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09-Jan-2015, 13:32
(This post was last modified: 09-Jan-2015, 13:32 by GuillaumeB.)
(09-Jan-2015, 12:42)Jean-Marie Wrote: Therefore yes, I would not be surprised that people having to choose between an Ensemble and a pair of Phantom would actually choose the Phantoms from a pure SQ perspective.
Wow! Things are starting to get interesting...
Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research
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That is interesting - says my Ensemble system of Hampshire..
If I can push TV audio into it then I may consider selling.
Rik
Devialet Ensemble
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09-Jan-2015, 15:02
(09-Jan-2015, 13:32)GuillaumeB Wrote: (09-Jan-2015, 12:42)Jean-Marie Wrote: Therefore yes, I would not be surprised that people having to choose between an Ensemble and a pair of Phantom would actually choose the Phantoms from a pure SQ perspective.
Wow! Things are starting to get interesting...
Guillaume
Sonos Connect (W4S) > DSpeaker Antimode 2.0 > Sanders Magtech > Martin Logan Montis
Sonos Connect (W4S) > Devialet 200 > Vivid V1.5
Silver Phantoms (just the two)
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It is nothing out of the ordinary for the new product to be cheaper and better than the old product. The thing is, the Ensemble is still a very new product?
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09-Jan-2015, 17:47
(This post was last modified: 09-Jan-2015, 17:48 by cansen.)
(09-Jan-2015, 14:20)rik Wrote: That is interesting - says my Ensemble system of Hampshire..
If I can push TV audio into it then I may consider selling.
Rik
Yes, you can "push TV" through the toslink optical input.
Connectivity (from the Phantom white paper)
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Dual-band Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz)
Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps (Gigabit)
PLC Homeplug AV2
Toslink optical input (TV, blu-ray, video games console, ...)
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09-Jan-2015, 17:59
(This post was last modified: 09-Jan-2015, 19:12 by Confused.)
I think I would be tempted to keep my Ensemble for a year or two. It is a very competent system, and no doubt Phantom #2 and #3 will be out soon with vast improvements......
Or to put it another way, I'd let the early adopters of Phantom work through any bugs or reliability issues, whilst enjoying glorious music on my Ensamble.
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Sharing a few photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk6VNVV6
Sorry, not sure how to embed/upload here.
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09-Jan-2015, 23:43
(This post was last modified: 09-Jan-2015, 23:45 by MightyMart.)
Sorry, but I think the stands are... terrible. They don't look exclusive at all, rather like something IKEA would come up with.
But thanks for the upload...
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(09-Jan-2015, 05:22)flohmann Wrote: I stopped by at CES today and spent a few minutes listening to the Phantoms. My impressions:
#1: They are beautiful. Like few other high-end audio items, these are really beautiful objects. But, thanks to the shape and brilliant white and chrome color scheme, they won't suit every interior. Like some other European speakers (some of which I have owned), these are better suited to a more modern and minimalist aesthetic. That's not a criticism, merely an observation.
#2: They sound very good. I heard them both with music and in a home theater set up, but not with familiar program material. As everyone has said, the sound is very full, with truly impressive bass (wow, the woofer covers really dance around in a very visible way!). On the one hand, there are several speakers that sound better at the $4k price point. But, of course, those speakers require amplifiers, DACs, and cabling. Once you start trying to compare system cost, well, the whole thought experiment begins to fall apart. Once you imagine an integrated/DAC (perhaps something from Peachtree or Hegel) plus pair of speakers (PSB? GoldenEar?), you're talking about something that seems altogether different from a pair of Phantoms, likely to appeal to very different listeners.
#3: It's a luxury lifestyle product. Now, before you all get upset, I don't mean that as an insult. But this product really isn't for traditional high-end audio customers. To put it plainly, it's more like the original B&W Zeppelin or Sonos than it is like Joseph Audio or DeVore (to name two great sounding speaker demos I heard at CES). And that is probably a good thing, because it should open up the hobby and industry to new customers (altho very well-heeled customers -- how many non-audiophiles consider spending $4k for speakers plus $700 for stands?).
#4: Integration and UX is hard to demo. Even after talking to the very helpful staffers at the demo, I must admit I don't really understand how all the pieces fit together -- Phantom, Dialog, existing digital sources (NAS, cloud, iTunes), and control interfaces (Spark, Sonos, other existing Android and iOS music apps, etc). Devialet is not to be blamed for this -- it's simply a mess out there, and very hard to predict how it will all integrate in your house and with your existing sources. This really strikes me as the weak link in the value proposition -- who will want to spend $10k to outfit a house with multiple Phantoms without knowing how all the past, present, and future digital music offerings will work together, and whether it will be fun an easy (as opposed to troubleshooting your PC at work)?
Thank you for great input!
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Wireworld digital and power cables / Harmonix tuning feet / SMT acoustic
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