Devore Gibbon X or O/96?

I am with Jond, I spent 2 days with the O/96 at the Capital Audio Fest a couple of years ago. Could not pull myself away, the tone and top to bottom coherence was so realistic. I talked to the dealer about buying that pair to save hauling them back and he was more than a little interested!

My amps are high power driving inefficient speakers so I was not confident this would be a good match w/o hearing first or I would have bought that pair. They are on my short list for the future like Jond.

These speakers (0/96) are on my short list as well. Tone, coherent, good all-around, and they will work splendidly with my low-powered amps. I really like them. My brother just bought a pair of the DeVore 0/96 used at a fabulous price...he is moving his Harbeth SHL 5 to his second system replacing DeCapo's. His amplification is Leben. Good luck, Rob

I heard both the 0/93 and the 0/96 in John's room in RMAF a couple of years ago. I really like the speakers and the company, but it struck me that the 93 represented a better price to performance proposition than the 96, and I'm always surprised the 93s don't get more love by people contemplating Devores.

If cost is no object, the 96s by all means, but I don't think I'd personally miss much if I bought the 93s and saved the $.

Enjoy, whatever you do! Both are a very significant upgrade over the 9s, IMO.

John

I'm a little concerned about the physical stability of the 0/96. My room is carpeted with a thin floorboard underneath, and with my Gibbon 9s it takes careful adjustment of the spikes to get the speakers leveled and stable. The 96 has those four wooden legs which can't be adjusted of attached securely to the floor.

I spent about an hour each, listening to the O/93 and Gibbon X last week, both powered by a Devialet 120 although in different rooms. I'm actually going back to listen to the O/96 next week, I liked the O/93 so much. Few caveats: the Gibbon was not broken in when I listened, and the room it was in may have had more issues. I think they're both very capable speakers, but from what I could tell, voiced differently. The Gibbon struck me as more neutral with a larger soundstage and presence, whereas the O/93 was a bit more intimate, involving, with explosive dynamics. Me personally, I'd much rather live with the latter. But I can see how some would prefer the Gibbon, especially if once broken in it sounds much better (my experience was a bit harsh, brittle, and the room has some bad resonances too, making the sound a bit congested).