Give us some space

[chebby]

Our music collections no longer have to consist of yards of LPs (or even CDs) and can now be stored in full quality on a device the size of a *** packet.

A good quality system need no longer comprise of stacks of separates on huge steel racks.

A decent TV set is no longer a box the size of a chest of drawers. It is light and flat and goes on the wall.

Why - after all that space saving - do people endure with their really deep loudspeaker cabinets that - manufacturers insist - have to be placed far away from walls and corners (almost sitting in the listener's lap in some smaller rooms).

What has happened to loudspeakers designed to be tucked away against walls, in corners, on shelves or on brackets etc?

Why have we all been hoodwinked into believing that a narrow speaker is a 'smaller' speaker even though it's baffle is often sitting over a metre into your space and it's almost two-and-a-half times deeper at the back than it is wide!

With new properties getting smaller by the year, why is it still the overwhelming 'fashion' to have deep speakers that can't go anywhere near a wall or a corner without mis-behaving?

 

[CnoEvil]

During my demo evening, Jonathan from Kef was asked what drove the decision for the design of the new Refs, as it had totally moved away from the big drivers and curved cabinets of the previous series.

He replied that they use experts, whose job it is to predict taste and fashion in the sitting rooms of our homes over the next 5 years or so.

 

[Al ears]

I believe it is basically easier to produce a good speaker if you don't have size limitations and most higher end speakers are probably going to be sold abroad to people who can afford larger homes / apartments.

The turnover in the small-roomed UK is likely to be very small all things considered.

Ultimately they are designing for foreign markets.

 

[Infiniteloop]

During my demo evening, Jonathan from Kef was asked what drove the decision for the design of the new Refs, as it had totally moved away from the big drivers and curved cabinets of the previous series.

He replied that they use experts, whose job it is to predict taste and fashion in the sitting rooms of our homes over the next 5 years or so.

And whoever they had in to advise them did an excellent job. The new Refs are stunning.

(In a different industry, I do a similar thing).

 

[matt49]

I'm also not keen on the move towards narrow and deep speakers. This kind of thing:

I think it's been motivated partly by the feeling that deep and narrow looks smaller and less imposing (whether it actually does is another matter entirely). It's a way of achieving the same cabinet volume whilst appearing to take up less space.

But for people whose axis of listening is across the shorter dimension of a rectangular room (a lot of us), it makes no sense at all.

 

[Andrew17321]

With much stronger magnetic materials available now, and with other technical advances, there is no longer a need to have speaker cabinets with such large volumes. However, tradition has it that big floorstanders sound best and people will continue to buy them. Slim and deep, fat or tall? That is mainly to do with fashion I think.

Devialet Phantoms have a linear frequency range beyond any 'traditional' speakers that I have encountered, and a volume of about a fifth of my Spendor S5e's. I would not describe the Phantoms as aesthetically pretty, nor as a fashion statement, but they do sound teriffic, and are relatively small and portable (and can be hidden away in a cupboard when not in use).

 

[gowiththeflow]

...Devialet Phantoms have a linear frequency range beyond any 'traditional' speakers that I have encountered, and a volume of about a fifth of my Spendor S5e's. I would not describe the Phantoms as aesthetically pretty, nor as a fashion statement, but they do sound teriffic, and are relatively small and portable (and can be hidden away in a cupboard when not in use).

A lot of people seem to think the Phantoms are very pretty. Stunning even!

In terms of sound quality, it is interesting to read comments on various forums from a number of Phantom owners who also have very expensive HiFi set ups, with speakers like the B&W 802 Diamonds and others from the likes of Magico, Goldmund & Wilson. All rate the Phantoms to be very close to their main systems, some of which have probably cost 30, 40 or 40 thousand £££'s.

Ignore these at your peril, as they'll only get better, both with software improvements and future hardware upgrades (e.g. a future mk2 etc).

The bottom line however, will always be the room, even with advanced DSP and active room correction.

 

[MajorFubar]

If you design a driver and decide that to get the best from it you need a cabinet with a volume of about 100 litres, fashion dictates how you'll juggle the numbers to implement your 100 litres almost as much as anything else I recon. Current fashion dictates narrow and deep. In the past it was either square or wide and shallow. Richard at EB Acoustics didn't follow fashion when designing my EB2 loudspeakers, they're wider than contemporary average and therefore aren't much deeper than they are wide, but as a consequence their styling was criticised by some reviews, including those from WHF.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I would not describe the Phantoms as aesthetically pretty, nor as a fashion statement, but they do sound teriffic, and are relatively small and portable (and can be hidden away in a cupboard when not in use).

You make them sound like a Henry vacuum cleaner...

 

[Andrew17321]

Ok, my Phantoms are not ugly, but they are certainly not a piece of furniture which can go with the decor. To look at, they don't say, "Look at these great big speakers; you must have a really good HiFi system." But if you hear them, then you marvel that the terrific sound in the room is actually coming from them.

Let's say, they have a style of their own, which neither I nor my wife find a problem. And they feel nice to touch.

I suspect they are a pointer to the future of HiFi. I anticipate that in time they will have all that Sonos can offer (plus HD music) and all that a conventional (legacy?) expensive amplifier and two speaker system can offer. It will be interesting to see what other HiFi manufacturers produce in the next year or two.

 

[tino]

Ok, my Phantoms are not ugly, but they are certainly not a piece of furniture which can go with the decor.

If they came in other colours other than white and didn't have that shocking yellow cable maybe they would be more aesthetically acceptable.

 

[gowiththeflow]

If they came in other colours other than white and didn't have that shocking yellow cable maybe they would be more aesthetically acceptable.

There has been speculation that a Black version might be produced, but that is probably just wishful thinking at the present time. IIRC one of the exhibited prototypes was Black?

The Yellow power cable is a strange one in view of Devialet's consistency in the design and aesthetic aspect of their products. However, the Yellow power chord is dispensed with, when partnering Phantom with its matching Branch stands.

Z

 

[SteveR750]

I think the key thing with the phantoms is the push/push (think boxer engine in a car) that allows for large drive unit excursion at low frequencies without the need for an infinite baffle that a single driver requires. Since none of us can literally glue the drive units into the walls of our listening rooms, then the drivers have to be put in a box to effect an infinite baffle, or at least as approximation. A larger box simply allows bigger drivers to operate with a flatter extended bandwidth, so the size of the enclosure is not simply a fashion statement, it's fundamental to the physical design.