much emphasis unless it’s listened in a well known, previously listened and room treated space. Hence, I just audition at home or in my buddy’s system which I know well. Trade shows and audio shows…nah. That’s a good place for fellas to get together, talk audio and have a few meals and mind altering beverages 

Best,
Anand.