Audio Note AN/E vs. DeVore O/96

Just now learning about the Audio Note's and entertained to realize that while several of these speakers (Devore, Omega, Zu, and Audio Note) follow the 2-way 8" woofer formula, the Audio Note history literally admits they are descended from my $900 Snell E/iii's.  So proud my 18-year old self picked them back when I had better hearing and no money.  But $30k for the latest version?  idk... Am I right in noticing that Audio Note is using a customized version of a Seas woofer in their AlNiCo version?  The basket legs look identical but it looks like Seas gave them a bit of a cone customization.  The tweeter doesn't seem to match the Seas.  The off-the-shelf version of Seas' Alnico woofer/tweeter set sell for $2400 a set.  Maybe I'll find a "rough" set of E/iii's and put these Seas drivers in them.  Interesting that AN was able to keep the overall efficiency up at 95 dB when the stock woofer is 94 dB.  oh wait- a bunch of people on the web already had the same idea and have already tried it. sigh.

I own DeVore O/93's.
At Axpona 2019 the room I kept returning to time and time again was the Audio Note room. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA3XvJcic5o
I believe Richardausten. Everything he says above mirrors my observations of the room at Axpona 
What astounded me was the the cheap kitchen table being used as an equipment rack right between the two loudspeakers. What happened to equipment racks being important? What happened to the rule not to place large objects between the loudspeakers?
My conclusion was that in the case of the AN-E's and associated equipment, and what they do so exceedingly well-tone and timbre-the isolation of components and placement of the equipment is not very important. Like my DeVore O/93's, the AN-E's did not image. As with my O/93's there was a large wall of sound. The driver integration of the AN-E's with the matching AN gear was much better than my O/93's. The sound was utterly majestic and magical. 
Hearing Mr. Belanger play his cello live and then his recording was illuminating. 
Though a bit of a digression, I found the price of the AN-E's much easier to swallow than the price of the electronics. If my memory is close to accurate, the simple-looking box-like CDP was about 20K and the amp or integrated amp (can't recall) was also in the same ballpark. 
And then to digress even more, let's not forget that there are two Audio Note companies, Audio Note UK and Kondo Audio Note Japan. https://www.audionote.co.jp/en/
I gather that Kondo does not make loudspeakers so I truly am digressing. 

I also was impressed by the AN-J (D) speakers at shows in the past. So much so, that I bough standard model J’s with Hemp drivers. The efficiency was not even close to the O/96’s... I had both side by side. I ran both an LM 211 integrated, and Shindo separates. I’m going to guess the 93 db rated J’s were around 90-91 DB, and the DeVores 93 db. Ultimately I bought Altec Valencia 16 Ohm speakers, and a Werner crossover. I would concur with fsonicsmith that none of these (Altec’s included) are great imaging speakers. I’m not sure you can have it all with one system... maybe throwing a boat load of cash in to it, but even then I’m not convinced. I think a variety of gear to rotate in and out may be the only way.

 I’m not sure you can have it all with one system... maybe throwing a boat load of cash in to it, but even then I’m not convinced. I think a variety of gear to rotate in and out may be the only way.

Right on fjn04!
Every six months I rotate out my Devores for Spendor D7.2's. I love them both and they could not be more different. 

@fsconicsmith

I was also entranced by some small Audio Note speakers at the last Toronto Audio show. With some acapella vocals, a track with sax, another with drums, the combination of body, clarity and believable organic timbral warmth was just outstanding. Probably the most impressive I heard at the show.



I’d auditioned Audio Note speakers in my big speaker audition journey and liked them, but ultimately decided the corner-loading style wasn’t for me. Still, I do sometimes hanker for being able to try them in my set up.
And I still find myself wishing I’d been able to hear the Devore O/96 in my room! You still like the O/93s it seems?


And I can relate: I also switch between my main two pairs of speakers - Thiel 2.7s and Joseph Audio Perspectives, to keep things fresh. Both great in their own way.