The Devialet thread

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DocG

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If all goes well, the KEFs can be with us by the weekend...

I figured that I should first run them in, then get to know them (SAM-less), and finally find out what SAM brings to the party. But that takes too much precious time, right?

Think I'll go for the fast approach: install everything and switch SAM on and off with a press on the remote... I have a hunch I might leave it on very quickly!

High expectations, for sure! :bounce:
 

matt49

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Yes, that's what I'd do.

You could use Cno's method: play with SAM for a few days, then switch it off and see how much you miss it.

My local dealer has been won over to Devialet by SAM with his B&Ws. He wasn't too keen to start with; he thought it was all a bit too perfect. Now he's a big fan.

Matt
 

DocG

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The thought crossed my mind to just leave SAM alone for now, and first enjoy the massive improvement the LS50s will make over my good old Mission 760SEs. And then, when I get used to the KEFs, and the excitement wears off, revitalize it with SAM! I'm sure that would give me maximum listening pleasure!

But then I realize it would be cruel and unethical towards you guys! (and frankly I'm too curious too...)
 

matt49

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DocG said:
The thought crossed my mind to just leave SAM alone for now, and first enjoy the massive improvement the LS50s will make over my good old Mission 760SEs. And then, when I get used to the KEFs, and the excitement wears off, revitalize it with SAM! I'm sure that would give me maximum listening pleasure!

Have you considered some kind of treatment for this? Not only is this first-degree upgradeitis, but you're even anticipating a case of upgradeitis that hasn't happened yet. That's quite serious!

:O

Matt
 

DocG

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matt49 said:
DocG said:
The thought crossed my mind to just leave SAM alone for now, and first enjoy the massive improvement the LS50s will make over my good old Mission 760SEs. And then, when I get used to the KEFs, and the excitement wears off, revitalize it with SAM! I'm sure that would give me maximum listening pleasure!

Have you considered some kind of treatment for this? Not only is this first-degree upgradeitis, but you're even anticipating a case of upgradeitis that hasn't happened yet. That's quite serious!

:O

Matt

Oooh, but I just wanted to buy a new amp and speakers, like I do every twenty odd years!

I was nicely in remission! This whole flare is not my fault! It is Devialet who do this to me! :cry:

I'm sure DSM-5 has a label for this! And a treatment!

Here it is:

DSM-5 said:
Upgraditis: odd form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Can be cured by swapping the SAM for an AMS.

Interesting. Will look further into this...
 

matt49

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The voteforsam campaign is becoming a fiasco. As the good Doc has pointed out elsewhere, currently the leading speaker is the Martin Logan Odyssey with 104 votes. Yesterday this speaker didn't even have 5 votes. And it's not even in production any more. Argh!

I've written a couple of stiff emails to Devialet. They need to sort this mess out and produce a clear roadmap for the roll-out of SAM.

In other a Devialet news: the iOS app can now turn the Dev on. In addition to the greater stability that came with firmware 7.1, this means AIR is fully robust. I have a Mac Mini and Airport Express arriving tomorrow. The Mac will run the control software. The AEX will set up a wireless network dedicated to Devialet only. I'll control the whole show from an iPad. I'll start with iTunes but move to Amarra or Jriver soon.

Matt
 

matt49

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It's been pointed out to me that you can vote for SAM 5 times with a single e-mail address. And all 5 of those votes can be for the same speaker.

So it only needs twenty separate e-mail accounts to reach 100 votes. (I am most excellent at maths.)

So if anyone feels like lending some more of their 5 available votes to the Montis, I'd be most grateful. It's currently on 91 votes -- within touching distance of the finishing line.

http://voteforsam.devialet.com/

:cheers:

Matt
 

matt49

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More Devialet news.

Evidently Devialet are concerned about the SAM voting. I won't reveal my source (it's not the crystal ball this time), but I think I can say with some confidence that there will be an investigation into voting patterns and some "verification" of votes cast.

More importantly, this afternoon I moved over to AIR wireless streaming. I've been so impressed with the robustness of the ethernet interface since firmware 7.1 that I thought I'd go the whole hog.

I now have a separate wireless network dedicated to Devialet streaming, using an Apple Airport Express. So simple to set up and no outages yet.

The music is still on my NAS drive. The software music player (still iTunes, but that will change soon) is on a headless Mac Mini, which talks to the NAS via ethernet.

The control point is an iPad using the Apple Remote programme. The iPad also has a VNC programme that gives complete control of the Mac Mini's desktop, programmes etc, in case I need to fiddle with any settings.

The attraction of AIR is that it completely separates the Devialet from any of the source hardware, so there's no possibility of computer- or mains-bound noise from upstream.

Does it sound any different? I don't honestly know. But it does sound epically good!

:cheers:

Matt
 

Brit

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Hi again,

Have been away for a long weekend so only just catching up with events on the Devialet front and wow what a lot has happened!

On the follow up demo front, I have 2 Dev 200s being delivered tomorrow so as I can try it as a mono amp or as a 400 dual mono - I am getting very excited :bounce:!! I had almost got to the stage where I was going to go for the 240/250, but with the introduction of the 200 and its dual mono version, the 400 I held off until I could audition the 200 ((and now also the 400). If the 400 is a significant lift on the 200, then I may go for that given that it is no more than I would have paid for the 240/250!

On the SAM voting, a little confused as to what is going on - do I need to be a Devialet owner and do Devialet need to have access to the actual make and model of speakers chosen before they can "model" them?

Hope that DocGs LS50s soon arrive as it will be interesting to have a "pre" and "post" SAM review.
 

matt49

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Brit said:
Hi again,

Have been away for a long weekend so only just catching up with events on the Devialet front and wow what a lot has happened!

On the follow up demo front, I have 2 Dev 200s being delivered tomorrow so as I can try it as a mono amp or as a 400 dual mono - I am getting very excited :bounce:!! I had almost got to the stage where I was going to go for the 240/250, but with the introduction of the 200 and its dual mono version, the 400 I held off until I could audition the 200 ((and now also the 400). If the 400 is a significant lift on the 200, then I may go for that given that it is no more than I would have paid for the 240/250!

On the SAM voting, a little confused as to what is going on - do I need to be a Devialet owner and do Devialet need to have access to the actual make and model of speakers chosen before they can "model" them?

Hope that DocGs LS50s soon arrive as it will be interesting to have a "pre" and "post" SAM review.

Hi Dave,

The demo sounds excellent. Do please give us a report on how the single 200 compares with the 400 monoblocks. I don't want to think I'll be adding a slave 200 to my system, but I can already tell there's an itch waiting to be scratched.

I've forgotten what speakers you have.

You don't have to own a Dev in order to vote for SAM. The voteforsam website allows you to pick speakers from a huge range of makes and models.

Once Devialet have decided to model a speaker, I assume they borrow one from the manufacturers -- and I think that Devialet have so much wind in their sails that any speaker manufacturer will be delighted to supply them.

:cheers:

Matt
 

matt49

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DocG said:
matt49 said:
I don't want to think I'll be adding a slave 200 to my system, but I can already tell there's an itch waiting to be scratched.

You already have two 200 W slaves in your speakers, Matt! ;)

Yikes, I hadn't thought about that. That's enough slave power to build a pyramid.

But still, I think the more power you throw at the ML panels, the smoother the top end will be. Once that impedance drops below 1 ohm, you need all the slaves you can buy.

I'm pleased to see the SF Cremona Auditor Ms have passed the 100 threshold. I'll be really interested to see how SAM handles their bottom end, if you'll excuse the expression.

Matt
 

DocG

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DocG said:
Brit said:
Hope that DocGs LS50s soon arrive (...)

You're not the only one, Brit! Talking about excited! I hope I'll have them by the weekend! :pray:

High expectations indeed! The Devialet + Atohm GT1 system is described on the Devialet website. SAM seems to have a quite unbelievable impact on the bass performance of the speakers. Whereas Atohm give a bass extension down to 45 Hz (no -dB figure), in combination with a Devialet 120 SAM brings the spec down to an unbelievable 25 Hz (-3 dB)! Either it's a kind of magic, or it must allow for high distortion figures...

Can't wait to try this myself with the little KEFs!
 

DocG

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Curious as I am, I yesterday evening asked my Devialet to give my little Missions a SAM-treatment, LS50-style. Which it did. The sound was a mess (as was to be expected), but the bass was indeed remarkably deep and punchy, way deeper and punchier than before.

Patience is a virtue... :pray:
 

matt49

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DocG said:
High expectations indeed! The Devialet + Atohm GT1 system is described on the Devialet website. SAM seems to have a quite unbelievable impact on the bass performance of the speakers. Whereas Atohm give a bass extension down to 45 Hz (no -dB figure), in combination with a Devialet 120 SAM brings the spec down to an unbelievable 25 Hz (-3 dB)! Either it's a kind of magic, or it must allow for high distortion figures...

Can't wait to try this myself with the little KEFs!

Like you, I'm curious how they do this. 25Hz is miraculously low for a smallish standmount. (The 10" drivers in my MLs do 29Hz at -3dB.) And Devialet give a distortion figure of 0.000002%. (Yes, that's the right number of zeroes: I cut and pasted it just to be sure.)

Looks like they have managed to bend physics.
 
matt49 said:
Like you, I'm curious how they do this. 25Hz is miraculously low for a smallish standmount. (The 10" drivers in my MLs do 29Hz at -3dB.) And Devialet give a distortion figure of 0.000002%. (Yes, that's the right number of zeroes: I cut and pasted it just to be sure.)

Looks like they have managed to bend physics.
I'd suggest it is quite impossible for any transducer to have such low distortion. Those numbers might be feasible in electronics, but not a loudspeaker, surely, even at 1 watt for a sinewave, let alone music?
 

DocG

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matt49 said:
DocG said:
High expectations indeed! The Devialet + Atohm GT1 system is described on the Devialet website. SAM seems to have a quite unbelievable impact on the bass performance of the speakers. Whereas Atohm give a bass extension down to 45 Hz (no -dB figure), in combination with a Devialet 120 SAM brings the spec down to an unbelievable 25 Hz (-3 dB)! Either it's a kind of magic, or it must allow for high distortion figures...

Can't wait to try this myself with the little KEFs!

Like you, I'm curious how they do this. 25Hz is miraculously low for a smallish standmount. (The 10" drivers in my MLs do 29Hz at -3dB.) And Devialet give a distortion figure of 0.000002%. (Yes, that's the right number of zeroes: I cut and pasted it just to be sure.)

Looks like they have managed to bend physics.

I think that whenever the Montis gets SAMmed, you will need a geophysical stability study of your house, before you can safely play music thru that system! :O
 

matt49

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nopiano said:
matt49 said:
Like you, I'm curious how they do this. 25Hz is miraculously low for a smallish standmount. (The 10" drivers in my MLs do 29Hz at -3dB.) And Devialet give a distortion figure of 0.000002%. (Yes, that's the right number of zeroes: I cut and pasted it just to be sure.)

Looks like they have managed to bend physics.
I'd suggest it is quite impossible for any transducer to have such low distortion. Those numbers might be feasible in electronics, but not a loudspeaker, surely, even at 1 watt for a sinewave, let alone music?

Yes, you're right: that's the amp figure. :doh:

Matt
 
matt49 said:
nopiano said:
matt49 said:
Like you, I'm curious how they do this. 25Hz is miraculously low for a smallish standmount. (The 10" drivers in my MLs do 29Hz at -3dB.) And Devialet give a distortion figure of 0.000002%. (Yes, that's the right number of zeroes: I cut and pasted it just to be sure.)

Looks like they have managed to bend physics.
I'd suggest it is quite impossible for any transducer to have such low distortion. Those numbers might be feasible in electronics, but not a loudspeaker, surely, even at 1 watt for a sinewave, let alone music?

Yes, you're right: that's the amp figure. :doh:

Matt
ok, that makes sense!
 

matt49

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DocG said:
I think that whenever the Montis gets SAMmed, you will need a geophysical stability study of your house, before you can safely play music thru that system! :O

There's also a +/- 10dB control on the subs. I did once try it turning way up. It was quite loud.
 

DocG

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matt49 said:
DocG said:
I think that whenever the Montis gets SAMmed, you will need a geophysical stability study of your house, before you can safely play music thru that system! :O

There's also a +/- 10dB control on the subs. I did once try it turning way up. It was quite loud.

:grin: No kidding! :grin:
 

Brit

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matt49 said:
Brit said:
Hi again,

Have been away for a long weekend so only just catching up with events on the Devialet front and wow what a lot has happened!

On the follow up demo front, I have 2 Dev 200s being delivered tomorrow so as I can try it as a mono amp or as a 400 dual mono - I am getting very excited :bounce:!! I had almost got to the stage where I was going to go for the 240/250, but with the introduction of the 200 and its dual mono version, the 400 I held off until I could audition the 200 ((and now also the 400). If the 400 is a significant lift on the 200, then I may go for that given that it is no more than I would have paid for the 240/250!

On the SAM voting, a little confused as to what is going on - do I need to be a Devialet owner and do Devialet need to have access to the actual make and model of speakers chosen before they can "model" them?

Hope that DocGs LS50s soon arrive as it will be interesting to have a "pre" and "post" SAM review.

Hi Dave,

The demo sounds excellent. Do please give us a report on how the single 200 compares with the 400 monoblocks. I don't want to think I'll be adding a slave 200 to my system, but I can already tell there's an itch waiting to be scratched.

I've forgotten what speakers you have.

You don't have to own a Dev in order to vote for SAM. The voteforsam website allows you to pick speakers from a huge range of makes and models.

Once Devialet have decided to model a speaker, I assume they borrow one from the manufacturers -- and I think that Devialet have so much wind in their sails that any speaker manufacturer will be delighted to supply them.

:cheers:

Matt

Hi Matt

Well the 2x200 arrived yesterday morning and configured, initially as a 400. From cold it was very obvious that this was a very good set up, plenty of speaker control, solid, musical, bass and a very detailed presentation - all the boxes ticked at the initial stage.

Because I did not want to become too involved at too early a stage with the 400, I re-configured the Master just as a 200 and tried again - bit of a faff because speaker leads have to be changed from a mono to a stereo configuration, but it had to be done! Anyway, some serious listening was carried out with the 200 and I must say that it sounded good, even in comparison to my existing system. I was trying to remember my earlier dem with the 170, but my memory for that sort of thing is not that good I am afraid! My impression is that the exta 30 watts of the 200 help with speaker control - there was still the same transparency and detail, but with better control. Speaker control can be difficult to define, but from my point of view it is about the ease bass and dynamics are presented - there should be no sense of the speakers struggling to follow the music - there was little of that with the 200 - I had sensed it slightly with the 170 on the initial demo which is why I had originally opted for the 240/250. So we had a positive with the 200 - clarity, wide soundstage, excellent imaging and ability to pick out instruments, and voices in the soundstage, silent background with no trace of electronic hash.

Anyway impatience then got the better of me so this morning I re-configured as a 400 - again a bit of faffing about, but! Well there was a remarked difference, not only did the 400 control better, it lifted my speakers off of the floor, spun them around and placed them gently back in place!! There was an immediate sense of ease in the music - the 200 was very good, but the 400, to my ears, gave a much more relaxed presentation with the speakers reacting effortlessly to what ever music I tried. My musical tastes are fairly wide ranging from Jazz to Classical - my preference is for Classical, mainly Symphonic music. The ability to place orchestral instruments in their proper place on the stage is important to me, as is the ability to distinguish between them, and the 400 did not disappoint. Bass was very well controlled and musical - there was a sense of being able to define between different drum beats and hear the sticks on the skins and their reverberations. There was, not only a wide soundstage, but it went deeper behind the speakers. There was also more of a sense of involvement with the music - of the toe tapping kind, a very "musical" presentation.

I tried all inputs, incuding the line input configured to take my DAC - not too sure how sensible this is given that the Devialet then re applies a D to A conversion, but I have some hi res music at 384Khz and some DSD128 & 64 which I wanted to try, and this was the only way of doing it - it worked fine. I also connected my music server direct to the USB, which worked perfectly, apart from fact that it only handles up to 192Khz and not my 384Khz or DSD files (hence need for DAC direct to Line input). I also tried the Phono input, and apart from an initial annoying clicking noise which was down to not configuring the phono correctly - in Advanced Settings there is an Auto WiFi standby tick box which needs to be checked to ON, and I had missed it - the Phono works very well with my fairly low output MC Cartridge. The fact that it applies ADC does not harm at all - there is a very low level of "hash" from the speakers even on very high volume levels - I would say that it beats my existing Phono amp.

To try and sum up my views of the 400 (not in any particular order): very musical; very dynamic; relaxing (but not laid back) musical presentation; transparent, with voices and instruments "floating in air" rather than coming out of speakers; imparts total, effortless, control over my speakers; wide, and deep, soundstage; excellent imaging; very realistic presentation of instruments - trumpets sound like trumpets, etc; musical notes "stop and start" without smearing. Anyway, I like it! In fact I am so taken with the 400, that I have placed my order, especially as it works out no more expensive than the 250!

My speakers are Wilson - Benesch ACT1s, and I note that they are fairly high on the list for SAM, but not too sure when it might happen! I know that Devialet have used Wilson-Benesch in their Boutique in Paris, so may have a good relationship with them - my only concern is that the ACT1 is not a current production speaker, so whether that has an impact I do not know, but having now gone firm on the 400, I will perhaps drop an e-mail to Devialet to find out what the situation is.

Anyway Matt, not too sure what impact an extra 200 would have to your system, given the extra amps you have in your speakers, but you can only give it a whirl and see! I was very pleasantly surprised.
 

matt49

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David,

Thanks for the comprehensive report. Your insights into the differences between the 200 and 400 are very interesting. Somewhere down the road I'll get a 200 Slave in for a home demo: maybe that'll be next year's birthday present to myself. You're right, of course, that the extra power of the 400 wouldn't benefit the bottom end of my speakers much. I think with Martin Logans the top end is as much if not more of an issue because of the sharp imperdance drop in the HF.

I guess having heard such clear improvement from the 400 you're now contemplating whether the improvement merits the cost. :?

As for your speakers, they seem to have passed the 100-vote threshold with some ease. What you say about them not being a current model is no doubt an issue for Devialet. As things stand, 4 of the top 7 models in the voting are no longer in production. I wonder whether Devialet considered this before they launched the SAM campaign. One would hope so.

Do stick around and let us know what you decide.

:cheers:

Matt
 

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