Any feedback on Phanotom from Paris and/or London?

[brit]

I dropped in at Harrods on my way into town today, as one does. Time was short, and I only spent 10 mins listening (the Gergiev Walküre streamed from Qobuz).

Putting to one side the absurd hype about zero distortion, the Silver Phantoms do pretty much what it says on the tin. They deliver a remarkably rich and full sound that goes very loud without any signs of roughness or hardness -- a proper orchestral sound that could fill a decent-sized room (I'm guessing) with a satisfyingly big picture. Being point-source speakers, they do sound very coherent. It's hard to say much about imaging and soundstage, since they were placed fairly close together. Clearly they can't approach the sound-stage of a single-driver line-source speaker (my reference point), but that's not what they're for.

The sound reminds me of some other active stand-mount speakers I've heard: punchy, smooth and coherent. There's no evidence of the top-end fizz or flabby bass that you get with many passive speakers.

My reservations concern the mid-range. There's something about the presentation that feels nasal and closed in. I'm not sure I could live with the slightly plasticky sound (OK, that may be expectation bias: a plastic speaker will obviously sound plasticky ...). As Ian noted in his write-up, there's a lack of ease and space towards the top of the mid range. I also suspect (admittedly on the basis of a very short listen) that they'd have difficulty reproducing instrumental timbres accurately.

Having said that, they do what they do in a mightily impressive way. And IMO they will sell, especially to younger folk who enjoy the sheer weight of bass the Phantoms can produce. In fact I'd go so far as to say that if you don't want your music "implosive", they probably won't be right for you. If I were in the market for a smallish pair of speakers priced around £3.6K, I'd go for some active monitors, an MDAC and a Sonos.

The SPARK app looked nice enough, though there's no excuse for designing a poor app these days. The DIALOG was hidden behind a curtain. (Er, why?) I didn't ask any penetrating questions about the roll-out of a fully functional Devialet ecosystem, though I was reassured to hear that they plan to have the DIALOG working with the "Expert" amps in time for Munich. Until then the DIALOG I have on order can sit in a cupboard.

Matt

Hi Matt,

Thanks for that additional insight into the Phantom - will need to pop up to London over the next couple of weeks and visit Harrods (something I normally avoid like the plague, as it provides too many shopping opportunities for SWMBO ), and have a listen for myself - do they still have Devialet staff on hand to answer the questions? Seems a mystery why they are hiding the Dialog away, perhaps they feel that it is an unnecessary encumbrance for their display, after all it is only a box that seemingly sits there and does nothing! Like you, it looks like I will have a Dialog sitting in the cupboard until the software for the Expert range is sorted out - though my Dialog hasn't been delivered yet (still  shown as being PROCESSED on order tracking page) - roll on May, and the Munich Show !

David