(10-Dec-2015, 10:21)Confused Wrote: I must admit that by the time we got to December this year, I was expecting that the story would be one of waiting lists for the Phantom. Which would mean no discounts or offers. However, what we are now seeing is quite a nice little offer in the run up to Christmas. Does anyone know what the production rate is for the Phantoms? It does kind of look like they are not quite hitting sales targets?
Another point that occurs to me, looking at the email for the offer, you get a free TT when you order, no mention of the 45 day trial. So is this a way to get people to commit outright to a purchase, rather than take the trial?
There's no way they will supply a turntable on their 45 day trail, not knowing what condition it will be returned in, especially if poorly or incorrectly packaged for the return. Then consider wear and tear and possible abuse of the turntable, arm and cartridge/stylus.
I suspect Phantom's sales volumes are quite low, despite the high level of publicity and promotion, not to mention sending review examples to virtually ever tech and gadget magazine going.
I can't speak for the rest of Europe, North America or the rest of the World, but here in the UK, the number of dealers is very small and geographically scattered. There are no dealers in or anywhere near many of the major cities and large towns.
I do also wonder if the emphasis on promoting the Phantom through Tech magazine type channels has backfired and failed.
In almost every case, they only review a single Phantom and only a few mention the possibility and expected improvement of using two in a stereo pair.
The general consensus of all the reviewers in this type of magazine, is that the Phantom is hugely expensive and they give the impression that they are clearly unaware of the sort of prices and level of audio quality that exist in the world of HiFi type audio.
Comments from their readers demonstrate that the average person reading or viewing those channels, thinks paying anything more than about $500 for "speakers" is ridiculous.
I can only conclude that Devialet have missed their mark.
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