First impressions

[theaudioguru]

I'm using a Meridian Sooloos Core 15 and also Rhapsody. Love it.

I tried using my phone and that was an awful experience.

For now sources are limited to Deezer and Qobuz in addition to local drives.

I managed to fix the windows 7 issue by manually copying a dll ibrary in the Spark folder but I'm not able to play any music so far from a computer...

I forgot to answer your question about volume. Yes is 100. I've only managed 65 without wondering whether the speaker was going to blow up (try the 1812 on these and those sides flap in out in a manic way) or my neighbours complaining.  Depending on the material and time of day, I find anything from 5-40 more than adequate.

Disappointing? Not for me. I don't know what you were coming from, but my rig consisting of B&W 802 Diamonds, power amps etc is not in any material way better than the Phantoms as far as I can tell. Yes the treble is better on the 802's but for the most part I would say they are on par. For this reason and for the sheer simplicity of listening to music, the old kit has to go and I have already sold some on eBay. Hopefully with software updates and the like, things will only get better. But I must admit, I'm no audiophile who can tell the difference when music is playing on one rack from another, but there is something tangibly different listening to music through the Phantoms and I can't put my finger on it. The biggest let down is the buggy software, but I've just bought an ipad mini and the Spark software seems to behave much better on that, than on my Android phone.

Hi Stonedragon, I thought of purchasing the 802 diamonds to use with my Devialet 400 but do I understand correctly  that the phantoms rival them?
I'm thinking when the stands are available and software fixed they may be a real high end contender, what are your thoughts?
Theaudioguru 

[cthroughblue]

theaudioguru

I'm using a Meridian Sooloos Core 15 and also Rhapsody. Love it.

I tried using my phone and that was an awful experience.

For now sources are limited to Deezer and Qobuz in addition to local drives.

I managed to fix the windows 7 issue by manually copying a dll ibrary in the Spark folder but I'm not able to play any music so far from a computer...

I forgot to answer your question about volume. Yes is 100. I've only managed 65 without wondering whether the speaker was going to blow up (try the 1812 on these and those sides flap in out in a manic way) or my neighbours complaining.  Depending on the material and time of day, I find anything from 5-40 more than adequate.

Disappointing? Not for me. I don't know what you were coming from, but my rig consisting of B&W 802 Diamonds, power amps etc is not in any material way better than the Phantoms as far as I can tell. Yes the treble is better on the 802's but for the most part I would say they are on par. For this reason and for the sheer simplicity of listening to music, the old kit has to go and I have already sold some on eBay. Hopefully with software updates and the like, things will only get better. But I must admit, I'm no audiophile who can tell the difference when music is playing on one rack from another, but there is something tangibly different listening to music through the Phantoms and I can't put my finger on it. The biggest let down is the buggy software, but I've just bought an ipad mini and the Spark software seems to behave much better on that, than on my Android phone.

Hi Stonedragon, I thought of purchasing the 802 diamonds to use with my Devialet 400 but do I understand correctly  that the phantoms rival them?
I'm thinking when the stands are available and software fixed they may be a real high end contender, what are your thoughts?
Theaudioguru

[cthroughblue]

I have a 120 playing sonus faber Olympicas and I don't think the difference between the phantoms is very much at all. The old set up is going along with all the cables ect. Softwear sucks but sound quality is very good, very nice balenced. Can't quite put my finger on what it is about them but something makes me like them. I wonder if like the expert amps the sound will get better with time. Also I was playing a song and my MacBook ran out of juice, but instead of just stopping dead the phantom finished the song off 

[stonedragon]

theaudioguru

I'm using a Meridian Sooloos Core 15 and also Rhapsody. Love it.

I tried using my phone and that was an awful experience.

For now sources are limited to Deezer and Qobuz in addition to local drives.

I managed to fix the windows 7 issue by manually copying a dll ibrary in the Spark folder but I'm not able to play any music so far from a computer...

I forgot to answer your question about volume. Yes is 100. I've only managed 65 without wondering whether the speaker was going to blow up (try the 1812 on these and those sides flap in out in a manic way) or my neighbours complaining.  Depending on the material and time of day, I find anything from 5-40 more than adequate.

Disappointing? Not for me. I don't know what you were coming from, but my rig consisting of B&W 802 Diamonds, power amps etc is not in any material way better than the Phantoms as far as I can tell. Yes the treble is better on the 802's but for the most part I would say they are on par. For this reason and for the sheer simplicity of listening to music, the old kit has to go and I have already sold some on eBay. Hopefully with software updates and the like, things will only get better. But I must admit, I'm no audiophile who can tell the difference when music is playing on one rack from another, but there is something tangibly different listening to music through the Phantoms and I can't put my finger on it. The biggest let down is the buggy software, but I've just bought an ipad mini and the Spark software seems to behave much better on that, than on my Android phone.

Hi Stonedragon, I thought of purchasing the 802 diamonds to use with my Devialet 400 but do I understand correctly  that the phantoms rival them?
I'm thinking when the stands are available and software fixed they may be a real high end contender, what are your thoughts?
Theaudioguru

Hello Theaudioguru,

In a word YES. On a few tracks the Diamonds have the edge on the treble, but in all other ways the Phantoms rival if not better the diamonds in some areas. For a starter the bass. Without a doubt it is deeper and far more controlled. Another thing is the detail of a song is there at all levels. With the Diamonds you really have to turn up the amplifier to make them sing. With the Phantoms even at low level everything is still there, including the bass, but just on a slightly smaller scale. However when you turn things up, they grow and produce a massive sound stage. As I mentioned earlier, I felt nostalgic packing up my kit to send off, but after listening to the Phantoms play 'Suppers Ready' by Genesis I know I have made the right decision. Also the sheer simplicity of things, instead of having a myriad of cables is a real boom. But of course this is all subjective.

[michirishi]

This sounds like music to my ears 

How about the 'image' of the soundstage with placing of the instruments and voices? Is that stable and distinct? Can you exactly, with pin point precision, locate where instruments and voices are located? 
For me, this is what defines a high-end setup from any sound system.

[stonedragon]

This sounds like music to my ears 

How about the 'image' of the soundstage with placing of the instruments and voices? Is that stable and distinct? Can you exactly, with pin point precision, locate where instruments and voices are located? 
For me, this is what defines a high-end setup from any sound system.

Yes Imaging is good. Sometimes the singer is coming from the left, or centre or right depending on the song. Instruments are also well placed with good separation and again different instruments playing on different parts of the stage. So overall no problem with imaging which is good. Its amazing because you might think everything would be a muddle since the drivers are not spaced out as in a conventional speaker, but it works. How it does it, I'm not sure, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Mine are sitting on a cabinet, but I'm waiting for the stands that I've already paid for, so when they are further apart, things will only get better.

[theaudioguru]

Thanks Stonedragon,
I think that the phantoms might really shine when placed on the new stands . I'm tempted to pick up a pair. Enjoy,
Theaudioguru

[f1eng]

Its amazing because you might think everything would be a muddle since the drivers are not spaced out as in a conventional speaker, but it works. How it does it, I'm not sure

In fact the reason it does it is because of the speaker layout and shape.
Spaced drive units on the front of a rectangular box is a poor way to make a speaker, but using traditional manufacturing methods is by far the cheapest and easiest to make.
The Phantom spherical front prevents the diffraction errors inherent in all box speakers, and the co-axial mid/treble driver with the bass units on the side is much nearer to a point source than box speakers so will have much more accurate imaging capabilities.
Using conventional techniques it is monumentally expensive to make a speaker the ideal shape whereas Devialet have achieved it at a modest price with The Phantom.
B&W with their most expensive speakers address the problem as best they can without coaxial drivers by putting both the mid driver and tweeter in near spherical separate enclosures, but it is not as ideal as the Phantom.

Cabasse have a statement product, which I would guess was the inspiration for the Phantom but I could be wrong:-

http://www2.cabasse.com/cabfx2012/la-sphre-2?lang=en

it is £75,000 per pair...

[fcs]

Had a demo in  Paris at their home office!

The silver version with 3000 W on tap was mind blowing when it comes to bass quality and depth. They claim 16 Hz flat! The bass is the fastest and tightest I ever heard concerning the low freq it plays. These are mechanical wonders when you look at the 'cups' or what ever sits on the outside of each bass unit they sometimes look that they will fly away or burst but that never happens, just ++++++ bass reproduction. The rest of the freq area is not super impressive BUT still quite good.
When these can be hooked to the expert line and used with cutting freq, it will be a blast in my Raidho system. 

/Mike

This makes me wonder if @fcs's Phantom is actually working properly?  The "cups" on the Silver Phantom I saw at the Bristol show were certainly busy enough!

Thanks for all the feedback. I did manage to get some motion on the bass speaker at higher volume (around 45). Still the bass reproduction at low volume seems disappointing. I'll perform more test and maybe go to the Devialet showroom to check if evryhting is working fine.

[Jean-Marie]

Had a demo in  Paris at their home office!

The silver version with 3000 W on tap was mind blowing when it comes to bass quality and depth. They claim 16 Hz flat! The bass is the fastest and tightest I ever heard concerning the low freq it plays. These are mechanical wonders when you look at the 'cups' or what ever sits on the outside of each bass unit they sometimes look that they will fly away or burst but that never happens, just ++++++ bass reproduction. The rest of the freq area is not super impressive BUT still quite good.
When these can be hooked to the expert line and used with cutting freq, it will be a blast in my Raidho system. 

/Mike

This makes me wonder if @fcs's Phantom is actually working properly?  The "cups" on the Silver Phantom I saw at the Bristol show were certainly busy enough!

Thanks for all the feedback. I did manage to get some motion on the bass speaker at higher volume (around 45). Still the bass reproduction at low volume seems disappointing. I'll perform more test and maybe go to the Devialet showroom to check if evryhting is working fine.

It depends on the type of music you are listening.

Infra bass like R&B will produce huge movement. 

Classical music, even pipe organ are less likely to produce as visible movements, but the basses are there.