Hi, are there any posts on here regarding the devialet phantom. Just wondering if any members have heard them. I couldn't find much about them in search.Had some quite good reviews albeit one from devialet themselves.
Devialet phantom
- Thread starter damonster
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plastic penguin
Well-known member
damonster said:
Sorry, can't help on this one. All I do know is they look soulless compared to traditional amps.
plastic penguin
Well-known member
damonster said:
Think you need to dem one and decide for yourself. But if it does match a 30k system you have to readdress the speakers.
plastic penguin said:
Actually, you want to dem two so that you get a stereo pair. No matter how good it sounds, I don't think I could live without proper stereo imaging.
No sure what PP means about them being soulless compared to traditional amps. I thought the comparison would be with traditional speakers as they're active speakers with the amplification in the casing.
http://en.devialet.com/phantom/#discover
Or were you thinking of their integrated amps?
As for posts, haven't WHF implemented a forum search function yet????
Here, let me google that for you
(Not great on searches myself, maybe there's a better way...)
DocG
Well-known member
I think Evpa was the first forum user who bought a pair. He wrote about it on the Devialet thread.
matt49 has them too. Review on the Devialet thread. Nominated them as product of the year. I'm sure he'll be around soon to comment.
matt49 has them too. Review on the Devialet thread. Nominated them as product of the year. I'm sure he'll be around soon to comment.
plastic penguin
Well-known member
ID. said:
T'was.
But after seeing those pics it looks it has come from a set of Star Wars. Or perhaps you could put a hamster inside. Doesn't tug my rug.
matt49
Well-known member
DocG said:
Yes, I have a pair of Silver Phantoms. After a not inconsiderable amount of aggro setting them up (Devialet have subsequently made the set-up much simpler), and with the caveat that the room they're in has rather poor acoustics, I'm enjoying them immensely.
They do something that (to my knowledge) no other system in their price bracket can do: they produce fast, accurate and thunderous bass. They also image beautifully.
Devialet will soon have a showroom in London, so if that's within your reach you'll have a chance to hear them in decent surroundings (which their current sales pitch in Harrods can't claim).
There's loads of comment on the Devialet Chat Forum and on Pink Fish Media.
Frank Harvey
Well-known member
It would have to be a really poor £30k system for the Phantoms to be able to match them.
I could come up with a system for £600 that I'd rather listen to in preference to a pair of Phantoms.
As a lifestyle product they're fine, if a bit on the pricey side. As the last word in hi-fi for under £30k they are seriously lacking.
I could come up with a system for £600 that I'd rather listen to in preference to a pair of Phantoms.
As a lifestyle product they're fine, if a bit on the pricey side. As the last word in hi-fi for under £30k they are seriously lacking.
I want to take some time, these are fresh out of the box. I am at volume setting 70 and currently peaking 92dB from seated position some 6-7 m from them. They have an incredibly even response in the room, I can move about and they sound pretty much the same anywhere. Bass is gutsy deep and powerful no overhang anywhere, I am trying to make them trip up... Very room filling and the stereo is very good.
Trying placements and positions but seem very unfussy and enjoy open air. Good.
Initial impressions after an hour or so... They are incredible. Not quite up to the D200/B&W 800d2s, yet... Note that I said yet they are easily the match of say Big ATCs... embarrassingly close to my B&Ws -- even at this early stage. The tweeter is a bit hot at the moment the upper mid needs to settle in, I have heard this in fresh speakers before. Gimme a bit on that. So far so bloody amazing. As I write this I have had to go back and reassess the "hot" comment as its settling in on Shpongle's "vapour rumours".
Best bit? I have just plonked them on the floor while I work out speaker stands so they ought to be at an audiophile disadvantage. They fill air with absolutely no strain until I hit 94 dB where the heat of the treble and upper mid becomes apparent but that's stupid volume.
Transients seem fast and quick to respond, no obvious overhang and no room bloom in the mid and upper bass.
Trying Beyonce's partition (explicit version) and having a chuckle, it's childish I know but stunt bass is what you do when you get a new toy. This really has completely redefined what size/power relationships mean to me.
They pass the Trentemoller test and NIN nails "the downward spiral" is bloody vicious' but not hard or sharp. selections from Ghosts are definitely close to the 200/800 combo. The Ramones It's Alive is almost a surround sound wall. I will delve into the subtler stuff when I have thrashed these flappy birds for an afternoon, Motörhead, iron maiden, lots and lots of ponycore, sunn o))), sly and Robbie, shpongle, the orb... I think you know the score. They are all so far playing loud and clear. Software has hung once so far but I need to see if the OS and the App get an update next time I go to the AppStore. Not tried volumio via optical yet, that is on the cards.
This punches way way way above its weight. See what happens with PiL albatross and Mezzanine. I think they can cope with anything I can give them.
Trying some of my own material that has lots of sub bass mixed into it later. Might try a few live mixes with this.
Immensely capable. The software needs getting used to. I like how like Sonos it lets you pick and choose tracks between services. Does not seem to be gapless. Needs to import your downloaded material in the apps as playlists at the very least. That's so far the weakest part, not the hardware.
More later
Have some feet
Source
matt49
Well-known member
chebby
Well-known member
lindsayt said:
From what i've been reading, I doubt you could. (Otherwise you'd have a $25,000,000 budget just for marketing and you'd be opening showrooms in swanky parts of the worlds major shopping capitals during a recession.)
All I know is that I am gagging to hear the £1400 (750 watt) version in person and would run a mile from your £600 pile of rusting, Pre Billy Woodman, 1960s Goodmans speakers with resident nesting mice!
Even if I don't 'get it'' when/if I hear the Phantoms, I won't be heading to the council tip afterwards for an alternative.
Its difficult to imagine that something so small can shift so much air. Can Devialet defy the laws of physics?
I personally think they are somewhat ugly (but so small it almost doesn't matter) but the company has to be applauded to constantly push the boundaries.
My parents used to have one of those white bubble chairs with red cushions you sit in (it swivels around its own axis). These phantoms would look good in a seventies setting!
I personally think they are somewhat ugly (but so small it almost doesn't matter) but the company has to be applauded to constantly push the boundaries.
My parents used to have one of those white bubble chairs with red cushions you sit in (it swivels around its own axis). These phantoms would look good in a seventies setting!
They shift air alright. Trouble is, they do this by the cones moving in and out by a huge amount - for bass cones.
And the trouble with that, is that when that happens all resemblance to the actual instruments being recreated goes totally out the window.
And Chebby, what you say reinforces what I said in my previous post. Phantoms for lifestyle. Other components for sound quality for less money. You value lifestyle over sound quality per pound spent. That's fair enough. You do what you want. It still doesn't stop the £30k system sound quality beating claim from Devialet from being totally misleading marketing hype.
My £600 sound quality claim is no idle boast. It's one that I can back up with a demonstration, any time someone cares to supply a pair of Phantoms to said demonstration.
And the trouble with that, is that when that happens all resemblance to the actual instruments being recreated goes totally out the window.
And Chebby, what you say reinforces what I said in my previous post. Phantoms for lifestyle. Other components for sound quality for less money. You value lifestyle over sound quality per pound spent. That's fair enough. You do what you want. It still doesn't stop the £30k system sound quality beating claim from Devialet from being totally misleading marketing hype.
My £600 sound quality claim is no idle boast. It's one that I can back up with a demonstration, any time someone cares to supply a pair of Phantoms to said demonstration.
matt49
Well-known member
drummerman said:
Each Phantom has two opposed long-throw LF drivers which are controlled by some heavyweight DSP and driven by massively powerful ADH amps. The technology isn't entirely new, but I'm not aware of its ever being executed as well as in the Phantoms.
The looks do divide opinion. I think they look quite good in a modern setting; with traditional British decor they'll probably look out of place.
lindsayt said:
whats the pricing if you look at the price when it was new and adjust for inflation?
One can think of the Acoustic Research AR9 loudspeakers, or for something more recent maybe this simple explanation by Laurence Dickie would do.
chebby
Well-known member
lindsayt said:
It is a boast. You would need to have done the comparison for it to be anything else. If you've done the comparison then i'll accept it as an informed opinion and offer my apology.
I am excited by the idea of this much quality, in a small package, for just £1400. What I have read so far is written by people who have heard it and/or purchased it. I will listen to them until I get to actually listen to the item itself.
As for those 'lifestyle' claims, i'm not sure what you mean. All of us here have systems that - to a disinterested outsider - fulfill some kind of lifestyle aspiration. My aspirations tend to compactness and quality in sound and build and a minimum of impact. (I prefer wooden book cabinets and nice furniture and uncluttered floor space to ugly hi-fi paraphernalia, some others prefer wall sized TV sets above all else.)
Your aspirations seem to tend to a Steptoe & Son / Scrapyard Challenge / Edwardian Farm kind of aesthetic going by previous posts and photos but that is a guess. I also think you favour gigantism and see a big / heavy item as inherently superior based on it's dimensions and weight.
chebby said:
I always imagined that with a kind of steampunk twist whenever I read about some of that amazing kit.
chebby
Well-known member
matt49
Well-known member
drummerman said:
No, you can run a single unit in mono.
To be fair to Lindsayt, he has (I think) heard the Phantoms at the Scalford show.
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