From Vandersteen 2CE to Devore Gibbons 8 or Focal

Bob,

I'm still enjoying the Devore Eights you sold me. I think they'll stay for a long time in my "smaller" room where I do more listening to jazz, pre-60's music, lounge and other acoustic music where less bass needed. I'm sticking with my Rega R7s for the rock n' roll in my larger room. When cranked the Devores really do sound wonderful with a smaller watt tube amp, but again, the proper place for them is in a medium sized room. So much depends on the room, carpet, amp, etc,. I think the front port helps with the fewer placement options in smaller rooms also.

After googling to check out your replacement speakers for these Devores (I was curious...) I read in another online site about the problem with rumble you were picking up from the Odyssey speakers. I'm suspicious about your conclusion...why did this not happen right away if it was dependent on placement, speaker, and phono? I'm thinking something might have happened in the phono cartridge.

Anyway, to stick to the subject per above, I mostly wanted to say I'm still enjoying the Devore Eights and had been curious to ask you if you ever considered getting Vandersteen 3A Signatures when you were changing from the Vandersteen 2ces? I had actually been considering those versus the Devore Eights myself. I know the bass would have kicked more. And I guess the sound would have been less neutral and more...I don't know....guess I'd just have to listen to them side-by-side.

David

I am glad you are enjoying the DeVores, they are a great speaker. The guy I was buying the magneplaners from re-negged on the deal. I didn't notice the phono problem right away because I hadn't played any vinyl for a few months. I think the problem is the rear port and the proximity to the rear wall. That and the fact that the Kismet speakers are tuned quite low. The bass I get from the Kismets is muuch deeper and tighter than I got with the DeVores and the subwoofer combined. It definitely isn't a problem with the phono cartridge. I played around with different isolation tweaks for the turntable, but the rumble filter was the best choice for me.

I didn't consider the Vandersteen 3A speakers because after I lived with my 2ce speakers for a long time, I grew irritated by the metal dome tweeter. It fatigued my ears and sounded etched at times. The 3A speakers use the same tweeter so I didn't bother auditioning them. I am really happy with the Kismet reference speakers and these are definitely going to be "keepers".

Enjoy those speakers. On a side note, I was listening to the MFSL Muddy Waters, Folk Singer and it sounded unbelieveable, but I think that the DeVores were a little better with the vocals.

Bob

Hi, I just would like to add that I have a pair of the Super 8's and they provide much better bass then the 8's. In
fact I have heard them in a fairly large room with Naim
gear and they had a tremendous amount of musical weight with
out ever sounding bloated.

I had heard that the Super 8s had better bottom end and were a little more efficient as well. I still feel they are more the Jazz lover and Chamber Music lover type of speaker. Perhaps it was because the Vandersteens being a much larger sized speaker conveyed that largeness that I also missed with the DeVore. Not sure, my room could have sonething to do with it too.

The Kismet References are Killer in my room and I am extremely happy. My being happy with the system doesn't happen too often either :)

Bob

Heard both almost side by side at a dealer. They had the 2CE anniversary and devore super 8. Liked the over all presentation of the devore and the scale / low end of the Vandersteen. Devore Nines---Best of both worlds.