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using phantoms with other speakers
#1
I've got a relatively large (single) space that has several "zones" in it:  a television area, a desk/workstation area, etc. - each with a small speaker setup.  I've recently bought a pair of gold phantoms to supply sound to the overall space, but I'm finding that if I'm stationary in a particular area, listening through the speakers local to that area usually sounds better than the phantoms, which may be all the way on the other side of the space.  So now I'm thinking about how to integrate the phantoms as part of a global solution that lets me route audio to whatever speakers I choose at a given time.  Two questions immediately come to mind:

1.  Is it even possible to use the phantoms simultaneously with other speakers in the same space?  The Dialog introduces some significant lag (I've tried it), and seems to be required in order to get stereo output from a pair of phantoms.  The only workaround I've found is somehow getting two single-channel toslink outputs, and running one to each phantom directly...  But another thread suggested that the phantoms themselves have internal DSP that introduces lag.

2.  Assuming there's some workaround to #1, what's the best non-wired solution for delivering audio from a small set of sources to an arbitrary set of endpoints, that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and doesn't tie me to some clunky-ass application (I'm looking at you, Spark).  Chromecast Audio, Sonos, AirPlay (I don't own any Apple devices currently), some other thing?  fyi - all of my sources are computers:  a linux media server, a linux t.v. box, a windows workstation, a windows laptop.
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#2
I can't imagine the Golds couldn't fill up the space. Unless you have the space of a basketball court. I went down the Roon and Rpi combo and found it to be the best replacement for Spark and you won't lose the overall flexibility.
Current: Phantom Silvers, Oppo 105D (Toslink), Raspberry Pi + Digi+, ROON
Pre-Phantom: PenAudio Rebel2, Nuforce MCH-2C5, Oppo 105D (Analog)
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#3
Hi meeotch

your #1: unfortunately it is not Dialog that introduces lag, it's the Phantoms themselves. The solution with one toslink to each Phantom is primarily to avoid Dialog, but I have still not found a unit that can separate L and R on individual toslink outputs (which is needed when a pair of Phantoms are used as 'solo' units). The second best solution would be to set up a pair with Dialog, but send the toslink output of, say a Mutec MC 3 +USB, to one of the Phantoms. Then you'd have proper L/R and volume control via Dialog but you would not depend on Spark for playback.

I agree with trashken, a pair of Phantom Gold should easily serve a fairly large space provided you give them good placement to do so..
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Devialetless!
Roon, ROCK/Audiolense XO/Music on NAS/EtherRegen/RoPieee/USPCB/ISORegen/USPCB/Sound Devices USBPre2/Tannoy GOLD 8
250 Pro CI, MicroRendu(1.4), Mutec MC-3+USB
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#4
I can nicely fill the entire room using three Phantom Silver, two in stereo configuration in one end of the room and one in mono configuration at the other end. By merging the two configurations the room is nicely filled with more 3D spacing of the soundstage and allows the flexibility of serious stereo listening or more room filling party or ambient music listening. Like this no problems with delays/phase shifts.
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#5
Thanks for the replies. And as you folks expected, there's no issue with volume - the golds are plenty loud. But as I'm sure you can imagine, just cranking the volume of speakers that are 20' or 30' away (and not necessarily symmetrical to your position) doesn't deliver the same quality of sound as a pair sitting right in front of you, pointed at your head.

Plus, I just like the way most of my speakers sound. I've really wanted to try the combination of phantoms + others, but it sounds like the delay issue is going to prevent that. I could still set everything up in an either/or configuration, though.

Roon looks like an interesting product. Though my media server runs linux, so I'd have to dedicate another always-on machine just for Roon. Maybe when my current laptop retires.
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