[wisnon]

It Looks to me as a sealed design but then, it is hard to tell.  That explosive acoustics that they talk about makes me point at a sealed design.  Still...I wonder how is the bass slam.  As you well know large woofers move large volumes of frontal air that aid to the impact in there...from some reports there seems to be audible impact but whether that is physically satisfying in the traditional sense, it is hard for me to tell. 

In terms of parasitic vibrations, is it possible that they got rid of that through dsp compensation?  Also the woofers seem to be of an isobaric design, made to cancel each other.  All mystery to me.

I think I read that its sealed and the bass is the most impressive quality. Long throw woofers create enormous pressure in the small cabinet space, resulting in 174db SPL inside and huge heat that is efficiently dissipated. That is what I call a real pressure chamber!

I wonder how a 2nd hand Goldmund Mimesis 16 processor (still expensive given $40K new) would combine with a pair of these. Why? Because the Mimesis has a built in 24/96 ADC and DAC, handle up to 16 channels, has superb DRC/DSP capabilities. This covers multichannel, room issues, and analog input. Could this processor make the Phantom a killer system?

Here is the blurb from their website: Thanks to its incredible DSP capability, the Mimesis 16.5 (along with the Goldmund Mimesis 32) is the most performing sound processor existing today. It allows each speaker’s driver to be separately adjusted in frequency response, phase response and time response and to introduce the Leonardo correction to compensate for any built-in crossover. With the acoustic corrections brought by our Proteus software, its room correction capability makes it a revelation in all systems. The timing of each channel can be adjusted in increments of 0.01 ms, so that the listener hears sounds at precisely the same time no matter from which speaker they originate. But more, the number of channels it outputs (16 vs. 7 for most processors on the market) allows a maximum coverage in both bandwidth and space recreation. For instance, additional subwoofers can be added, and adjusted so that their sound is perfectly coherent and complementary with the other subwoofers. Using the Universal Preamplifier to create additional surround channels in this manner produces an unprecedentedly smooth and natural surround effect, in which the location of each speaker is impossible to determine by ear.

The Proteus and Leonardo technologies have been developed by Goldmund and no other brand on the market has reached the level of correction offered in our processors.

Just like the Mimesis 16, it integrates the latest version of A/D created by Goldmund: the famous Alize 7. It uses multiple A/D to increase its dynamic range and produce a next to perfect phase linearity.

[Bemopti123]

The more I read about the design, the more incredible this unit looks.  I am eagerly waiting for a working man's review!<This obviously is an oxymoron.  Jjajajajjaj.

[playntheblues]

Russel,,
     Maybe we are saying the same thing just in a different way.....My understanding was......10 X's the power would double the output, IE: 100 watts is twice as loud as 10.  Doubling the power would only increase the SPL by 3 db (10 watts to 20 watts).  Is that your understanding?

Or 1 watt = 71db, 2 =74db, 4 = 77db, 8 = 80db, 16 = 83 db, 32 = 86db, 64 = 89 db, 128 = 92 db, 256 = 95db, 512 = 98db etc. ??????????

[JLM]

There's a logarithmic relationship between power and dB, so:

Doubling of wattage result in + 3 dB of gain (that sounds half again as loud);

A tenfold wattage increase results in +10 dB of gain (that sound twice as loud).


That's why speaker efficiency, that can vary +/- 10 dB/w/m, is so important when looking at amplifier sizes because with a given wattage varying speaker efficiency can sound 4 times as loud. Note that "normal" residential room sizes/listening distance setups have only have about +/- 3 dB impact.

[playntheblues]

JLM can you expand on your last sentence?      + or - 3db impact in room.                     

[wisnon]

Russel,,
     Maybe we are saying the same thing just in a different way.....My understanding was......10 X's the power would double the output, IE: 100 watts is twice as loud as 10.  Doubling the power would only increase the SPL by 3 db (10 watts to 20 watts).  Is that your understanding?

Or 1 watt = 71db, 2 =74db, 4 = 77db, 8 = 80db, 16 = 83 db, 32 = 86db, 64 = 89 db, 128 = 92 db, 256 = 95db, 512 = 98db etc. ??????????

Seems like you are saying the same thing. I think the scale is logarithmic...

[wisnon]

JLM can you expand on your last sentence?      + or - 3db impact in room.                     

Guy, email me the best number to reach you at and what time...

[Russell Dawkins]

This page is fairly definitive:
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-loudness.htm
There is a chart 2/3 way down the page that spells out the relationship between power, dB and perceived loudness well.

[OzarkTom]

Devialet's Weird But Wonderful Phantom

http://www.stereophile.com/content/devialets-weird-wonderful-phantom

[Bemopti123]

The stereophile snippet simply confirms all of the suspicions that we have been writing about the past couple of days. 

Only time can tell whether this is a fad or a long lasting product line for Devialet and I suspect its competitors.  Be it B&W or B&O.  I put my chips with the French upstart.

[OzarkTom]

The stereophile snippet simply confirms all of the suspicions that we have been writing about the past couple of days. 

Only time can tell whether this is a fad or a long lasting product line for Devialet and I suspect its competitors.  Be it B&W or B&O.  I put my chips with the French upstart.

That article said March delivery. I had better start selling some equipment.

[Russell Dawkins]

The stereophile snippet simply confirms all of the suspicions that we have been writing about the past couple of days. 

Only time can tell whether this is a fad or a long lasting product line for Devialet and I suspect its competitors.  Be it B&W or B&O.  I put my chips with the French upstart.

I do, too. There appears to be a lot of energy behind the enterprise (not to speak of the speaker).
I still haven't seen anything in depth about the actual sound, yet, except for that one off-the-cuff comment somewhere basically dismissing the sound as ordinary and "hi-fi", except capable of clean high levels.
Still, appearance, size, connectivity and convenience are all salable characteristics, as is not needing a sub.

[Russell Dawkins]

By the way, do a Google Maps street view of the headquarters at
126 Rue Réaumur, 75002 Paris, France
it's dated September 2014 and is a pretty cool neighborhood. Do a 360º.

[OzarkTom]

For those that wants Phantoms but are to impatient to wait, you might want to try a pair of these for 799 bucks.

http://www.tonepublications.com/spotlight/world-premier-review-kef-x300a-powered-speakers/

[Russell Dawkins]

For those that wants Phantoms but are to impatient to wait, you might want to try a pair of these for 799 bucks.

http://www.tonepublications.com/spotlight/world-premier-review-kef-x300a-powered-speakers/

Looks like close to an ultimate desktop speaker.

[Bemopti123]

For those that wants Phantoms but are to impatient to wait, you might want to try a pair of these for 799 bucks.

http://www.tonepublications.com/spotlight/world-premier-review-kef-x300a-powered-speakers/

I do not know if the KEFs will even hold a candle to the Devialets.  I think they are an entirely different category but one thing is certain, they are surely more affordable. 

I thought $400-600 was expensive for a powered set up until I jumped and got myself a Beoplay 8 dock....the first generation without wireless capability....but that was correct with an Arcam bluetooth APTX DAC.  It rocks. 

BUT, with that and everything, why do I feel that the Devialet is the DeathStar to all these little toy powered boxes?

[JLM]

As you'd expect the KEF X300A ranks behind it's more expensive passive big brother LS50 in sound quality, but lacks a subwoofer output and with it's built in DAC can't output to a sub.   

playntheblues:

Sorry for not following up on this thread sooner.  From my studies, normal room size has less impact than you might think.  Allow me to "paint with very wide brush strokes" as I try to provide an example.  The biggest effect from room size versus sound pressure output is listening distance: a 10 ft x 12 ft room would pretty much force you to listen from say 6 ft away (with lots of problematic room interaction) while a 15 ft x 25 ft room would allow you to listen (and ideally staying away from boundaries) up to say a distance of 15 ft.  That's roughly double the distance, thus the +/- 3 dB (6 dB total).  This affects a frequency range of down to the Schroeder frequency (about 135 Hz, depending on room size) where sound behaves as rays.

Those same rooms would have a variance of room volume of roughly a 1 to 4 ratio that affects bass output (below the Schroeder frequency where sound behaves like waves).  But boundary reinforcement ("room gain") counteracts this to some degree.  With front firing speakers located away from the walls sound wave size versus those dimensions dictate increasingly gain transitioning in the above rooms from around 200 down to 40 Hz (proportional to the wall/floor/corner boundary dimensions involved).  Across this frequency range sound propagation changes from a spherical to an one-eighth spherical dispersion and thus more reinforcement as frequency drops).  So bass output varies by room volume and boundary dimensions, very roughly in this example a variance of maybe 6 dB can be expected. 

Recommend reading Floyd E. Toole's "Sound Reproduction" as a good primer on this and other related topics.  Toole worked at the Canadian Research Council (that continued speaker/room studies, which promoted home industry, from the BBC researchers of the 1930-1960's and the Danes during the 70's) for many years before moving onto Harmon International.

[playntheblues]

Thanks JLM, that was comprehensive.   

[OzarkTom]

The company website now says shipping to EU customers only on March 30.

[OzarkTom]

John Darko sezs,

‘Best of CES 2015’ gong by a country mile.

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2015/01/the-devialet-phantom-is-a-new-frontier-best-of-ces-2015/