Audiophiles well know the criticality of speaker placement for a conventional/traditional speaker. For example, the closer a speaker is to a wall, the more re-enforced the bass becomes. In particular the consequences of corner placement can be detrimental in some instances, particularly with very large full range speakers as the bass can become overblown and boomy. Conversely a smaller speaker can sometimes benefit from being close to a wall or in a corner to compensate for bass roll-off. None of these situations are scientific in the sense that it is a false reality to say the frequency response measured at the listener will be flat. To achieve that, a combination of room EQ and room treatment are typically required which most do not have. In addition, a truly flat response with no room effect is undesirable as it will sound, to put it simply, flat! The effects of some rooms are positive in making the sound come alive and give every listening environment a unique quality even with identical equipment to another. To put this into context one of the first and still highly regarded Room EQ systems from Lexicon, deliberately did not maximise the removal of all room modes (bass interaction with a room) during its calibration because they knew the resulting sound was not pleasant.
So having got the fact that a flat response is not the ultimate goal out of the way, I wanted to return to the topic of speaker placement and the Phantom. I think the impression that Devialet give, is that this magical speaker fills the room with sound such that you can have only one, stick it anywhere in the room, and it sounds wonderful. From my own experiments, speaker placement is just as critical as a conventional speaker, and in fact possibly more so if you only have one Phantom.
Right now I only have one Phantom, due to financial contraints. I decided to get Phantom for the bedroom. I tried several placements. What I found is that with a single Phantom, not only do aspects like bass depth vary wildly based on placement, but the soundstage from a single unit, particularly in how it "fills" the room varies significantly too. As I had read that the bass response was "strong" with the Phantom, I initially opted for a placement towards a sidewall and mid way along the wall away from a corner. What I noticed is that the sound always came from the specific point the Phantom was located and was therefore not filling the room. I also found that sub-bass frequencies were missing in lieu of mid-bass which is not pleasant to my ears. So against my better judgement I then went for the corner placement. "Bang"! The sound was transformed. Sub-bass was now present but not overblown and the overall bass response was much more pleasing. One could argue it is still slightly pushed, but it comes across as warmth rather than a night club sound. Also, because of the corner positioning, the sound was able to bounce and fill the room much more effectively, giving a much much wider soundstage from a single phantom. I no longer felt like I had a poor-man set-up for only having one speaker.
My main listening environment is high-end. Kef reference 4.2 speakers, Lexicon MC-12, Bryston power-amps. I know what true audiophile quality sounds like. The Phantom, at least a single one doesn't match this in terms of resolution, dynamics and overall clarity. But considering its size and cost, and with correct placement, I have to say I am now hearing "hi-fi" and not "high street". Putting on some tracks from Linn records (for those that have Tidal try the Linn 40th Anniversary collection), jazz does particularly well with a defined robust bass and clear vocals. Guitars sound particularly real as if they are in the room. I am very impressed!
So having got the fact that a flat response is not the ultimate goal out of the way, I wanted to return to the topic of speaker placement and the Phantom. I think the impression that Devialet give, is that this magical speaker fills the room with sound such that you can have only one, stick it anywhere in the room, and it sounds wonderful. From my own experiments, speaker placement is just as critical as a conventional speaker, and in fact possibly more so if you only have one Phantom.
Right now I only have one Phantom, due to financial contraints. I decided to get Phantom for the bedroom. I tried several placements. What I found is that with a single Phantom, not only do aspects like bass depth vary wildly based on placement, but the soundstage from a single unit, particularly in how it "fills" the room varies significantly too. As I had read that the bass response was "strong" with the Phantom, I initially opted for a placement towards a sidewall and mid way along the wall away from a corner. What I noticed is that the sound always came from the specific point the Phantom was located and was therefore not filling the room. I also found that sub-bass frequencies were missing in lieu of mid-bass which is not pleasant to my ears. So against my better judgement I then went for the corner placement. "Bang"! The sound was transformed. Sub-bass was now present but not overblown and the overall bass response was much more pleasing. One could argue it is still slightly pushed, but it comes across as warmth rather than a night club sound. Also, because of the corner positioning, the sound was able to bounce and fill the room much more effectively, giving a much much wider soundstage from a single phantom. I no longer felt like I had a poor-man set-up for only having one speaker.
My main listening environment is high-end. Kef reference 4.2 speakers, Lexicon MC-12, Bryston power-amps. I know what true audiophile quality sounds like. The Phantom, at least a single one doesn't match this in terms of resolution, dynamics and overall clarity. But considering its size and cost, and with correct placement, I have to say I am now hearing "hi-fi" and not "high street". Putting on some tracks from Linn records (for those that have Tidal try the Linn 40th Anniversary collection), jazz does particularly well with a defined robust bass and clear vocals. Guitars sound particularly real as if they are in the room. I am very impressed!
