Paradigm Phantom Speaker System Review

The Canadian-made Paradigm Phantom loudspeaker is similar in basic design to the company’s Titan system, but with somewhat larger drivers in a larger cabinet. Its 8-inch woofer, constructed on a die-cast aluminum frame, operates in a vented enclosure whose port is on the back of the cabinet. Except for its size and basket construction, the woofer appears to be generally similar to that of the Titan.

There is a second-order (12-dB-per-octave) crossover at 2.5 kHz to a 3/4-inch dome tweeter with magnetic-fluid damping and cooling. Although this tweeter is the same nominal size as the Titan’s, it is formed of a different material (treated textile instead of polyamide) and operates at a lower crossover frequency. Paradigm says the Phantom tweeter’s design gives it better damping and power handling.

The Phantom’s cabinet has more than twice the volume of the Titan’s (0.93 versus 0.38 cubic foot). This difference probably accounts in large measure for the Phantom’s somewhat higher sensitivity rating (90 dB sound-pressure level versus 88 dB) and appreciably deeper low-frequency extension. Its on-axis response is specified as 60 Hz to 20 kHz ± 2 dB.

The Paradigm Phantom’s input terminals are spring-type clips that accept only stripped wire ends. They are recessed into the cabinet’s rear panel. The enclosure’s beveled front is covered by a nonremovable black cloth grille.

We supported the Paradigm Phantoms on 26-inch stands, several feet from any room walls. Their averaged room response was possibly the flattest we have yet measured from a loudspeaker, varying ±2.5 dB from 47 Hz to 20 kHz and a remarkable ±1.2 dB from 1.1 to 11.5 kHz. There was a modest 5-dB peak between 13 and 15 kHz, apparently from the tweeter’s diaphragm resonance.

Quasi-anechoic MLS response measurements confirmed the exceptional smoothness of the Phantom’s response. Although the specific features of the response curve differed slightly with microphone placement, its variations did not exceed 5 dB overall between 300 Hz and 11 kHz, and most of those were traceable to unavoidable reflections within the room.

The horizontal dispersion of the Phantom was also surprising, with less than a 2-dB level difference between the on-axis and 45-degree off-axis measurements up to 8 kHz; the difference increased to only 3 dB at 10 kHz and 8 dB at 20 kHz.

The minimum impedance of 5.6 ohms occurred at 30 and 130 Hz. There were impedance peaks to 20 ohms at 12 Hz, 30 ohms at 60 Hz, and 47 ohms at 2.2 kHz. Group delay, a measure of phase linearity, was virtually constant over the tweeter’s range, varying less than ±50 microseconds from 4 to 20 kHz and about 1.2 milliseconds from 50 Hz to 4 kHz.

Sensitivity was almost exactly as rated—91 dB sound-pressure level (SPL) at 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input of pink noise. We measured the woofer distortion at a constant drive level of 2.53 volts (corresponding to 90 dB SPL in our sensitivity measurement). The distortion was between 0.5 and 1 percent from 2 kHz to 100 Hz and less than 2 percent down to 40 Hz, but it reached 10 percent at 20 Hz. Listening tests confirmed that the Phantom’s actual low-frequency limit was in the vicinity of 30 Hz, where the output was audibly clean although somewhat down in level.

Pulse power tests showed that the Phantom was able to absorb a considerable amount of power without damage or (usually) unreasonably high distortion. With single-cycle 1- and 10-kHz bursts the driving amplifier clipped at 330 and 600 watts, respectively, without any obvious signs of distress from the speaker. At 100 Hz, where almost any speaker can be overdriven by most amplifiers, the Phantom’s woofer reached its suspension limits noisily (but without damage) at a 225-watt input level.

These measurements would suggest that the Paradigm Phantom is a remarkably good speaker in its price range and would be very competitive at a substantially higher price. The considerable listening time we devoted to it confirmed that impression. It is exceedingly rare to find speakers selling for well under $300 a pair that can deliver any sort of useful output at 30 Hz, to say nothing of having a response smoothness that would dp justice to speakers at ten times that price.

From a purely sonic standpoint, the Paradigm Phantom is unquestionably an outstanding value. In our opinion, it sounded as good as its measurements imply it should. At its price, you do not get real binding-post connectors or a wood-veneer cabinet, and our samples, which had a simulated black-ash finish, would never be mistaken for fine furniture. On the other hand, no one hearing them in a blind test (not knowing what he was hearing) would be likely to guess that he was listening to a $289 pair of speakers.

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