A family of cationic heavy alkaline earth-metal complexes based oil the weakly coordinating tetraphenylborate anion [BPh4](-) provides unique insight into ion association trends within this family of compounds. The compounds were prepared by protonolysis of the respective alkaline earth-metal bis[bis(trimethylsilyl)]amides M[N(SiMe3)(2)](2)(thf)(2) (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) with ammonium tetraphenylborates [R3NH][BPh4] (R = Me, Et) in various stoichiometric ratios, resulting in the separated ions [M(donor)(n)][BPh4](2) (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; n = number of donors). All compounds but [Ba(hmpa)(6)][BPh4](2) (3c) were characterized using single-crystal Xray diffraction, H-1 and C-13 NMR, IR spectroscopy and melting point.