Phantom Gold: A review

[ogs]

Interestingly, Peter Walker himself did not attach much importance to the phase true time aligned nature of the Quad ESL 63, which is more or less a consequence of the design. Few other designs are time-aligned and phase true, e.g. Thief loudspeakers are an exception. It's unclear how important time alignment is to our enjoyment of music. 

It is true that few speakers are time aligned. As long as drive units are mounted on the same flat baffle only Digital Signal Processing can correct for the differences. Few manufacturers of passive speakers are prepared to leave the flat baffle design. Can you imagine Magico with a stepped baffle? Phantoms are quite daring designs in that context!
Some listeners are more sensitive to this than others. In addition to the brands you mention Vandersteen is a proponent of time aligned designs. Dunlavy is another. Also For DSP controlled speakers Avantgarde Zero 1 and Kii Three must be mentioned. And the whole DEQX success is built on time alignment of speakers

[Olivier4444]

I'm probably one of the few that sold its D200 for a pair of gold phantoms. I listened to both silvers and golds and let me tell you that Golds are definitely more HIFI.
I actually found the set up of phantoms a lot easier than the D200 with which I tried out way too many configurations to go around the AIR problems.
The Dialog optical problem with phantom is true (noise/dropouts) ... BUT all you have to do is plug your optical source to either one of the Phantoms... and then its just perfect !!! Devialet is aware of this issue and should resolve the Dialog problem with the upcoming firmware later this month.
Anyway I really hesitated b/w upgrading my D200 to 220 or selling it all and getting the Golds. Trust me I think I made the right choice...
It's true that with bad recordings I would say my D200 sounded a little better ... but with good ones the Golds surpasses the D200... no joke ! all my friends agree too...
And beyond music, movies sound a whole lot better w/ Phantoms ....
Hint : Go to your dealer and listen to James Blake "Limit To Your Love" (even from Tidal) ..it reveals really how good Golds are..

[srima]

Great review. Thanks for sharing of what you think about the Phantom Gold. On the other hand, how much discount did you get if you don't mind to share? You can PM me as I am looking for dealer. The closest dealer nearby me is over 3 hours drive one way so will probably be purchasing out of state.

You should keep in mind that the Phantom Gold is a brand new product, one that is in some demand, and Devialet can only ship a limited quantity to the US. So, dealers are not likely to give you huge discounts like those offered on the older Expert products.

In my case, the dealer had two sets of the Phantom Gold. One was already sold. The other was his 3 day old demo. I bought the demo. He didn't want to sell it until he was sure he could get another set quickly from Devialet. Let's say the discount he gave me essentially paid for the two Branch stands and then some.

But different dealers are likely to have varying policies about discounting. Don't expect much. This is a new just released high end product. It's unlikely to be marked down by much.

[Hifi_swlon]

Srima, it sounds like you'll be selling your 400's and all your speakers and going Phantom Gold throughout then?!

[srima]

Srima, it sounds like you'll be selling your 400's and all your speakers and going Phantom Gold throughout then?!  

No, I am not there yet for several reasons. One, having had Quads for almost three decades now, I've gotten used to how they sound, and not yet ready to throw in the towel on them. Also, the Phantom's are a new unproven design. How reliable will they be in the long run? What new models will Devialet release in the coming years? There are many unknown aspects of this relatively new approach. At this point, I think I would recommend them to anyone wanting a compact high end system with  minimum baggage in terms of components, wires etc. But they are far from piug and play. More like plug and pray at this point. 

I just got the Phantom remote. In true Devialet fashion, unlike everyone else on the planet, they can't design a simple obvious to use remote. Oh, no, that would be too easy. Instead, they have this crazy setup procedure where you hold the remote upside down near a Phantom to pair it. Guess what? I've held my remote a dozen times next to each of my Phantom's. The remote does not work (yet!). I've changed the batteries. It's going back to Amazon on Monday. The iPhone/iPad/Mac Spark app has a volume control that works just fine.

[MountainGuy]

When the remote works, which my does, it is very easy to pair. hold upside down for a few seconds over any of my stereo phantoms and it pairs immediately. Sorry to hear bout your trouble.

[srima]

When the remote works, which my does, it is very easy to pair.  hold upside down for a few seconds over any of my stereo phantoms and it pairs immediately.  Sorry to hear bout your trouble.

I figured something was wrong with mine. Amazon is sending me a new replacement to try -- will get here Monday.

[Olivier4444]

@srima your remote definitely has something wrong with it.
Mine works perfectly and was really easy to pair (with golds).
Let us know.

[srima]

@srima your remote definitely has something wrong with it.
Mine works perfectly and was really easy to pair (with golds).
Let us know.

New remote arrived yesterday. Works perfectly out of the box, with a simple pairing to the Phantom. The first remote was clearly defective, and has gone back to Amazon. Now I can get back to enjoying the Gold's. The only thing missing is tone controls! Why, oh, why, did they provide tone controls on the Devialet Dxxx amplifiers, and not on the Phantom's (which if anything need it more, since they are a very neutral speaker and can sound pretty bright if you play a poorly recorded piece through them). Unfortunately, Spark has no tone controls either. There should be some way of doing this.

[srima]

Just posted measurements of the Phantom Gold on the Phantom forum. Check them out!