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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
mcanaday
169 posts
 
Devore 0/96 was demoed with the Sugden a21se at RMAF.  Maybe some here heard it and have first hand accounts.  The combination was praised in the reviews I have seen....

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islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
While I can't speak to the pairing of Devore 0/96's (or any other Devore speaker), I regularly switch between a 9 Wpc SET 300B, and a Class D 500 Wpc amp with my vintage Tannoy HPD 315's.

Both pairings sound astonishingly good, which leaves me not at all surprised at how well the Devore 0/96's sound with different amplifiers of such disparate topologies and power ratings.

Regards, and enjoy,
Dan
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,249 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
inna
7,296 posts
 
It also tells us how good the Pass amp is.
bayreuth OP
25 posts
 
Absolutely agree.  The Pass Labs XA30.8 is an exceptional amp and deserving of all it's praise and positive reviews.  The point 8 series amps from Pass are a great value for their level of performance.  Regarding the Devore O/96, I'm impressed that they are so revealing of changes in electronics and cables.  The O/96 is certainly a very easy speaker load and tube friendly, but they are outstanding with a variety of amp designs.   
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