[Bear]

Anyone heard one of these things yet?   ...not sure what to make of it myself.

Devialet Phantom:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/22/devialet-phantom/

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/615-devialet-unleashes-phantom/


White Paper/Marketing brochure:
http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2014/1216/Devialet-PHANTOM-White%20Paper.pdf

Company Site:
http://en.devialet.com/home-en/

[Bear]

no interest in this new concept....

[kenreau]

I have a Devialet 200 and am very impressed with it and the company.

All the interest and discussions are at Devialet Chat and Computer Audiophile sites.

Merry Christmas
Kenreau

[mresseguie]

Bear,

Think about it....consider what time of year it is and then figure there are lots of folks traveling, vacationing, visiting relatives... I just returned from the Oregon Coast last night, so I haven't spent much time scanning new posts. If Kenreau hadn't responded, I would have missed this entirely.

Now......thank you for posting the links. I'm always interested in stuff like this - and thank you, Kenreau.

Michael

[ACHiPo]

Looks interesting.  I'm skeptical, especially about the 16 Hz piece, but after living with Sonos for a year quite happily as our whole-house system, I know that amazing things can be done with class D amps and cleverly designed drivers.

Would definitely be interested in hearing them.

[Bear]

Agreed, I also added the "New concept a cubic foot..." to the subject line as well since many have probably not seen or heard of it before.  I would be very interested to have a listen myself.  Thought I would bring some discussion to all the knowledge on this site.

Hope everyone has a Happy Holidays!

[mresseguie]

It hasn't been long (weeks?) since I found a thread on another site where folks were discussing the idea of using vacuum to fool drivers into 'thinking' the cabinet space was larger than the dimensions would suggest. Don't recall which site it was, but everyone agreed it was a great idea, but everyone also bemoaned the difficulty (and likely expense) of maintaining that vacuum seal.

It looks like the engineers created a compact MTM speaker. I haven't looked closely enough yet, but is the center driver a tweeter or a full range?

I wonder what high-end speakers will look like in another 15 years.....

[srb]

I'm skeptical, especially about the 16 Hz piece, but after living with Sonos for a year quite happily as our whole-house system, I know that amazing things can be done with class D amps and cleverly designed drivers.

They say you can't have it all -  small size. low FR and high sensitivity - that you have to sacrifice one - and I guess the 71dB driver sensitivity goes a long way toward that.

It certainly looks like a whole lot of actual engineering.

Wonder what 24 of them in "Club Mode" sounds like?   

I haven't looked closely enough yet, but is the center driver a tweeter or a full range?

I believe the center is a coaxial mid/tweeter.

Steve

[Vapor Audio]

So after reading the links and white paper, I honestly see no revolution here.  It appears to be nothing more than a long stroke, very low sensitivity driver with a TON of EQ applied to let it go low in a small enclosure. 

[mcgsxr]

Certainly an interesting looking piece for 2K.

Also happens to look like a Tie Fighter mated with a Dyson!

[Norman Tracy]

The Phantom was only revealed to the press in Paris 2nd week of December so listening impressions from civilian audiophiles will have to wait. One sound I expect is "ka-boom" the sound of typical conservative audiophiles minds being blown. Given the usual hostility directed at DSP, speakers with built in amplifiers and multi-amping and wireless connections the Phantom has so many of the advances that must be ignored. I expect some will be reduced to resorting to pure denial, "I don't need to hear it, it has to sound bad. Now where did I put those counterfeit Telefunkins 12AX7s I spent $250 each for?"

More coverage:
http://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php/product-debuts/devialet-phantom-and-silver-phantom-december-2014/538-phantom-prerequisite-understanding-devialet

http://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php/product-debuts/devialet-phantom-and-silver-phantom-december-2014/539-phantom-progression-devialet-s-developments

http://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php/product-debuts/devialet-phantom-and-silver-phantom-december-2014/540-phantom-design-acoustics-first

http://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php/product-debuts/devialet-phantom-and-silver-phantom-december-2014/541-phantom-sound-three-first-impressions

From the third entry "Once the music started, this system was by far the most telling in terms of performance. Although they were playing music unfamiliar to me, I was immediately struck by how solid and tangible the center vocal image was -- as rock solid and tangible as I've heard from the very best stereo system. The sense of space was also exceptional, which was likely due to the Phantom's excellent dispersion capabilities, but also because of the very deep bass it's capable of -- speakers that reach down toward 20Hz almost always recreate a greater sense of space than speakers that stop an octave or two above. Then there was the superb clarity and the complete lack of annoying, irritating distortion artifacts. Even at high volume levels, the speakers sounded as clean as the company's amps. So if you've ever heard their amps, then that should definitely pique your interest about looking into either one."

[srb]

It hasn't been long (weeks?) since I found a thread on another site where folks were discussing the idea of using vacuum to fool drivers into 'thinking' the cabinet space was larger than the dimensions would suggest. Don't recall which site it was, but everyone agreed it was a great idea, but everyone also bemoaned the difficulty (and likely expense) of maintaining that vacuum seal.

It could give new meaning to the term "Pump up the volume!".   

Steve

[jonbee]

From the third entry "Once the music started, this system was by far the most telling in terms of performance. Although they were playing music unfamiliar to me, I was immediately struck by how solid and tangible the center vocal image was -- as rock solid and tangible as I've heard from the very best stereo system. The sense of space was also exceptional, which was likely due to the Phantom's excellent dispersion capabilities, but also because of the very deep bass it's capable of -- speakers that reach down toward 20Hz almost always recreate a greater sense of space than speakers that stop an octave or two above. Then there was the superb clarity and the complete lack of annoying, irritating distortion artifacts. Even at high volume levels, the speakers sounded as clean as the company's amps. So if you've ever heard their amps, then that should definitely pique your interest about looking into either one."

Hopefully the world has not run out of new ideas. Certainly worth hearing. Hearing is believing (or should be), in this hobby.
It will be interesting to hear about their performance in a few varied domestic environments.

[srb]

BTW, is the price listed for one or two?

That's for one, but $4000 - $4800 for a pair of speakers with amplification is not a bad price at all if they come near their performance objectives.

Steve

[JLM]

As said above, nothing really new here, but still pretty cool.  Note that nearly all studio monitors are active designs (known for impressive bass for given cabinet/driver size), many with DSP.  16 Hz is impressive on the surface, but maximum 105 dB (and DSP) explains most of it.  Opposing woofers has been done before too.  Still, its an intelligent design (too bad audiophiles have never warmed up to active design with all it's advantages).  Hopefully the inevitable compromises involved in trying to bend/break the laws of physics aren't too detrimental to the sound.

And Doug's audition can't be taken as a definitive review.

[mresseguie]

This might be a crazy idea, but has anyone here organized a group co-buy of equipment to audition amongst the co-investors? Let's say 10 folks chip in 1/10 of the $$ for a unit (or 2). Then, once each partner has had his/her turn, sell the unit to whomever wants it? Sure, I know there can be all sorts of problems with this, but surely there are enough veteran 'crazy audiophools' to try such a scheme(?).

Sorry, gang. It must be the holiday spirit that has gotten into me. I'll get back to my usual self lickity split. 

[Bear]

I Would be interested to see what they could do without the size constraints. 10hz-25khz , This thing does have a lot of DSP going on.  It would be great if it had a mic input to allow for room correction.  If your going to use DSP/EQ might as well tune it to the room.IMHO

[JLM]

This might be a crazy idea, but has anyone here organized a group co-buy of equipment to audition amongst the co-investors? Let's say 10 folks chip in 1/10 of the $$ for a unit (or 2). Then, once each partner has had his/her turn, sell the unit to whomever wants it? Sure, I know there can be all sorts of problems with this, but surely there are enough veteran 'crazy audiophools' to try such a scheme(?).

Sorry, gang. It must be the holiday spirit that has gotten into me. I'll get back to my usual self lickity split. 

Maybe a whole business model could be developed around your idea.  Each investor throws in say $250 up front and gets a vote for products to audition.  Every 6 months after in home auditions it is sold to an investor, a new product is selected to audition, investor membership is adjusted based on interest, and the invested amount is adjusted to cover the cost of that product with the order of audition reversed.

Possible problems, sure.  In the past when vendors floated a product tour one of the biggest problems was timing.  Takes a long time to sign everyone up and schedule order of auditions.  Then there's personal schedules that aren't wide open, so the delays start and then snowball.  I've never participated, but was signed up by an overly eager organizer once and on second thought backed out.  So I'd keep the group small and tight.

[jhm731]

From Devialet Chat

"If you can read Dutch: here's a very enthousiastic review of the Phantom presented at the introduction show in Paris.

http://www.hifi.nl/artikel/22834/Deviale...hniek.html

Here is my summary in a nutshell:

During the demonstration in stereo the audience became silent of admiration; the sound that a stereoset of Phantoms produces can easily be positioned between the highend floorstanding systems, driven by very expensive amps. The drive, the attack and the dynamics are very impressive, even more when listening to classical music. Soundstage and the positioning in stereo are very impressive. Even more impressive was the surround demonstration with Pink Floid's Dark Side Of The Moon ("Unique"). The reporter got the feeling that Devialet has created a revolutionary product. Only from the month of May onwards it will be delivered by the usual resellers is the expectation, says the article."

[jhm731]

So after reading the links and white paper, I honestly see no revolution here.  It appears to be nothing more than a long stroke, very low sensitivity driver with a TON of EQ applied to let it go low in a small enclosure.

Just like your speakers, "no revolution."