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Phantom Reactors are NOW AVAILABLE!
#21
(30-Nov-2018, 15:50)Ryu79 Wrote:
(30-Nov-2018, 15:22)Hawkman Wrote: So, apparently, the reason the Reactor is not available in Ontario yet is due to it not passing the electrical safety tests required by Hydro. Go figure.

Thanks for the update man.  Hopefully they get it all sorted it out soon.  But since it’s government regupatou stuff, I doubt it’ll get done soon.  Probably q2 2019

For anyone in Ontario, they have phantom reactors at the flagship Nordstrom locations.  Nordstrom hosts new popular vendors in their store for a month or two at a time (called Pop-in shops) and devialet is one of them.  If you live in Ontario recommended to buy in person not on their website and you save all shipping and import costs....for me I paid 3800 cad taxes in but on the website it would’ve cost me 4800!
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#22
(02-Dec-2018, 15:06)JDtheJD Wrote: I have banged this drum in a different threat before, but has anyone tried playing a mono analogue left and right respectively?  If I were a store owner I would try that setup hoping that if they sounded good I’d double my sales.

I bought 2 reactors exactly with that in mind. I got them connected by 2 mono cables, one running out of each left/right channel into the aux input. It works, however it doesn't sound as good and loud as a single reactor connected to Airplay or bluetooth, that was disappointing because alone they sound really good, but being used as right and left channels not that much...

Researching the internet I think I found out the reason. The Aux input of each reactor expects a stereo input (means right and left signals on the 3,5mm connector) while I'm providing just the "left" channel (the tip of the 3,5mm connector) on each cable using the mono analogue cable...I found there are adapter plugs that get the mono input and split the same signal both into the right/left terminals (3.5 mm Stereo Male to 3.5 mm Mono Female Adapter) in theory that would fix the empty signal the reactor expects on the "right" channel input. Now I need to buy one those to test and see if that will improve the sound. If any one has any experience on it, that would help!
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#23
(11-Dec-2018, 16:00)Marcello Wrote:
(02-Dec-2018, 15:06)JDtheJD Wrote: I have banged this drum in a different threat before, but has anyone tried playing a mono analogue left and right respectively?  If I were a store owner I would try that setup hoping that if they sounded good I’d double my sales.

I bought 2 reactors exactly with that in mind. I got them connected by 2 mono cables, one running out of each left/right channel into the aux input. It works, however it doesn't sound as good and loud as a single reactor connected to Airplay or bluetooth, that was disappointing because alone they sound really good, but being used as right and left channels not that much...

Researching the internet I think I found out the reason. The Aux input of each reactor expects a stereo input (means right and left signals on the 3,5mm connector) while I'm providing just the "left" channel (the tip of the 3,5mm connector) on each cable using the mono analogue cable...I found there are adapter plugs that get the mono input and split the same signal both into the right/left terminals (3.5 mm Stereo Male to 3.5 mm Mono Female Adapter) in theory that would fix the empty signal the reactor expects on the "right" channel input. Now I need to buy one those to test and see if that will improve the sound. If any one has any experience on it, that would help!

What if you plug a RCA splitter cable connecting the red/white output from your device, then 2 reds and 2 whites plug into a RCA to 3.5mm stereo jack, each stereo jack go into the left/right reactors? If this works, I think your total cabling cost will be around or under $30USD.
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#24
Actually, I don't think that the left/right channel matters. I think it is because your voltage for your specific RCA output is too low. I wonder if you can increase that output or find another DAC that outputs more voltage. Just a suggestion.
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#25
(14-Dec-2018, 00:05)MountainGuy Wrote: Actually, I don't think that the left/right channel matters. I think it is because your voltage for your specific RCA output is too low.  I wonder if you can increase that output or find another DAC that outputs more voltage.  Just a suggestion.

Will that involve an amplifier?
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#26
(14-Dec-2018, 00:10)misterhon Wrote:
(14-Dec-2018, 00:05)MountainGuy Wrote: Actually, I don't think that the left/right channel matters. I think it is because your voltage for your specific RCA output is too low.  I wonder if you can increase that output or find another DAC that outputs more voltage.  Just a suggestion.

Will that involve an amplifier?

Thanks for the suggestions. My usage to the Reactors is as front speakers in a HT system, I had a 5.1 and bought the 2 reactors to make it a 7.1 out of it.
For reference, my 5.1 system was a Beolab 14 (unfortunatelly no longer in production, but really good IMHO) connected to the preamp outs of a Marantz receiver.
My idea was the Reactors rated at 900W would be a good addition to make it a 7.1, the Beolab 14 is rated at 140W per channel and I thought the reactor would over power my other speakers. Not really, actually it's the opposite.

There goes the saga...so I got the reactors connected to each preamp out on the receiver using a mono cable (RCA to 3.5mm) and it sounded weak and had a lack of definition some hisss. Then I got the adapter I mentioned on my previous post which gets the mono cable and output a "left and right" 3.5mm connection with same mono input. That considerably improved the sound quality, now each channel sound detailed and right, that means the Reactor Aux In was really expecting 2 input channels... however it doesn't sound much stronger than before, just the quality is now good.

Then I tried to connect other devices using stereo cable to the analog aux in on 1 reactor just to check if the weakness issue was being caused by the receiver preamp out. No matter what I connected (iPhone, a DAC with preamp, computer) as much as it sounded really good, it still sounded much lower than what you would expect of 900W.

Then I tried using the wireless connections of the Reactor, bluetooth and AirPlay, and it sounds enormous, unreasonable, as the maker says.
My conclusion is the 98db comes out of a "magical" digital amplification inside the speaker, when you input analog it's not able to use the same "magic" and then it sounds a lot lower. Really, considerably lower, much less then the Beolab at 140W that is right beside them.

Finally I could get the Reactors to work properly with the Beolabs after fine tunning the receiver, leaving the output gain on the Beolabs at -3.0db and raising the Reactors at +8.0db. Just for the record, both Reactors are constantly set at volume 70 (as opposed to the Beolabs that are constantly at 100 becuase they are powered speaker without a volume knob), of course if I let them constantly at 100 they would be louder, but that adds a hisss, so volume at 70 and receiver with the output gain at +8.0db achieved a good balance in my setup. I didn't perceive any added noise or distortion using this configuration and it sounds good on my room.

My short review is: The Reactor sound really good, but their full potential is tied to digital inputs, when using analog they still sound good (actually even better in my perception) but then you don't have anything even close to 900W.

Compared to the Beolab 14 sound, the Reactors shine on both extremes, the high and lows are more detailed, you listen to things you didn't know were there before, but they lack the mids, which are much stronger and warmer on the Beolab 14. The Reactors have a lot of detail but they sound harsh at times while the Beolab is balanced in the middle (as much as it can be for a system composed of a big woofer and satellites, but I credit the sound quality to B&O fine tuning). At the end I'm quite pleased with the combination of both sound systems, the 2 reactors on the front brought more detail and sharper ends to the frequency spectrum while the Beolabs beautifully fills in the middle. I know purists would say combining speaker brands and sound signatures is not a good idea, but when they complement each other I think the final result can be quite pleasing.

Overall the sound quality is really good considering the size of the Reactors and that they cover 20-20k Hz in a single small package, while the Beolab does it with a big woofer and satellites all over the place and a very clever crossover management. However a full home theater composed only by Reactors would sound a bit too crispy and not so warm in my opinion.

It is a nice speaker, a bit expensive, but with lots of potential specially if/when it gets stereo wireless, AirPlay 2. I'm pleased with the overall quality.
Also it's quite flexible, I can use them on my HT and then carry them somewhere if I need, play wireless, etc.
But the 900W should have an * , it's really loud only when the input is digital (maybe that's the reason why the big Phantoms never accepted direct analog input).

Anyway I'm still testing it since I just had it for a few days. Pleased to help in case anyone has any questions.
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#27
You have to be careful with the 900W figure, which is hardly comparable with other systems.

If you take the example of my system, my speakers are 88dB/W efficient. So I only need 10W to reach 98dB

I see no reason for the reactor to be less efficient for medium and highs. Therefore the remaining 890W are used to be able to reach down to 20Hz.

It is the same for my system since my speakers are SAMed: the remaining 210W in my case are used for bass extension.

Jean-Marie
MacBook Air M2 -> RAAT/Air -> WiFi -> PLC -> Ethernet -> Devialet 220pro with Core Infinity (upgraded from 120) -> AperturA Armonia
France
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#28
Jean-Marie, the 900W is peak, per my understanding. Your rating is probably RMS. Devialet 900W's RMS should be considerably lower....
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#29
(15-Dec-2018, 03:32)MountainGuy Wrote: Jean-Marie, the 900W is peak, per my understanding. Your rating is probably RMS. Devialet 900W's RMS should be considerably lower....

I don’t know if they are quoting peak rms which would be the rms during the peak of basses or absolute peak, but there shall be no more than 4 to 6 dB between the two. 

More importantly is really that with a device like the phantom, power does not mean anything. What is really meaningful is the SPL and the bandwidth across which it is able to sustain that SPL. 

To my knowledge, for instance the woofers on the phantoms have a very low impedance, like 1 Ohm to reach a very high power while keeping the voltage reasonable. 

Also if you remember a quote from one of Devialet’s engineer (I believe it was at an event organized by Oxford Audio) he was saying that the ideal would be to have an infinite power. Obviously this is not to be able to produce an infinite SPL, but to have absolute control on the acceleration of the speakers. 
It is also obvious that such high power is only needed for very short transient periods, and I believe that the power quoted by Devialet for their phantoms represents its capability to deliver that very high power for very short periods when it make sense. 

Jean-Marie
MacBook Air M2 -> RAAT/Air -> WiFi -> PLC -> Ethernet -> Devialet 220pro with Core Infinity (upgraded from 120) -> AperturA Armonia
France
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#30
(11-Dec-2018, 01:12)Ryu79 Wrote:
(30-Nov-2018, 15:50)Ryu79 Wrote:
(30-Nov-2018, 15:22)Hawkman Wrote: So, apparently, the reason the Reactor is not available in Ontario yet is due to it not passing the electrical safety tests required by Hydro. Go figure.

Thanks for the update man.  Hopefully they get it all sorted it out soon.  But since it’s government regupatou stuff, I doubt it’ll get done soon.  Probably q2 2019

For anyone in Ontario, they have phantom reactors at the flagship Nordstrom locations.  Nordstrom hosts new popular vendors in their store for a month or two at a time (called Pop-in shops) and devialet is one of them.  If you live in Ontario recommended to buy in person not on their website and you save all shipping and import costs....for me I paid 3800 cad taxes in but on the website it would’ve cost me 4800!

Received two phantom reactors 900w.  They are good but slightly underwhelmed. I guess it’s hard to be blown away after getting a pair of golds but the reactor does sound very good.  Stereo pair would’ve been nice on launch.
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