Home Review DALI Phantom 280S

Review DALI Phantom 280S

2

Pros

  • Immersive sound
  • Can handle a lot of dynamics
  • Installation depth is impressive
  • Suitable for film and music

Cons

  • Covers are standard white. (can be repainted)
  • A little deeper bass would have been nice with movies

Price: € 6000

Build quality
Ease of installation
Sound
Price
DALI Phantom 280S

Performance DALI Phantom 280S

Contents

What does a big built-in speaker sound like now? Well, uh… super! We are truly amazed at how good this is! Of course the set has to play a lot, but once that’s done, we hear a very loose image, beautiful loose reproduction in the whole spectrum and a razor sharp stereo image. We still play a lot of movies in 4.0 – the Illusonic can mix that back perfectly – but we don’t miss the subwoofer and center. Is it better with a center and subwoofer? Sure… but we don’t miss it. And that’s handsome.

Vocals are placed super-tight in the middle of the screen and move along nicely as the actor walks through the image. Cars passing by the same: neat placement. The reason that DALI was able to achieve this is that they know exactly where the speaker goes: in the wall. So they don’t have to consider the space around them. The entire speaker is tuned to built-in. And that has its advantages.

Bass junkies pay attention

Which is a bit odd: despite its considerable size, this is not a low sample. Yes. The Phantom 280S can go deep. But if you’re expecting a full-range speaker with a deep, powerfull bass:… no. We measure that the Phantom is really up and running from about 50 Hz. 40Hz is achievable with a few dB loss. That’s enough for many applications. But movies with deep layers. Or church organs… that still requires a subwoofer.

But, uh…

Apart from that, the Phantom 280S sounds very rich. And complete. No subwoofer is required for normal operation. Believe us. We also don’t hear any hard edges or sharpness in the middle and high. Really… well… hi! Are we surprised? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A little, if we’re honest. We just didn’t expect this from a built-in speaker. Though this is more of a floor stand you can build into the wall.

The height is very open and airy, which makes for a beautiful staging. And the mids area enters our ear canal crystal clear, allowing voices to come through beautifully. This is pleasant with music as well as with films in which spoken word must be easy to follow.

With films, it is also noticeable that the loudspeaker can easily handle the blows that occur in a film. For example, at I Am Legend when a car falls off the bridge… That’s quite a bang, but the Phantom – together with the B+K amplifier – knows how to bring it with conviction. Not a shred of pain… except for the editor in question who was allowed to mop up some glasses of Coke because some viewers were shocked. Belongs with it.

Compare…?

If we have to compare the Phantom to an ‘ordinary’ floorstander, it really tore against the Epicon. Perhaps between the Rubicon and Epicon. In short: serious level.

Winkels met DALI

Sint-Antoniusstraat 15
2300 Turnhout, BE
Joseph Bensstraat 21
1180 Ukkel, BE
Pleinweg 136
3083 EP Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, NL
Bredabaan 1031
B-2930 Brasschaat, BE
Pelikaanstraat 126
2018 Antwerpen, BE
Schoenmakersstraat 19
6041EX Roermond, NL
Grotestraat 23
5931 CS Tegelen, NL
Parkweg 23
8084GG 't Harde, NL
St. Ceciliastraat 28
5038 HA Tilburg, NL
Geldropseweg 105
5611 SE Eindhoven, NL
Breestraat 146-148
2311CX Leiden, Zuid Holland, NL
Hermesweg 2
3741 GP Baarn, Utrecht, NL
Theresiastraat 151 - 157
2593 AG Den Haag, Noord Holland, NL
Beethovenstraat 9-b
1077 HL Amsterdam, Noord Holland, NL

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