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Devore O/96 with Class A Solid State Amps

The Devore O/96 is highly regarded and most frequently heard with tube amps, often lower power SET amps to good effect.  I'm a big fan of SET amps and have heard the Devore O/96 with different SET designs and PP tube amps like Leben.  The O/96 is extremely good with many of these tube amps.  But I recently tried my Devore O/96 with a Pass Labs XA30.8 amplifier was astounded at how great this combination sounds.  The O/96 is really transformed with the XA30.8 and I think the sound is superb.  The clarity, realism, tonal purity, detail, imaging, neutrality, musicality, and ease of reproduction in highly complex demanding musical passages is extraordinary.  Has anyone else tried pairing Devore O/96 with Class A amps?
bayreuth

Showing 6 responses by charles1dad

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Bayreuth,
This is not surprising to me that a well implemented high impedance (10 ohms) easy load speaker would sound good with high quality tube or solid state, low or high power amplifiers. Atmasphere (Ralph) as often pointed out that every type of amplifier topology will perform with less bdistortion and effort driving an easier speaker load. This has always been intuitive and made sense to me. Congratulations with your sucessful pairing.
Charles
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Hi Bill (Brownsfan),
I concur with the open mind approach, you never know unless you try. Joe (Snoblo) has compared the Pass Labs XA 30.8 and a First Watt amplifier to his Frankenstein MK II SET. He was really impressed with both of the SS amplifiers. Ultimately he preferred the Frankenstein but had nothing negative to say about the excellent SS amplifiers. Who knows? Your outcome could be different from his. These are all very fine amplifiers and as always it is a matter of taste. Bill if you decide to try either of the SS amplifiers let us know your listening impressions.
Take care,
Charles
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Hi Bill, 
I'm glad you are finding the time to enjoy your music collection and system once again.  Are you using the Coincident Super Victory or do you resort to the Triumph Extremes more often? I came so close to buying the SV but instead bought the Total Eclipse II. Probably couldn't possibly go wrong with either. 
Charles 
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Bill,
Looking at pictures of your room and it's really nice with generous space,  it has obvious potential with the use of wisely chosen room treatment. Have you tried having the SV woofers firing outward? This was the better placement in my room but of course this depends on the individual room acoustic environment. I like your long wall arrangement it's attractive. True however that the short wall orientation would allow the SV speakers to be further from the rear wall. No question that you have a number of viable options.  I have no doubt that you'll get it all figured out.  Wow,  I've  really gone off topic on this thread. Bill you get me going 😊
Charles 
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Bill,
I'll follow your room acoustic developments with keen interest. 
Charles 
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Bill,
Schubert and Isochronism are two former  frequent contributors who have seemingly vanished from this forum. Regarding your listening room I believe that once you're done it will be exceptionally good sounding and visually pleasing as it will reflect your personal taste. By the way I like the wall color  (my wife's characteristics have rubbed off on me over the years 😊).
Charles 
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