03-May-2022, 10:00
Good morning.
A small advise from an amateur - do not hurry up and buy the Premiers (unles it's not a financial effort).
A pair of II 98 may be all that you need to let your soul rejoyce.
What kind of music do you usually listen to when you are in the mood for an audition ? At what volume ?
But instead of asking all this question I better tell you a little bit about my experience with a pair of II 95, and you will know what I'm trying to ask you.
First of all ... your space is huge, but I am assuming that you have a space within a space ... the listening positon from your sofa. So the speakers do not need to cover your entire living, as you do not probably listen from a far corner of your living room, unless you plan to use them as a background source of music to entertain your guests perhaps.
I have a 30 sq meters living (rectangular 6 x 5) and my II 95 are on the wall, left and right from the tv (the only 3 things on that wall) ... probably not the best placement for them, but they sound unbelievable ... the room dictates the result and I just got lucky I guess.
1,8 meters between the speakers, and about 2,5 meters to the listening position ... I have the sofa pretty close.
I recommendeded someone a pair of Kef LS50 wireless, for a 50 sqm living. The listening position is about 3,5 meters away and the speakers are about 3 meters apart.
They sound incredibly bad ... even after he added Kef's KS62 subwoofer. Again ... the room. I can not describe it ... but they sound like 2 mono speakers ... the stereo stage is not "alive".
There is no hint of fine details and the subwoofer I think does more harm to the overall sound (subwoofer placement is even more important than speakers placement).
Every time I visit him I can not believe how "common" they sound ... there is absolutely no intimacy to the audition.
Back to my Phantoms ... I still can not believe how good they sound at low volume (30 - 50 %), how intimate the experience is, after almost 1 year of ownership.
Again, I have the 95 db. I was a little dissapointed at first about the response after passing 65 - 70% volume, the sound delivery changes and you can tell that they don't have the power to fill the room if you feel the need to listen at high volumes.
For my space I think the 98 db would have been perfect. For your space ... who can tell ... you will see. Maybe even the 103 will not suffice.
I feel the need to have the audition experience almost every night since almost 1 year ago ... that's how much I enjoy them, sometime even after 22 pm. I am still amazed of how delicate they fill the room and make me feel like I have the scene in front of me.
I listen mostly to voices and instruments - doesn't matter if it's Eric Clapton or Metallica.
The biggest bad thing I had to say about them is the lack of high frequencies response (for my taste). Actually the LS50 wireless from before have better treble response, but are humiliated when it comes to lows. I think at sub-bass nothing delivers at low volumes quite like the Phantoms.
This problem was easily solved when I discovered that bluetooth transmission in our days is not like I remembered ... you can have a listening experience even when you stream from your phone via bluetooth.
I use an eq on my phone (the eq from the devialet app will not suffice for me in terms of treble response being to my taste - it's all the way up but I need more) - called poweramp equalizer - it does what I want, and I was very please to see that the Phantoms CAN deliver more treble.
One last thing ... do not jump into conclusions after you hear them at first ... listen for a week or something ... I was about to send mine back after the initial audition (placed on some chairs ...) but I decided to give them a chance and made holes on my wall for the wall mounts.
Boy am I glad I did !
Phantoms I or II - I will be really interested to read your thoughts after you receive them.
A small advise from an amateur - do not hurry up and buy the Premiers (unles it's not a financial effort).
A pair of II 98 may be all that you need to let your soul rejoyce.
What kind of music do you usually listen to when you are in the mood for an audition ? At what volume ?
But instead of asking all this question I better tell you a little bit about my experience with a pair of II 95, and you will know what I'm trying to ask you.
First of all ... your space is huge, but I am assuming that you have a space within a space ... the listening positon from your sofa. So the speakers do not need to cover your entire living, as you do not probably listen from a far corner of your living room, unless you plan to use them as a background source of music to entertain your guests perhaps.
I have a 30 sq meters living (rectangular 6 x 5) and my II 95 are on the wall, left and right from the tv (the only 3 things on that wall) ... probably not the best placement for them, but they sound unbelievable ... the room dictates the result and I just got lucky I guess.
1,8 meters between the speakers, and about 2,5 meters to the listening position ... I have the sofa pretty close.
I recommendeded someone a pair of Kef LS50 wireless, for a 50 sqm living. The listening position is about 3,5 meters away and the speakers are about 3 meters apart.
They sound incredibly bad ... even after he added Kef's KS62 subwoofer. Again ... the room. I can not describe it ... but they sound like 2 mono speakers ... the stereo stage is not "alive".
There is no hint of fine details and the subwoofer I think does more harm to the overall sound (subwoofer placement is even more important than speakers placement).
Every time I visit him I can not believe how "common" they sound ... there is absolutely no intimacy to the audition.
Back to my Phantoms ... I still can not believe how good they sound at low volume (30 - 50 %), how intimate the experience is, after almost 1 year of ownership.
Again, I have the 95 db. I was a little dissapointed at first about the response after passing 65 - 70% volume, the sound delivery changes and you can tell that they don't have the power to fill the room if you feel the need to listen at high volumes.
For my space I think the 98 db would have been perfect. For your space ... who can tell ... you will see. Maybe even the 103 will not suffice.
I feel the need to have the audition experience almost every night since almost 1 year ago ... that's how much I enjoy them, sometime even after 22 pm. I am still amazed of how delicate they fill the room and make me feel like I have the scene in front of me.
I listen mostly to voices and instruments - doesn't matter if it's Eric Clapton or Metallica.
The biggest bad thing I had to say about them is the lack of high frequencies response (for my taste). Actually the LS50 wireless from before have better treble response, but are humiliated when it comes to lows. I think at sub-bass nothing delivers at low volumes quite like the Phantoms.
This problem was easily solved when I discovered that bluetooth transmission in our days is not like I remembered ... you can have a listening experience even when you stream from your phone via bluetooth.
I use an eq on my phone (the eq from the devialet app will not suffice for me in terms of treble response being to my taste - it's all the way up but I need more) - called poweramp equalizer - it does what I want, and I was very please to see that the Phantoms CAN deliver more treble.
One last thing ... do not jump into conclusions after you hear them at first ... listen for a week or something ... I was about to send mine back after the initial audition (placed on some chairs ...) but I decided to give them a chance and made holes on my wall for the wall mounts.
Boy am I glad I did !
Phantoms I or II - I will be really interested to read your thoughts after you receive them.
