Although Leben and Shindo are often in the same stores — as you probably know, they have the same distributor — but they have very different house sounds, IMO. I would say Shindo puts a big emphasis on tone color. The sound is vivid and “fleshy”.
I owned the Leben CS600. I would not describe it as sounding “tubey” — in fact, my resident solid state integrated (a Burmester) has a darker, denser sound. You can change the sound of the Leben a little by changing the output impedance and the power tubes (my own preference was KT66), but not by as much as I wanted. I know the Leben has many fans, and it is very well made, but ultimately it wasn’t for me and I sold it.
I haven’t heard the Super 9s, but I have heard the O/96 and Xs in well-known circumstances. I would say both go further away from the “ Spendor-with-verve” sound to something more extended/ “neutral”. (I agree with fsonic — I actually think the smaller Orangutan is the more cohesive.)
One more question: what speaker cable are you using? The Orangutans love the A23 wire.
I owned the Leben CS600. I would not describe it as sounding “tubey” — in fact, my resident solid state integrated (a Burmester) has a darker, denser sound. You can change the sound of the Leben a little by changing the output impedance and the power tubes (my own preference was KT66), but not by as much as I wanted. I know the Leben has many fans, and it is very well made, but ultimately it wasn’t for me and I sold it.
I haven’t heard the Super 9s, but I have heard the O/96 and Xs in well-known circumstances. I would say both go further away from the “ Spendor-with-verve” sound to something more extended/ “neutral”. (I agree with fsonic — I actually think the smaller Orangutan is the more cohesive.)
One more question: what speaker cable are you using? The Orangutans love the A23 wire.