Hi I'm new to this forum and I wanted to post a review about my new 2 channel speakers. I'm a regular poster over at the AV123 forums and I already posted this there in the "Other Products" section but I thought posting here would be good as well.
I'd been looking to buy a new pair of stereo speakers for my art studio for a little while now. I asked a number of people for their opinions (thanks again Craigsub, Jackman and Sean) and as is usual for me, I do something that was not in my original plan.
I happened across Phil Bamberg's website (BESL) through a link Sean posted on the AV123 forum. It was for last year's Chicago Audio Fest and it said how Phil was going to use the EMO Big Dog amp to power his flagship speakers, the Series 5 MTM active tower. So after checking out his site it became apparent to me that he knew a little something about designing speakers. We exchanged several emails full of all sorts of questions and we eventually spoke one on one when I was close to making a final choice. Phil is a very soft spoken guy that just happens to be a fountain of loudspeaker information but he doesn't beat you over the head with it. He admits that his website is not totally up to date and that he has at times overwhelmed prospective customers with too many options. But he was very patient and gracious, answering all my questions and doing his best to ascertain my needs. After realizing that I couldn't afford his top model, the Series 5 or go for a fully active setup, he suggested I give his Series 2 a try. Phil felt that these were slightly more forgiving to less than stellar recordings but would give me the lion's share of what the more expensive model provides. And both models are very similar in that all the drivers are from SEAS and are of the same sizes. The Series 5 have the dual 7” magnesium drivers with copper phase plugs and the 1 inch "Milleneum" tweeter. The Series 2 mid drivers are doped paper with black phase plugs and the tweeter is from the Excel line, again all the same size. One nice thing is that the driver mounting for both speakers is identical so I could easily send my speakers back and have Phil swap drivers and crossovers to turn them into Series 5s down the road. So I placed an order for a pair of Series 2 MTM in cherry veneer cabinets and since I was intending to integrate them with my twin 15" sealed JBL subs, Phil sold me a Marchand crossover that he had modified. My speakers, crossover and some custom bi-wire speaker cables that Phil had cooked up arrived about 10 days later. They were well packed and in perfect shape. The quality of the cabinets is first rate. Solid, heavy and dead when your knuckles tapped on them. The veneer was understated and beautiful. Each speaker came with a printout of its frequency measurements which were appropriately flat. After setting them up in my studio I ran them full range to fine tune their positioning. They sounded clean and dynamic with a level of detail and precision than was just phenomenal. Once satisfied with their placement I began hooking up the electronic crossover and then the subs. These speakers are sealed and are designed to be augmented with a sub so, while their bass is good for a smaller room, the subs were a necessity for my studio space. After some sub calibration and crossover adjustment I sat back and really started listening. They were/are awesome! They have just stupid amounts detail and with the bass now dialed in, these speakers paint a sonic picture that is remarkable. The blend between the monitors and the sub was almost seamless. I had sent Phil the specs to my vintage JBL subs along with pictures of my studio and he used that info to help set up the external crossover to give me some meaningful adjustment options. I have never heard speakers so clean and detailed. They are almost surgical without being sterile. And they will play loud, real loud without breakup. They need a solid amp that can push 4 ohm loads though. There are all kinds of subtleties that I'm noticing in my music now. Holly Cole’s “It Happened One Night” is one of my favorite live recordings and it just sounds scary good on these. The vocals, acoustic bass and piano are just superbly rendered. Phil says that the only major thing that the Series 5 have over the 2s is a slightly more transparent midrange. I don't know how that could be since these things sound almost perfect in the mids to me. I am just extremely pleased in my experience with Phil Bamberg. If I hadn't found BESL I was set to do a comparison between Axiom's M80s and my RS850 Sigs and pick the winner for my studio. I'm glad I didn't have to. I feel like I own a pair of truly custom speakers that were exactly what I wanted. I know Mark has mentioned his name a few times here in reference to projects that he's working on for AV123, so I thought it would be proper to share my experience with Phil here as well since this is where I first found out about him. He does truly good work.
Thanks Phil.
All the best.........Carlo.
P.S. I posted some pics in my AV123 gallery for the curious.
