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Disappointing Demo
#1
So, I just had a demo in Mountain View, CA. I have to say, I was expecting a bit more. Once the volume was up to 70 (which is fiddly with the app!) further increases to volume didn't make any difference. And they couldn't get two silvers to run simultaneously.

Is it normal that the volume seems to stop at 70? Or was it limited or set up wrong somehow? The bass was not as powerful as I was expecting, and it didn't match the reviews I've read.

That said, The Gunner's Dream by Pink Floyd was outstanding SQ wise. I just think I was expecting volume of 100 to be immense, and it wasn't. The bass in my car setup is more impressive.

Please tell me the store was demoing them wrong?

A
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#2
I don't know. My room is 6m x 3.5m with 3.5m ceilings. My silver phantoms go very loud. They definitely get louder after 70. And at that level the bass is beginning to make the roof rattle. Maybe it was their room? I have heard another report of a very heavily treated hifi dealer room deadening the phantoms sound a bit.


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#3
I'm in an apartment which is 6m x 12m long. 3m ceilings. I have two silvers. I can't go to 70. It's just too painfully loud. I have a decent amount of reflective surfaces so as sleach mentions it could be room treatments.
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#4
Hi booshtukka,
Devialet offers you now a 45 day trial period with money back guarantee. They pay shipping costs. So I suggest you try in your home a Phantom Silver stereo setup. Therefore, you need to order 2 Phantoms and 1 Dialog. If you like it, keep it, if not return it. It is important that you place the Phantoms as you have to do with most floorstands, not in a bookshelf, but with resonable space from walls. Sound reproduction in my opinion is rather neutral, a bit emphasize on deep bass, which I like. Loudness is sufficient for room listening. For disco or concert volume buy 20 or professional material made for that purpose.
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#5
Thanks all. This definitely does not match my experience - especially the bass response - so maybe I'll try the trial period.
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#6
(24-Sep-2015, 06:27)booshtukka Wrote: Thanks all. This definitely does not match my experience - especially the bass response - so maybe I'll try the trial period.

I would imagine that in your car - a lot of what you are hearing is bass "bloom" where it is bouncing off surfaces and causing refractions 

If the shop had them well set up then you would hear much tighter and crispier bass without any bloom that you might think is missing bass. With mine if I walk in a certain part of the room, or behind one of them - then suddenly the bass "increases" because it is bouncing off the corner and making things wobble

Reminds me of a time I attempted to show off my Meridian DSP6000 floorstanders that have one of the best bass out here - and he was disaappinted and then took me out to his van to show me how bassy it was. Everything in the van was shaking Smile



So you may like a cleaner tighter bass - or you may like the bloom effect, in which case you can move the speakers in corners / close to walls to increase the bass

Also - 2 is definitely twice as good as one

jist my opinion - hope it helps Smile
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#7
Hi booshtukka,

I had a similar experience recently, so I wonder if the same thing may have happened to you.

I went to two different dealers for two different demos.  The first sounded great.  When I went to the second demo, it sounded totally different and was very disappointing.  I listened for about 30 minutes and kept telling the sales folks that it didn't sound right at all compared to the first demo at another dealer.  I thanked them for their time and walked out.  

As I started pulling out of the parking lot, one of the sales guys came running out and asked if I would listen one more time.  Right after I left, they realized that they had "Night Mode" enabled.  After disabling "Night Mode", it was literally a "night and day" difference!
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#8
It's a great point and I think it deserves a thread of its own Smile

It's so unclear that night mode is enabled via iPhone - a slightly lighter shade of blue

It's caught me out before - I wonder how many people just think it's sounding weird and carry on??
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#9
My opinion on this comparison with "100K+" systems is that some people go too far up the HiFi chain for the rooms that they own. I've seen pictures of systems with very large & expensive speakers pushed nearly into the corner, and the reasons that Phantoms sound better is because they are more able to be given the space to breathe due to their visual discretion. In other words, a high-quality stand-mounter might have been more suited to the room in the first place. But in a gigantic room, where the big speakers are at least 1-2m from the corners, big speakers would win. (I recently heard two Silver Phantoms demoed by Devialet on Branch stands in a huge suite at the National Audio Show 2015, and I was very underwhelmed. The music was a little harsh and the upper bass was ruined by the room nodes.)
Whenever my floorstanders are any less than 0.8m from the corner boundaries, their sound is ruined and easily bested by the cheaper stand-mounters I've got.
JRiver v25 (Windows) >> 220Pro/CI >> PMC Twenty5.23 + twin KEF KC62 subs. One White Phantom.
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#10
(24-Sep-2015, 13:56)JohnnySix Wrote: My opinion on this comparison with "100K+" systems is that some people go too far up the HiFi chain for the rooms that they own. I've seen pictures of systems with very large & expensive speakers pushed nearly into the corner, and the reasons that Phantoms sound better is because they are more able to be given the space to breathe due to their visual discretion.  In other words, a high-quality stand-mounter might have been more suited to the room in the first place. But in a gigantic room, where the big speakers are at least 1-2m from the corners, big speakers would win. (I recently heard two Silver Phantoms demoed by Devialet on Branch stands in a huge suite at the National Audio Show 2015, and I was very underwhelmed. The music was a little harsh and the upper bass was ruined by the room nodes.)
Whenever my floorstanders are any less than 0.8m from the corner boundaries, their sound is ruined and easily bested by the cheaper stand-mounters I've got.

I founded the harsh gone after mine Phantom Silver were updated to 1.3 firmware. They now sound a little more relaxed Smile
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