(16-Dec-2014, 16:49)PhilP Wrote: The Phantom Rising campaign encouraged rumours and speculation - that was the whole point Devialet want people to talk about their products - if no-ones interested enough to comment they'd be dead as a company.



We'll have all the details about in the fullness of time but in the meantime let's have some fun speculating

(16-Dec-2014, 16:54)Jwg1749 Wrote: Well, I think it looks like fun, and I'm going to give Dev the benefit of the doubt by assuming it sounds quite a bit better than the Naim Mu-so.

One concern: if the bass is really capable of damaging one's internal organs, I'd be worried about resonances, especially for people who live in flimsily constructed houses, as many of us in the UK do. Just think of the damage that thing could do to the set of Neighbours.*

Matt

* apologies for the arcane cultural reference.

(16-Dec-2014, 14:56)GuillaumeB Wrote: More interesting info on the Soundstage website...

http://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php/product-debuts/devialet-phantom-and-silver-phantom-december-2014

Guillaume

(16-Dec-2014, 16:31)GuillaumeB Wrote: I agree Antoine. As mentioned earlier I think we will see a lot of new functionality trickle up to our amplifier units.

Guillaume

Quote:In a nutshell, Devialet's DSP technology for the Phantom project had begun a few years ago, but it was only after they were well into the work that the engineers realized that it could be adapted for other companies' loudspeakers. At first they used it to optimize bass in sealed-box designs from other companies, but then they realized shortly after that it would also work with bass-reflex enclosures. This came as a complete surprise, not unlike ADH's 0-ohm output impedance. With that discovery, SAM was born, and it's now implemented in the company's current line of amplifiers, where it can be used to correct phase and amplitude in the bass frequencies for more than 100 speakers in the company's database. All of this DSP expertise, including SAM, exists in the Phantoms.

Quote:...each speaker has eight ADH mono amplifier models mounted onto an aluminum centerpiece that not only holds the electronics, but also divides the internal portion of the enclosure in half. The eight amplifiers are bridged to create four mono amplifiers, with each one dedicated to a driver and able to deliver, when necessary, incredibly high power with complete control.

Quote:It's the DSP component that acts as the brains of each loudspeaker, because it's where the crossover manipulation (250Hz for the woofers to the midrange, 2kHz for the midrange to the tweeter) and driver optimization are done with topflight precision. I was told that both Phantom models are flat to within +/-0.5dB across the audioband, and can reach right down to 20Hz with high output, which is simply not possible with a conventional loudspeaker of similar size.

Quote:The digital guts in each speaker allow it to receive incoming digital music signals via Wi-Fi, wired Ethernet, and powerline Ethernet simultaneously if all are configured. This is not only unique, but useful since the concurrent operation creates redundancy and, therefore, greatly reduces the chance for dropouts compared to just one digital connection.

Quote:Not formally part of either Phantom, but designed to work in conjunction with them, is a forthcoming product called Dialog ($349), which is essentially a purpose-built computer designed specifically to stream music to Devialet's speakers over a network, without the need for a formal computer. Users can control Dialog and the speakers through an app that Devialet is finishing development on now.

Quote:Through programming, each Phantom or Silver Phantom becomes self-aware and can be told to act as a mono speaker, a left or right speaker in a stereo pair, or a center-channel or surround in a multichannel setup.

Quote:Ease of use also extends to upgrades, at least on the software side. If the network a speaker is running on is connected to the Internet (most are), the speaker will automatically "talk" to the Devialet site and download any updates, which is something that will probably happen because the company is already well known for providing updates to their amplifiers that improve the performance and features.

Quote:Once the music started, this system was by far the most telling in terms of performance. Although they were playing music unfamiliar to me, I was immediately struck by how solid and tangible the center vocal image was -- as rock solid and tangible as I've heard from the very best stereo system. The sense of space was also exceptional, which was likely due to the Phantom's excellent dispersion capabilities, but also because of the very deep bass it's capable of -- speakers that reach down toward 20Hz almost always recreate a greater sense of space than speakers that stop an octave or two above. Then there was the superb clarity and the complete lack of annoying, irritating distortion artifacts. Even at high volume levels, the speakers sounded as clean as the company's amps. So if you've ever heard their amps, then that should definitely pique your interest about looking into either one.

(16-Dec-2014, 17:46)adhesiv Wrote: Actually, I'm still not clear how you would connect this to an existing system...