In search for the Holy Growl

[Pwalder]

I’m In search for the Holy Growl

I have a pair of Phatom Ultimate 108 speakers which are an update from a pair of legacy Phantom Classic 103 (which I still have). The new Phantoms are pretty much better in every way when compared to the 103 in terms of build quality and sound quality. There is, however one aspect of the sound quality which the 103s displayed but, as yet, I haven’t experienced with the Ultimates. The  ‘missing’ element is the deep emotional ‘growl’ which appeared on some tracks with a strong bass component. The experience was that of a blossoming felt vibration but not a booming resonance. I have tried all kinds of different speaker and listening position placements but as yet I have not found the ‘growl’. It’s possible that the growl ‘lives’ in a volume level that I never get to with Ultimates; anything above a volume setting of 55 gets very difficult to listen to. The room the ultimates are in is 4.2m by 4.0 m by 2.4m and is the same room where the 103s used to be located.
Have you any suggestions as to whether it’s possible to reproduce the growl with the Ultimates or are they just too ‘refined’ at normal listening levels?

I have had one suggestion which is to add a sub woofer (I have a spare basic spec REL sub) and to control this via a Minidsp getting its signal via Airplay 2 (I have an Apple Express). The mini dsp would have a specific EQ profile created for the sub only. The Ultimates would receive the same Airplay 2 signal (using Apple Music as the common source) but the Ultimates would be completely separate from the minidsp pathway. Would this be a viable option which would lead to a growl solution ? Having never programmed EQ profiles I don’t really know whether such a configuration would actually achieve the aim of finding the growl

Any ideas welcome.
Peter W

[Yondu]

Hi @Pwalder did you try to please with the new audio modes and on top, the 6 bands EQ ? If you want a flat response (by default), you can use the Monitoring mode (from the advanced settings) then you also manage EQ on top of the monitoring mode.

[Pwalder]

Hi @Pwalder did you try to please with the new audio modes and on top, the 6 bands EQ ? If you want a flat response (by default), you can use the Monitoring mode (from the advanced settings) then you also manage EQ on top of the monitoring mode.

Thanks for the reply. I’ve tried the combination as you suggest but this hasn’t done the trick. Interestingly my pair of Phantom Legacy 103 don’t produce the ‘growl’ in their new location so either the room dynamics have affected them or something changed when the updated app allowed control of both the Ultimate 108 and the Legacy 103.  The ‘something’ would need to have been some resource that both the Ultimates and Legacy Phantoms share. I did get the official release notes for the last firmware update but the phrasing was very vague and not clear whether some aspects of the general audio profile had been changed. I am pretty certain that something has changed because prior to the last firmware update I was getting audio fatigue symptoms (headaches) after short listening periods with the Ultimate 108s. Subsequent to the last firmware update this is no longer the case. 
I will move the legacy Phantoms back into their original location this coming weekend and this will either confirm or rule out the room dynamics explanation. 
Just to be clear I do find the Ultimates overall much the superior. Much more sophisticated sound especially at lower volumes and the flexibility to use with movies and predominantly speech audio a really great feature. 
Anyway, I look forward to seeing if further updates bring the growl back. If not I may explore linking a Minidsp 4X HD to  sub woofer (I have spare REL 5) and feed the Ulimates and, separately, the sub linked to the Minidsp a common AirPlay 2 mediated source. 
Peter W