DeVore O/93 or PureAudioProject Duet15 for a First Watt SIT-3?

@lemonhaze i picked up the Komuro 8w upon auditioning in store with their O96 Bronzes. Whatever shortfalls the Devores have, this amp minimizes them. Heard the Komuro after listening to Nagra classic amp and pre, and it made the Nagras  sound lean and harsh by comparison. 

We spent a great deal of time listening to the O/96s with single and parallel 300B SET amps and these did not have nearly enough power. The speakers opened up with about 30 watts plus and decided that the best sound came from a pair of 60W OTL monos.

I am convinced that the lower wattage went into a very soft clip quickly that actually made the sound a bit larger than normal. The sound thickened. So I (we) felt that actually the lower powered amps gave some perhaps more of what they liked but this certainly did not do justice to the source. So in my experience, the worst amp for these speakers were push pull designs followed by the lowered power single ended. The speakers were best served by a more neutral tube amp of higher power that wasnt a push pull type. 

Hours of direct comparison were needed to really sort this out. Most of this was done on the O/96s and some on the O/93s. The only components changed were the amplifiers. These sessions were extremely valuable and really elevated our listening acumen. Of course it also ruined about 10 songs due to overexposure.

With these speakers, the only type of single ended design I would consider would be an 845 or 211 type. There is no denying the quality of single ended midrange, but I tend to like these amps when paired  with a less "meaty" sounding speaker. Perhaps too much of a good thing.

No matter how efficient the speaker, there will will always be the struggle between high power authority and being king of your domain, versus low power beauty and finesse. Go with the 96 (end game) versus 93 (more affordable) if you can. Try high and low power amps and pick of get the best in one price class and have fun!

@audition__audio I appreciate your input. The Komuro was built for the O96 model and variants. It’s delivered with the higher ohm taps installed and it’s tuned for the O96. It was surprising how much command the 8 watts has over these speakers.

So while I’m sure it’s fun and satisfying to make universal proclamations about what amps will work or what the speakers are capable of based on your own anecdotal experience, I don’t find those proclamations helpful or inherently true partly because of the tone and attitude with which they are delivered. Anyway, I appreciate the sharing and I will try to extract what wisdom I can from it.

O/baby has better midrange and a rel sub

the O/93 is sucky at bass too anyway compared to O/96 that has better mids as well.