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Devore Fidelity Orangutan O/96

My neighbor had to move some heavy furniture from one room to another so he asked me for help earlier today. Although, we've been neighbors for almost two years I had never been inside his house up until this afternoon. As I walked through the foyer and into his family room, I saw the speakers hooked up to some McIntosh separates. I have to admit that these were one of the most beautiful speakers I had ever seen. He offered to play some music and of course I was not going to say no. They sounded quite decent, although the sound was not as hefty or lush as I was expecting. Don't know if it was his equipment or room (wood floor, no rug, lots of windows), or maybe the Devore's are not quite going after those big, lush, and slightly warmer sound characteristics.

I'm actually saving up money to buy Harbeth SHL5+, or used 40.1, sometime next year. But boy did the Devore Orangutans caught my attention. And yes I know I shouldn't be basing my decision on looks alone, but if they're comparable to Harbeth in terms of sound quality, I'm definitely interested in exploring.

Just wondering if someone has had a chance to compare them directly to the Harbeth speakers I'm considering. Anyone moved from Harbeth to Devore O/6 or vice versa? This will be a system that I'll be building from scratch so I do have the luxury of building the system around my speakers -- total budget is around $15000. I usually buy used equipment whenever I can.

Please note that I'm not soliciting advice for other speakers at this time. Mostly interested in hearing about real world comparisons between the Devore Fidelity Orangutans and Harbeth SHL5+ or 40.1/2.
128x128arafiq
prof
3,452 posts
 

mquery,

I was never able to get a lot of depth from the soundstage of the O/93 in auditions (even though they were well away from the back wall).  The "wall of sound" seems to be a fairly consistent take on that speaker (though I did find that the imaging was quite good - specific enough to satisfy me).

I've heard the O/96s do nice depth, they they too tend to draw things closer to the listener vs many other more sound-stagey speakers.
axo0oxa
98 posts
 
I was auditioning the same two speakers you were and also the Joseph Audio, along with Vivid speakers. I heard the same as people have described with the Harbeth and DeVores, I ended up with a pair of KEF Reference Series speakers. I felt they blended the best of both the Harbeth and DeVores. The are a lot different sounding than the little KEFs everyone is crazy about.
keithr
1,306 posts
 
Heard O96s sound spectacular on Moon electronics today  - better than LM Audio tubes in the same room. Was very surprised. 
fsonicsmith's avatar
fsonicsmith
938 posts
 
mquery,

I was never able to get a lot of depth from the soundstage of the O/93 in auditions (even though they were well away from the back wall). The "wall of sound" seems to be a fairly consistent take on that speaker (though I did find that the imaging was quite good - specific enough to satisfy me).

I've heard the O/96s do nice depth, they they too tend to draw things closer to the listener vs many other more sound-stagey speakers.
Same experience here. Width yes. Depth no. These are my everyday loudspeaker. No loudspeaker does it all. An argument can be made that the O/93 is more refined and balanced than the O/96. A cogent argument at that. If I had a larger room, I would choose the O/96's. To heck with "refined", the O/96's make you want to dance. 
arafiq's avatar
arafiq OP
1,599 posts
 
Yesterday I went to the house of a local seller who has listed his Harbeth Super HL5+ for sale. Suffice to say I was totally underwhelmed. I don't know if it was his setup (some Line Magnetic tube amp) or room, but I just found the sound to be bland. I have had P3esr's for more than two years now, so I'm quite familiar with the Harbeth sound. I was expecting a bigger, more expansive scale which was completely missing.

Based on what I've read about the speakers, I'm inclined to think it must have been the setup. Also, despite the size I think pairing them with a subwoofer is almost a necessity if you want to venture outside of jazz or classical at all. Any owners of SHL5+ please feel free to chime in if you feel that my impressions are way off target. The reason I say this is because when I first got the P3esr's I was similarly disappointed, but after pairing them with a Cronus Magnum II they have become one of my favorite all time speakers. 
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