An Ode to Duo Phantom Reactor 900's

[supaDean]

One person’s audio gear journey.



I’ve had a love of music and gear for over 35 years. While I haven’t played with all makes of gear (an impossible thought), I have remained open to technology and put together many audio systems over the years. From monster receivers of the 70’s and 80’s, to separate stereo components, solid state to tubes, 2-channel stereo, 2.1 and 2.2 channel stereo, multi-channel audio, surround-sound home theatre, various types of EQ, DSP, and room correction, bookshelf to floor standing speakers, passive to active speakers, wired and wireless headphones. I’ve enjoyed 8-track, audio cassettes, quarter inch tape, vinyl, CD’s, digital audio in all resolutions and formats, dedicated music servers and internet streaming. Whew, you get the idea.

For the past few years I’ve reverted to my original love of stereo. I dis-assembled the home theatre. Sold off sets of speakers, subwoofers, components and cabling. Letting go of much-loved audio gear was somewhat difficult. As anyone who cares about audio fidelity, assembling an audio system that works in your listening environment takes research, experimentation, trial and error. Once you’re able to obtain a relatively flat EQ (which is often not an easy feat with passive gear), if the sound makes you happy, that's what matters. Enjoy the music!

We're in the golden age of audio. Audio playback gear is reasonably priced, and the same dollars spent now compared to 10-15 years ago nets you good value.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself appreciating minimalism. I like fewer components as much as I enjoy reclaiming the space big setups have taken up in my home.

For me today, a music server and some internet music streaming is where its at. Assemble amplification and speakers, and I’m good to go. This brings me to the Devialet Phantom Reactor 900. What Devialet has accomplished is astonishing. Their entire Phantom line is, in all honesty, astonishing.

I first heard the original, much larger Phantom Gold, at a dealer a few short years ago while researching something else. They were being hyped by the dealer as a loud bluetooth speaker, which was a complete disservice to them. I was so turned off I didn’t give Phantoms a second thought. Plus, I thought to myself, they were ugly as sin.

When the Phantom Reactor hit the market, I took notice. About a quarter the size and cost of the Phantom Gold, I purchased a pair of 900's for stereo playback. Their functionality and sound is remarkable. It would be too easy to say impressive “for their size”… they rival many a speaker / amplifier / DAC / streamer and the fact there is so much tech inside them, in such a small form factor, is remarkable. Love or hate their design, they’re a piece of art. Not everyone loves all art, and the same goes for the Phantom Reactor.

Do I ever enjoy listening to the new rig. Like most speakers in different listening spaces, Phantoms require digital and physical room correction, proper speaker placement, quality power source, in addition to being fed quality music files.

As I've said to sceptics: You have to hear and see them to believe it. A Phantom Reactor 900 weighs a mere 9.5 pounds. They’re so small. Huge sound. Full frequency response. Zero noise. They have the ability to play so loud your ears might bleed.

Never say never, but I don’t think I will go back to passive components. With a pair of Phantom Reactor 900's, I no longer need subwoofers for low end. I no longer need reams of cabling and assorted components sitting on shelves of audio racks. True, I can no longer mix and match audio components, but I’m completely happy with a music server full of digital audio files, the Reactor 900's, miniDSP SHD-Studio (preamp / digital room correction), and hi-res music streaming to discover more musical artists.

[ogs]

I know Phantoms can sound excellent when treated and placed like proper speakers. The tech inside is absolutely fabulous for both Premier and Reactor. The demonstration you describe on a Phantom is quite typical unfortunately. A bit Devialet's own fault as they promoted the speaker as 'wireless' and let clueless people do demonstration using Bluetooth. Most music is produced in stereo, so one needs two speakers with good placement to get that reproduced.
Thanks for the story and insights.

[RMK]

I don't think I will go back to separates.

I love the Phantoms. Wish I could afford the Golds!

[Jean-Marie]

[...] Phantoms can sound excellent when treated and placed like proper speakers. [...]

This a 1000 times... and this is also their curse...

Because of their size, people tend to forget that they belong to the very rare group of truly full range speakers and full range speakers need extra care with regards to placement because of their capacity to activate room modes.

a pair of reactors or phantom premier properly setup is hard to beat and it would definitely require more equipment, more volume ... and most probably significantly more money.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Jean-Marie

[booshtukka]

Agree with everything here. Except the lack of stability, the latency, the lack of IR for volume, and the lack of surround sound options.

Without these things I continue to have a need for alternatives. The unstable stereo is the most frustrating, because I am surely using the speakers exactly as intended (with dedicated gigabit Ethernet ports), so that’s just Devialet doing a bad job.

[supaDean]

Thanks for everyone's comments. I'm enjoying the Duo Phantom Reactor 900's for stereo music playback immensely. I'll be buying the Devialet Legs shortly.

I read with some interest the comment by @booshtukka. The Reactors never advertise they come with IR for volume, do they? Volume is controlled via their app, and it works great. There is a multitude of choice on the market. The Kii Audio Three's come to mind. They are much more expensive, but also have some wonderful tech to them. If I was in the market with that budget in mind, I'd be checking them out.

Regarding latency, I've no intention of using the Reactors in a video playback setup. From my original post I'm clearly coming from a stereo music playback perspective, though I've seen at least one thread where someone set up a full surround sound home theatre using five Phantoms. 

I also haven't experienced any stability or software issues.

Anyway, at the end of the day I'm just a lover of music. Right now I'm listening to music via a JBL Boombox in my office. I'm enjoying it as much as I enjoy the Reactors in my main listening space.

Cheers.

[booshtukka]

I’m pleased those things work for you. I’m just saying if these things were resolved, I’d have no need of anything else!

As it is, the app is inconvenient when you’re just used to an IR remote. Often it’s quicker to walk to the speakers to change the volume (sometimes opening the app jumps the volume to 100).

I would LOVE a surround sound setup. Imagine two gold phantoms for your fronts, and two reactors for the rears. It could be amazing. I could program around the latency too. I’ve had to set the latency back up to 110ms since the right speaker would often start cutting out.

But I often DJ at my house, and for live performance the latency is unacceptable. This means I still need more speakers.

I’m not saying I don’t love them. I’m saying I wish Devialet would solve the things that none of my other speaker setups have had issues with in the last 30 years.

[eniriop]

I’m pleased those things work for you. I’m just saying if these things were resolved, I’d have no need of anything else!

As it is, the app is inconvenient when you’re just used to an IR remote. Often it’s quicker to walk to the speakers to change the volume (sometimes opening the app jumps the volume to 100).

I would LOVE a surround sound setup. Imagine two gold phantoms for your fronts, and two reactors for the rears. It could be amazing. I could program around the latency too. I’ve had to set the latency back up to 110ms since the right speaker would often start cutting out.

But I often DJ at my house, and for live performance the latency is unacceptable. This means I still need more speakers.

I’m not saying I don’t love them. I’m saying I wish Devialet would solve the things that none of my other speaker setups have had issues with in the last 30 years.

Latency is not a problem any more with DOS 2.  Go to parameters audio sync and set it to minimum, there is no audible latency when watching TV with an optical cable (if you have both the sound of the TV speakers and of the Devialet phantom you cannot hear any echo sound).

[booshtukka]

So 1) 60ms is not imperceptible - for DJing this is way too high. And 2) setting latency to its lowest value now makes my stereo pair super unstable.

Pretty sure I said both these things in my post.

[eniriop]

[...] Phantoms can sound excellent when treated and placed like proper speakers. [...]

This a 1000 times... and this is also their curse...

Because of their size, people tend to forget that they belong to the very rare group of truly full range speakers and full range speakers need extra care with regards to placement because of their capacity to activate room modes.

a pair of reactors or phantom premier properly setup is hard to beat and it would definitely require more equipment, more volume ... and most probably significantly more money.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Jean-Marie

 I agree, and the best placement is ...outdoor. No walls, no reflections, no room modes. I place my reactors on my terrace bar facing outdoor. the stereo imaging and depth is
striking then. In fact I listen to my reactors on the terrace 90% of the time, rather than listening to my Golds in the living room...