To Jeff Fritz,
As a frequent reader, I appreciate your ability to question audio myths and your openness to new approaches in design concepts. I have bought the Devialet Phantoms without any listening before. However, I had a most convincing listening session with a Devialet D-Premier and Magico speakers three years ago. The consistent Devialet reviews and the most consequential decision of Devialet to marry the amp technology with the speaker crossover technology on one hand, and a point-source design on the other hand, look most convincing to me. And the listening results with the Phantoms are overwhelming and confirm my expectations. I am looking forward to reading your review of the Phantoms.
Concerning your remarks about the [GoldenEar Technology] Triton One speakers I think you focus too much on a flat frequency curve. More important is to have a phase-coherent behavior, especially in the crossover region, and to have a strong impulse response. Wadia proved with their DAC design the superiority of a phase-focused approach versus a flat frequency curve approach decades ago. Our ears are most sensitive to phase errors and can tolerate and compensate for frequency errors much better due to the pattern-recognition perception based on the experiences of our brain.
Best regards,
Michael
United States
Congrats on the Phantom purchase! I suspect that you will really be satisfied with them sound-wise, and equally enjoy their form factor in your room. Please do keep in touch and let me know what you think when you get them.
Your point on phase-coherent behavior reminds me of something Andy Payor of Rockport Technologies showed me years ago. He would reverse the phase of the midrange in one of his speakers under measurement and examine the resulting frequency response. The result was a deep null at the crossover region on the order of 40dB. What this meant was that, when the leads to the drivers were corrected -- and flat frequency response at the crossover region resulted -- was that the phase behavior of the loudspeaker at that crossover region was optimally achieved. While a speaker designer could achieve good phase behavior without optimizing frequency response, the best designers ensure that both are addressed. . . . Jeff Fritz
