26-Sep-2019, 10:28
(This post was last modified: 26-Sep-2019, 10:30 by chaiwongwaiwit.)
I am now successful to incorporate the Phantom Gold as my right and left front and center speakers with my home theater using an 11.1 receiver and 8 passive surround speakers and 1 powered subwoofer. It is fairly simple with the following accessories:-
2 Analog to Digital converters (with 2 RCA L+R inputs and 1 optical output.)
1 Toslink optical splitter
1 RCA to 2RCA Y splitters
3 Toslink optical cables
What to do:-
1 Set the 3 Phantoms to "Direct Optical" mode by
a. For each Phantom, tap the power button 3 times to reset.
b. Load the "Devialet Phantom" app from the App Store and open it. Also turn on Bluetooth.
c. After a short time, the speaker will make a sound. Choose each Phantom as "New Speaker" and place the phone near it. (Easier to do it one by one)
d. Once the Phantom is found it will make another sound.
e. On the app display, tap any empty area around the circle 10 times until the option to choose "Motion" or "Optical" appears.
f. Choose "Direct Optical" and choose the channel as left or right and 0dB. I also use the third Phantom as the center channel and chose it to be left.
2. On the receiver, connect the ADC to the left and right channel pre-outs. (The output should now be combined optical left and right.)
3. Connect the optical out to a Toslink splitter. (The 2 optical outputs now have equal left and right channel signal.)
4. Connect each output to the optical input of the left and right Phantom. (This procedure is a pain because the optical input is right next to the power plug. Hard to connect and keep it there)
5. For the center channel, connect one RCA Y splitter to the center pre-out and then connect the two outputs to the ADC. (The ADC's optical output now contains same signals, and I choose the left channel for the center Phantom).
Initially, the resulting sound was very bass-heavy and boomy because as we know, the Phantoms have adequate bass response by themselves, but I am also using a powered sub. The bass was coming out from the Phantoms coupled with the sub. Then I used Audyssey room correction with the following set up:-
1. After the room correction has been applied, I set the front speakers to "Small" and set the low frequency to 80 HZ.
2. Set all other surround speakers to small and set the frequency to 100Hz.
3. Set the LFE to 120Hz.
The sound is now perfect!
Side notes:-
My old system used the receiver's front pre-outs to 2 monoblock tube amplifiers, and connect to old B&W 801's. The old sound was a bit "warmer", but the Phantoms now have "brighter" sound, but not so much.
The help center of Devialet warned me that the optical direct of the Phantom has no latency, but the Reactor does! I tried using the Reactor as the center speaker, but I think the "latency" was just too much. After checking if Audyssey made any correction, I found that it placed the center speaker 0.2 ft. from the listening position while all other speakers were 15-16 ft! I don't have much knowledge, but I think it tried to compensate for the delay from the center speaker too much. So much that I was afraid to use it until I am sure the Reactor's latency is reduced to near zero. I have no way of measuring the delay. (It would be nice to be able to use the Reactor as center speaker since 3 Phantoms are a bit much in front of the screen.)
Using 3 Phantoms and corrected with Audyssey resulted in better sound than using the Reactor as the center, obviously. But I also found using the Phantom as center rather than my old passive center speaker resulted in more "open" sound after the correction, even in stereo.
I am not an expert in audio and I am also in my sixties. My hearing may not be that good and I won't say I have golden ears, but I am quite satisfied with what I am getting from the Phantoms. I have 5 Phantom Golds and 5 Reactors all over my home and condo. I have been researching on how to use them in my home theater system, but until now I couldn't get the answer. Most dealers in Thailand only know how to use it as a one Bluetooth speaker, or at best a stereo using the Dialog. One dealer even tried to sell me a system costing $20k. to use with the speakers I already have. I wish Devialet would put it in their manual on how to use the Phantoms and Reactors as nice powered speakers that can be combined with others.
P.S. Thanks to Manson at the Devialet help center for his assistance getting in touch with the engineers and told me how to do it.
2 Analog to Digital converters (with 2 RCA L+R inputs and 1 optical output.)
1 Toslink optical splitter
1 RCA to 2RCA Y splitters
3 Toslink optical cables
What to do:-
1 Set the 3 Phantoms to "Direct Optical" mode by
a. For each Phantom, tap the power button 3 times to reset.
b. Load the "Devialet Phantom" app from the App Store and open it. Also turn on Bluetooth.
c. After a short time, the speaker will make a sound. Choose each Phantom as "New Speaker" and place the phone near it. (Easier to do it one by one)
d. Once the Phantom is found it will make another sound.
e. On the app display, tap any empty area around the circle 10 times until the option to choose "Motion" or "Optical" appears.
f. Choose "Direct Optical" and choose the channel as left or right and 0dB. I also use the third Phantom as the center channel and chose it to be left.
2. On the receiver, connect the ADC to the left and right channel pre-outs. (The output should now be combined optical left and right.)
3. Connect the optical out to a Toslink splitter. (The 2 optical outputs now have equal left and right channel signal.)
4. Connect each output to the optical input of the left and right Phantom. (This procedure is a pain because the optical input is right next to the power plug. Hard to connect and keep it there)
5. For the center channel, connect one RCA Y splitter to the center pre-out and then connect the two outputs to the ADC. (The ADC's optical output now contains same signals, and I choose the left channel for the center Phantom).
Initially, the resulting sound was very bass-heavy and boomy because as we know, the Phantoms have adequate bass response by themselves, but I am also using a powered sub. The bass was coming out from the Phantoms coupled with the sub. Then I used Audyssey room correction with the following set up:-
1. After the room correction has been applied, I set the front speakers to "Small" and set the low frequency to 80 HZ.
2. Set all other surround speakers to small and set the frequency to 100Hz.
3. Set the LFE to 120Hz.
The sound is now perfect!
Side notes:-
My old system used the receiver's front pre-outs to 2 monoblock tube amplifiers, and connect to old B&W 801's. The old sound was a bit "warmer", but the Phantoms now have "brighter" sound, but not so much.
The help center of Devialet warned me that the optical direct of the Phantom has no latency, but the Reactor does! I tried using the Reactor as the center speaker, but I think the "latency" was just too much. After checking if Audyssey made any correction, I found that it placed the center speaker 0.2 ft. from the listening position while all other speakers were 15-16 ft! I don't have much knowledge, but I think it tried to compensate for the delay from the center speaker too much. So much that I was afraid to use it until I am sure the Reactor's latency is reduced to near zero. I have no way of measuring the delay. (It would be nice to be able to use the Reactor as center speaker since 3 Phantoms are a bit much in front of the screen.)
Using 3 Phantoms and corrected with Audyssey resulted in better sound than using the Reactor as the center, obviously. But I also found using the Phantom as center rather than my old passive center speaker resulted in more "open" sound after the correction, even in stereo.
I am not an expert in audio and I am also in my sixties. My hearing may not be that good and I won't say I have golden ears, but I am quite satisfied with what I am getting from the Phantoms. I have 5 Phantom Golds and 5 Reactors all over my home and condo. I have been researching on how to use them in my home theater system, but until now I couldn't get the answer. Most dealers in Thailand only know how to use it as a one Bluetooth speaker, or at best a stereo using the Dialog. One dealer even tried to sell me a system costing $20k. to use with the speakers I already have. I wish Devialet would put it in their manual on how to use the Phantoms and Reactors as nice powered speakers that can be combined with others.
P.S. Thanks to Manson at the Devialet help center for his assistance getting in touch with the engineers and told me how to do it.
