Philharmonic Audio BMR Monitor

Let's get this out of the way: The BMR Monitor may be a monitor, but it isn't a bookshelf or desktop speaker any more than a yacht is a dinghy.

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LOUDSPEAKER

Heave a slick-surfaced, 32lb BMR from its shipping carton, then wrap your arms around its svelte figure, with its fancy array of drivers and richcolored piano-lacquer finish, and you'll understand this speaker deserves better than to be tucked away amid books or flanking a computer screen.

I was so enamored by the look of the BMR Monitor, I initially thought its name didn't do it justice. It sounded too nondescript. But with time and growing familiarity, I came to find the BMR moniker fitting-dare I say sleekly masculine sounding, like a phonetic cross between "Bimmer" and a wolf growl. The BMR Monitor-there's also a BMR Tower-is so named for its midrange driver-a Balanced Mode Radiator. We don't come across many of these in our hobby, but it's not new: The technology was invented in 1925.

The BMR driver is not typically used in the way it's used in the BMR Monitor: as a midrange unit. As Philharmonic Audio Chief of Operations Ken Lin explained during a Zoom chat, "The BMR driver is normally used full range in small desktop and surround applications, and occasionally in larger two-way designs, where it crosses to a conventional woofer. To the best of our knowledge, Philharmonic Audio is the only company using the BMR driver as a dedicated midrange in a three-way."