I didn't audition them beforehand because I put this system together during the pandemic, and I still had my memories of when I auditioned the earlier Phantoms.
![minidsp brings dirac live minidsp brings dirac live](https://dt7v1i9vyp3mf.cloudfront.net/styles/news_large/s3/imagelibrary/D/Dirac_03-s8DCwK.Eioz__WpsX4MuBTqLTl9MrE4K.jpg)
I acquired them for their performance, features and size. I find people either love or hate their look. I've come to appreciate the Phantom's cosmetics. I also wanted to go active as the benefits are proven. I wanted to design a minimalist 2-channel system. My motivation for switching up was two-fold. I ran a variety of preamps, amps and cabling over the years. The SVA's were a forgiving speaker line, and pretty much everything sounded great through them. For 17 years I ran passive JBL SVA tower loudspeakers with Paradigm subwoofers. Prior to the Phantoms, I had racks of gear and reams of cabling which I enjoyed for years. The soundstage and dynamics are fantastic. I can't overstate how important this is to bringing the sound to the next level. My system is 100% digital so in addition to physical room correction I incorporate digital room correction (Dirac Live via the miniDSP SHD-Studio), and paid attention to jitter (hence the addition of the Mutec USB+). As with all speakers, to help obtain the best sound from them placement in your listening space is important. Obviously the sound is much more than just the low end, but suffice to say I no longer need separate sub-woofers. The Reactor 900, which for some reason has now been rebranded as the Phantom II, is rated at 400 watts RMS. You have to hear and feel it to believe it.
![minidsp brings dirac live minidsp brings dirac live](https://www.minidsp.com/images/products/SHD_series/SHD-1200x174.png)
Pictures of the Reactor are deceiving because it's tough to capture just how small they are, which is totally out of line for the sound they produce. Of course they can be hard wired, but the wireless option is there for those that want it. Devialet had since moved on to better marketing, and the Phantoms were now being marketed as a high end, DSP active speaker which happened to also be wireless. I quickly dismissed them because I thought they were ugly as sin, and the listening space was too noisy to really appreciate them anyway.Ī few years later Devialet released the Phantom Reactor, and it caught my attention. I was at the dealer's researching another piece, but gave them a listen out of curiosity.
![minidsp brings dirac live minidsp brings dirac live](https://www.minidsp.com/images/stories/virtuemart/product/282A3133.jpg)
It was silly marketing, and completely did a dis-service to them. At the time, wireless speakers really weren't a thing (I personally hard wire the Reactor), and they were being marketed by the dealer as the loudest wireless speaker, ever. I first was introduced to the Phantom line several years ago at a dealer. Sorry if some info is redundant for those that know the Phantom line, but for those that don't you may find it useful. A few here and on other forums have written to me asking about the system, so I thought I'd write this little post to answer questions and provide some interesting background info. Dare say I may have reached the end of the journey, at least for the next long while. Since I began building my Phantom Reactor-based audio rig autumn of 2019, I've posted a couple of times on its progress.