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+--- Thread: In search for the Holy Growl (/Thread-In-search-for-the-Holy-Growl)
In search for the Holy Growl - Pwalder - 06-Mar-2026
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