Devore vs Harbeth

"I somehow got the feeling that the Harbeths would need a higher power solid state amp to move them to quicker and tighter spectrum."

As I have followed this thread, Restocks statement has been my very thought. The Harbeth's are generally quite a bit harder to drive than the DeVore's. I own the Nine's, and they are easier to drive than any speaker I have owned. The 25 wpc EL-34 mono's I own drive them w/o breaking a sweat. I suppose if the OP is willing to go w/ a medium power amp for the Harbeth's, than it's fine. As far as what has been said so far, Team 212's statement that the Nines are "Thick" sounding perplexes me. I am no reviewer, but can say with confidence that the Nines are NOT thick sounding. If someone called the Verity Parsifal Encore "Thick sounding,I could see where they were coming from. Not the Nines.They just take on the character of what is front of them.The Nines are certainly the most open sounding speaker which I have owned, save perhaps the Kharma's. Perhaps Team
212 heard the Nines w/ a thick sounding amp.

Hi, I listened to both brands extensively and the Devores were very much the winners.

From the Harbeths, I listened to Monitor 30s and the Compact 7es3...they are both very nice speakers but in the end found them a bit slow, coloured and with a not so precise bass. Very musical however.

From the Devores, I listened to the Super 8s and Nines. The Super 8s were too small for the room and were struggling a bit but the Nines were magnificent. I bought them and love them ever since ...thats 2 years now.

In my opinion, the Devore Nines are in a different class to the Harbeths. The Nines are fast, open, detailed, extended, honest and very musical... similar to live music in a concert hall. It is also hard to believe how smooth and untiring they are to listen to.

Hope this helps.

My situation is this, main system upstairs, Audio note SEP amp w/coincident peII's. Devore would work well there, if I wanted to change. 2nd system is HT system in basement with a big SS amp...Harbeth would work there. I had C7es3, liked them, but the lack of bass was a concern. The musicality is something I can not forget. The devore idea is more a of an upgrade thought, the Harbeth would be a replacement upgrade so when I get "sent to the basement" I like what I hear. I agree with other thoughts about Harbeth's needing SS amps, they need some juice to sound their best. Defstathiou thanks for sharing.
Thanks
Mike

"My situation is this, main system upstairs, Audio note SEP amp w/coincident peII's. Devore would work well there, if I wanted to change. 2nd system is HT system in basement with a big SS amp..."

Ok,let me understand this properly. You want to replace your Coincident Partial Eclipse's in your main system. Your amp to drive the speaker you are seeking would be a SE Audio Note amp. I am surprised you are not considering DeVore or Audio Note, instead of DeVore or Harbeth. The reason is simply because you already have an Audio Note amp that will likely drive either the AN or DeVore speakers.

"With that one, the Devore's are tight, fast, very detailed, and even handed."

I very much agree w/ Restocks comments here on the Super 8.
That is what the Nines sound like to my ears as well.
That's with my 25 wpc Push-pull amp anyway.

I can't speak to the DeVore's, but I think the notion that Harbeth's need to be driven with a high powered solid state amp is not accurate.

I've driven my Harbeth M-40.1's with the following:

1. Plinius SA-102 (class A SS @ 125 WPC)
2. Musical Fidelity Nuvista M3 (integrated SS @ 275 WPC)
3. McIntosh MC275 MKV (75 WPC tube amp)
4. McIntosh MA2275 (75 WPC tube integrated)

The lower powered tubed Mac gear bested the two solid state setups by large margin. Just my experience, YMMV.