I wanted to test the phantom for a long time. I ordered a pair of Gold and compare them with my studio monitor focal be6+focal cms sub.
On the bass side, Devialet didn't lie and deliver an almost flat to 20hz beating my cms sub which is flat only to 30hz.
After that they are both very similar and reflect the poor quality of the room.
Focal THD is high for the bass and then drop to 20db with a peak at 1.5k (crossover?).
Phantom THD is high for the bass and then drop smoothly. It is not better on average than the focal.
Focal set is around 2.5k and Devialet is around 6k. Quality wise they are very similar, the phantom can deliver more bass and more SPL if you need them. Possibly the cheapest version of the phantom would deliver exactly the same performance with a loss of 6db. Price wise it would match the focal with less clutter and possibly a better look.
In a large room, the phantom impressed me: they are very good off axis, the sweet spot is very large. Subjectively we still prefer our tannoy+accuphase+roon+room correction.
To be noted: the phantom has a super annoying 200ms delay due to its dsp, not a prb for listening for music but i can not track nor play piano with it. My TV also does not know how to shift audio and video. Devialet told me that a minimum phase version exist with a reduce latency. I will reconsider when this firmware is available.
On the bass side, Devialet didn't lie and deliver an almost flat to 20hz beating my cms sub which is flat only to 30hz.
After that they are both very similar and reflect the poor quality of the room.
Focal THD is high for the bass and then drop to 20db with a peak at 1.5k (crossover?).
Phantom THD is high for the bass and then drop smoothly. It is not better on average than the focal.
Focal set is around 2.5k and Devialet is around 6k. Quality wise they are very similar, the phantom can deliver more bass and more SPL if you need them. Possibly the cheapest version of the phantom would deliver exactly the same performance with a loss of 6db. Price wise it would match the focal with less clutter and possibly a better look.
In a large room, the phantom impressed me: they are very good off axis, the sweet spot is very large. Subjectively we still prefer our tannoy+accuphase+roon+room correction.
To be noted: the phantom has a super annoying 200ms delay due to its dsp, not a prb for listening for music but i can not track nor play piano with it. My TV also does not know how to shift audio and video. Devialet told me that a minimum phase version exist with a reduce latency. I will reconsider when this firmware is available.