Loudspeakers

The Phantom Ultimate 108dB is a remarkable confluence of technologies, but as an active/streaming speaker, with Ethernet/Wi-Fi and optical digital inputs, traditional phase/impedance and sensitivity tests are redundant. For testing, the mic was angled at 11° to match the inclination of the Phantom. At 90dB SPL/1m, in ‘Monitor’ mode, the response shows mere ±1.4dB errors from 200Hz-10kHz, beyond which a mild peak at 14kHz pushes this up to ±2.9dB and ±2.7dB, respectively. Despite the matched DSP and amps there will still be a ‘production tolerance’ between the two mids and tweeters, so the tight 0.4dB pair matching (also re. 200Hz-20kHz) is remarkable [black/red traces, Graph 1].

The tweeter’s HF limit of 42kHz (–6dB re. 10kHz) is perfectly aligned with the Ultimate’s core 96kHz sampling rate just as the dome’s well-damped principal resonance is deferred to a high 36kHz [pink shaded area, Graph 1 and CSD waterfall, Graph 2]. Even at its rated 108dB SPL/1m, the Ultimate’s response errors are only marginally exaggerated with a ~4dB dip from 2kHz-5kHz [orange trace]. Back at 90dB SPL, the symmetry of the Ultimate 108dB’s driver layout and low-diffraction cabinet profile is revealed in its excellent off-axis uniformity. At ±15° [blue trace] there is no significant deviation in response, becoming ‘flatter’ still from 10kHz-20kHz, while at ±30° there is a 4dB dip at 12kHz before recovering well to 20kHz [green trace]. Distortion is predominantly second-order and very low for such a compact enclosure at <0.4% (re. 90dB SPL/1m, 100Hz-10kHz).

Bass output looks near-miraculous... The two 200mm drivers have a 15Hz-260Hz bandwidth (–6dB) which, diffraction-corrected into the freefield suggests a bass extension of 17Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz) – matching DALI’s 1.6m-tall Epikore 11 [HFN Feb ’25]. However, the dual woofers’ response is gently tilted, down ~3dB from 200Hz to 20Hz, before the steeper roll out to 17Hz. Realistically, this extension cannot be maintained at max. 108dB levels where the roll off is to ~60Hz [dashed orange trace]. PM