Low volume mode (loud)

[Jean-Marie]

Eh, we don't do too much shouting here- on balance, we're a pretty calm bunch. But on the subject of balance.... I think that the Phantoms can claim 'balance' as one of their strenghts. I admit that I do not have much experience with them, but when I've heard them, I would say that they do the 'top to bottom' reproduction remarkably well. Their bass capability lets them reproduce bass quite accurately; that does also mean lack of 'bass bumps' that would be a standout trademark of Bose systems.

Sometimes the idea of being 'blown away' does a great disservice to audio systems, and engineers, that work to make the reproduction musical and accurate. Finally, there was a lengthy discussion about human hearing and sensitivity to various frequencies. It is buried somewhere a year of so back. It may be all stuff you already know, but there was some decent reading there.  Oh, check the 'night mode' or whatever it is... not many around here get to 100 on a phantom.

Now I'll leave this to others who know much more than I do.... which is everybody else.

I think you are absolutely right. 
Most systems like Bose compensate their lack of real bass by a bump of low medium (around 80Hz) which gives the illusion of more hump in the bass compartiment and can be felt missing when moving to a true neutral reproduction. 

The phantoms do not have such a bump, and I agree that their reproduction is very balanced from top to real bottom. 

I know that it can be misleading, for instance when my speakers got SAMed, the sensation of bass were lower on a couple of records and I was puzzled until I realized and got evidence that in fact what I was hearing before war an artificial amplification due to a resonance. When SAM, with its greater control on the speakers got rid of it, the impression was slightly lower bass,  but  real ones. 

Jean-Marie