Полочная акустика — Devialet Phantom Ultimate 108 dB

The Phantom Ultimate 108 dB is the bigger of the two Phantom Ultimate speakers from the Paris company Devialet, a fully active wireless speaker built around a sealed spherical enclosure. One unit can play on its own in mono, two can run together in stereo on dedicated stands, and further units can join a multiroom group. The geometry of the shell is spherical, with the woofers mounted on opposite flanks. The model name refers to its rated maximum sound pressure level of 108 dB.

Key specs that matter

Devialet quotes 1,100 W of total amplification and a frequency range of 14 Hz to 35 kHz at plus or minus 6 dB. Internal processing runs at 32 bit and 96 kHz on an NXP iMX8 processor. The enclosure measures about 25.5 cm wide, 24.6 cm deep and 34.2 cm high and weighs 11.1 kg. Four drivers are fitted - a newly developed aluminium dome tweeter replacing the titanium one of the previous generation, a 13 cm aluminium midrange dome and two side-firing woofers in a push-push arrangement, now made of ABS instead of aluminium.

Engineering and use context

Amplification uses the Devialet Analog Digital Hybrid principle, combining a Class A voltage stage with Class D current stages. The Speaker Active Matching processing corrects driver behaviour in real time, and the Heart Bass Implosion approach relies on a sealed, pressure-resistant multi-layer composite shell to reach low frequencies from a small cabinet. Supported streaming services and protocols include Roon Ready, UPnP, AirPlay, Google Cast, Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect, with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless links. Wired options are an RJ45 Ethernet port and an optical input for a television or disc player. The DevialetOS software offers Movie, Music and Podcast listening modes, a six-band equaliser, a bass reducer and a loudness setting. Four touch zones and a status LED sit on the top, and a circular remote control is supplied. Colour choices comprise Deep Forest and Light Pearl, plus an Opera de Paris edition decorated with gold leaf.

Pairing

No separate amplifier, streamer or DAC is needed, since all of these functions are built into the enclosure. For a stereo pair, both units are best placed on the matching stands at ear height, and the optical input lets the pair serve as a compact television system. A wired Ethernet link is the more stable choice when several units share one home network.

Alternatives

The Devialet Phantom Ultimate 98 dB is the compact sibling, with 400 W of amplification in a 4.3 kg enclosure.