Look into the Philharmonic BMR HT Towers. You’d have to spend close to 3X the money on nearly any other brand to get similar performance. Add a sub for the lowest octave and still save thousands.
Should I graduate to floor standers or will larger bookshelves suffice?
Hey guys,
I moved into a larger space several years ago, more of an open floor plan, and soon realized that my current speakers, Legacy Studio HD, in a surround array, might be a bit overwhelmed. It’s a weird, asymmetrical space, but it’s also significantly larger than my previous one. So the title of my post says it all…can I still get adequate coverage with bookshelf speakers, or do I now need floor standers? A friend told me to basically “sit closer to the tv” but that isn’t practical.
I thought about the Calibres from Legacy as an option, which is about my price range…up to 7k or so. I also see all these great internet only brands, like Fritz, or Philharmonic, etc, and I hear about their prodigious extension and sound stage, but can these bookshelves fill my room, or any room for that matter?
Let me also add, I have no problem graduating to floor standers, so suggestions are also welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Showing 2 responses by helomech
Yeah, the BMRs are low sensitivity, but then so are most stand-mount speakers in reality. Despite exaggerated specs that many manufacturers like to claim, it’s rare to encounter a medium size stand-mount speaker with a sensitivity over 86dB. I don’t see your amp mentioned in this thread, but if you have at least 150 WPC/4-ohm at your disposal, you should be fine with any of the BMR models. And though stand-mounts generally image better (often not by much), they nearly always necessitate the need for a subwoofer, especially in a large room. That’s a whole other can of worms. I used to be a fan of stand-mount/subwoofer combos but finally concluded the small benefit in imaging doesn’t outweigh the hassle of sub integration. Seems no matter the speaker/sub combo, they never blend quite perfectly. I couldn’t even get them to blend right when using an active crossover designed specifically for that purpose. As for overall sound quality, you’d be hard pressed to find anything around $7K that remotely approaches the Philharmonics. Who else fits >$2K worth of drivers into $4300/pair speakers (HT Towers)? The HT Towers have a relatively slim baffle so they should image pretty well and take up approximately the same footprint as stand-mounts. |